Intro: If your business feels busy and expensive, your tools and time are probably misaligned. But if you don't know how they're impacting your business, you can't fix it. Which is why you need the time and tools self audit. Cut unnecessary software and reclaim time for high-value work. Get your time and tools self-audit for free at streamlined.fm/impact. Start eliminating waste today and actually free up your time again. That's streamlined.fm/impact for your free time and tools self-audit template.
Joe Casabona: Hey, everybody. We've got a special episode for you today. It's a case study episode. I have a former client, Laura Brazan. She is the host of the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren podcast. And as you can imagine, based on the name of her show, she's got a full plate. She is raising her grandchildren. She's also taking care of her mother. She is taking care of multiple generations inside her household.
But she also has this fantastic resource for people who are in a similar situation through her podcast. When she came to me, she was feeling stressed and overwhelmed, unsure about the tool she was using and unsure about how she could continue to do the show without burning out. And so, over the course of a few months of coaching, we were able to simplify her tech stack, save her money, and take things off her plate by automating them. And now she has the time and space to both spend with her family as well as think about the impact her show is making.
So, I'll let Lara do most of the talking, but I wanted to set this up because I want you to start thinking about how you can do the same thing for your podcast, your content, your services, your business in 2026. And I've prepared a little free self-assessment, you know, something that I did with Laura, and something that I encourage all of my clients to do. A few questions that you can ask yourself to go into 2026 with a better handle on how you work so that you can make the most impact in your business. Go over to streamlined.fm/impact and join my mailing list. You'll get that free self-assessment. But for now, let's get into the intro and then the interview.
Look, you are trying to grow your small business while still having a life and not losing your sanity. On StreamlineD Solopreneur, we help small business owners grow without burning out through simple, powerful online automations and systems. I know you're busy, so let's get started.
All right. I am so excited to have Laura Brazan on the show. Laura, how are you?
Laura Brazan: I'm great. It's so nice to see you, Joe.
Joe Casabona: Likewise. So people will have gotten this from the cold open, but we work together. You hired me as a podcast coach earlier year in 2025, and so I thought it would be great to catch up, see where you're at, and kind of talk about your journey from before we worked together to after, and then your plans for the future.
So, let's start with what is your show is and why you started it?
Laura Brazan: It's a show for grandparents raising grandchildren, which, honestly, I never thought that I would be doing. But suddenly, out of the blue, my husband and I got into a situation where we needed to take on our grandchildren. And when that happened, that world was totally unfamiliar to me. I had no idea that there were over 2.4 million people in the US raising their grandchildren. And it was such a difficult process for me to walk through. I did not want to waste my pain. And so I thought, I need to find a way to reach other grandparents who are going through the same sort of things that I am. Community, estrangement, all the issues that happen when you take on this role.
I thought, other people need me. I need other people. They need to hear this information. And so I felt that if I was going to do this. And I knew nothing about the world of podcasting, I knew nothing. I knew a little bit about enough about technical stuff to get me in trouble that I needed to consult professionals. And so I got a professional and worked with the University of Montana, which was where I was based out of at the time. I started the podcast and got advice on how to start a quality show, because I had.
When I had done the research, I found out that the few shows that were online were dead. They might have had a few episodes broadcast. And I didn't want to be another person out there that was producing a bad quality show. I wanted to design it to be successful so that it could be carried on if I decided that I couldn't do this any longer, and I invested some money to do it. So I didn't want my money to be wasted, honestly.
Joe Casabona: It kind of feels like you were thrown into this, just a tough situation. And I love that one of your earlier thoughts was, I also want to help people who are in this situation, and I want to learn as much as I can about this situation.
Laura Brazan: Right. And that's how I approach everything that I do in life. If it's something I really want to solve, I get to the bottom of building a foundation that's strong, and I want to move my way up. And this was totally foreign to me, the issues involved, and they're just, quite frankly, not many resources out there for us folks that are doing this. And it's taken a lot of work. It's been a hard three and a half years, and the kids are just getting stable. And a lot of times I feel like I'm really doing this for my own sanity, you know?
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Which you need. You know, I think that. I mean, probably something. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think probably that's something that has changed since you were a parent is, mental health is something that is more prominent, not only for us as adults, but, like, you know, I'm in therapy, and I ask my therapist all the time about this sort of stuff. Like, we're supposed to say to our kids, like, I see you're having big feelings now. No parent in the late 80s, early 90s would have said that to their kids. They would have been like, shut up and get over it and go outside. Right.
Laura Brazan: No, this is the world we live in. A difficult world to raise kids in.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. And it's vastly different from your first time around.
Laura Brazan: Oh, yeah.
Joe Casabona: Right? Like.
Laura Brazan: Oh, yes. The term neurodiversity. I'd never heard that before. I was raising these grandchildren.
Joe Casabona: Right. And I mean, even, like, I knew this was a parent when I was. I shouldn't say apparent. I knew this wasn't the case when I was talking to my parents because, like, when we took our first baby class, it was like, don't sleep them on their stomach and make sure the crib. Like, the bars are just this perfect width apart. And…
Laura Brazan: Yes.
Joe Casabona: And it was so different from my parents because they were like, oh, yeah. We were told to sleep you on your stomach with a blanket so you wouldn't get cold. My mom smoked, and like, the doctor said, if smoking helps you relax, keep smoking. So just, like, so different from where we are today. I imagine it's like a culture shock for you.
Laura Brazan: Yeah. And then take the fact that most grandparents raising grandchildren are 55 or older, so they're getting ready to retire. They've worked their whole lives to finally have this time in their life off to spend their money the way they want to. Go out for dinner whenever they want to, to invite their friends over whenever they want to, and that's gone.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: And you think that this is what I thought. This is what a lot of people think. Oh, these poor children. You bring them into a nice, warm home, and their life is just gonna get better. While it doesn't work that way, this is like alien world to children that have gone through trauma. And so they come kicking and screaming, and suddenly, in my situation, I was 65 years old, and I have two kids that are, quite frankly, little. What I thought was little monsters.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: They had no boundaries, nothing. I mean, and there weren't even my biological grandchildren.
Joe Casabona: Oh, yeah, right.
Laura Brazan: We were a family put together, and these were his son's children. So…
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: And we'd just been married for a year and a half.
Joe Casabona: Oh, my gosh.
Laura Brazan: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: Crazy world. But the story can have a silver lining.
Joe Casabona: Yes. And so this is the situation that you're in in 2021. Right. You start the podcast in 2023. Where, in the chaos do you decide? Because I assume there's, like, a little bit of culture shock, whatever, shell shock, that you're a parent again. Right. Like, you're raising kids again. You're trying to get that together.
You mentioned you were 65, and I don't know if you were on the verge of retirement or, like, certainly the income levels significantly changed. Right.
Laura Brazan: Well, in my situation, I was an artist, but I still, I had a business, and my husband was retired when we met, and I had to put everything down for the kids. I mean, they didn't even know how to play together, and they were going through a lot of trauma, so I just stopped doing that and started taking care of them. And that was hard for me, but there have been many things along the process that were hard to do. But if you realize, okay, this is. It would be like as if you lost a leg, and then you had to figure out, you know, or your eyes, and you had to figure out how to make your life work. That's what we did.
And I wanted to write about this. I wanted to find. It's sort of that feeling of when you get cancer, you suddenly want to talk to other people that have cancer because it changes your life. And when I saw the statistics, because I'm a researcher, I went, oh, who else is going through this? And I went, oh, my gosh, 2.4 million people. That's like one out of every 10 people. I'm not a numbers person, so.
But that's a lot of people in this country alone that are going through that. So I had to go to the digital world to find those people, to find a lot of the information. It was on the phone, calling every single day for six months on the phone, trying to get them the health care they needed, realizing that it changed from state to state, learning a lot about the laws and how that worked in this country when it came to grandparents, because in our situation, grandparents had a lot of rights because of the state we were working in, but that's not the same in every state. So that was all a new awareness.
And because grandparents that are in this situation are not, well, sometimes they're pretty digitally savvy. Sometimes, you know, they're online with some social media. Not everything. I went right to Facebook and found other groups of people that were dealing with that. And I did do what professionals told me was to do a survey. So I surveyed hundreds of people to find out what they needed and what they were looking for.
And a podcast was a very viable solution, even though I did also form. I became a network coordinator for caregiving group in my area. But podcasts were something I listened to when I could in my own time. And you can do that with podcasts. So I thought, okay, now how do I do a podcast? You know, how do you make that successful? Because I seen listened to good ones and bad ones, and you got to talk to professionals and you got to find people that are your match to work with because it is a personable business. And I began doing it and I found you because, well, I found Courtney.
Joe Casabona: Yes. Shout out to our friend Courtney Elmer. She's great.
Laura Brazan: Courtney and her group were the ones that helped me design the podcast. And as much as I went kicking and screaming about some of the ideas that they had, they were spot on. So that's when I go, okay, I need to consult people that know better than I do. Sometimes I want to think that I know a lot more than I do. And then I heard you. While PodMatch, I was connected with PodMatch. Through PodMatch.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Lots of friends. Lots of podcast friends. Mutually.
Laura Brazan: There is a very mutual group, wonderful group. And I listened to a podcast that you were on with Courtney and someone else and I don't know.
Joe Casabona: Vinnie. Vinnie Potestivo. Yeah.
Laura Brazan: Yeah. And I went, now that's a guy I can relate to. And of course, we're both from Jersey.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, that's right.
Laura Brazan: And I'm a Jersey girl originally, and I like to work with. I mean, you had a quality product that other people recommend, and I like you.
Joe Casabona: Well, thank you very much.
Laura Brazan: That sounds like an ad.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, Right? That was like a serial ad.
Laura Brazan: Right.
Joe Casabona: Hey, Mikey, he likes it.
Laura Brazan: Hey, Mikey. He likes it. Yeah. Hey, Joe. He likes it.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: And now, still when I talk to you, I feel like I've talked to my long lost brother from another mother, so.
Joe Casabona: Well, thank you. I really appreciate it. People probably can't see this, but I'm like, I'm about to blush when someone rains a lot of compliments down on me. I just smile a lot.
Laura Brazan: Yeah. I don't take it too well.
Joe Casabona: Yes. That's so. Okay. A couple of things here.
Laura Brazan: Right.
Joe Casabona: This is great. Like, so I think being coachable is a really good quality to have, I think, you know, because I've tried to help people, and they're just like, well, I want to do it this way. And I'm like, there's no reason that you shouldn't be paying me that. I'm not. I'm not just going to tell you what you want to hear. And I suspect Courtney and her team. I know Courtney and her team are the same way. Right. They want you to have something good. You're gonna get worse if you go on thinking, oh, well, what I'm doing is definitely right.
Laura Brazan: And, Joe, you know what that's given me? In fact, I just got feedback from one of the companies that gives us stats on what position we play.
Joe Casabona: Oh, nice.
Laura Brazan: You know where we stand in our rankings. And I'm number one in the top three categories. I wanted to be in from the very beginning, and….
Joe Casabona: That's awesome.
Laura Brazan: That speaks for people like you and Courtney and anybody else I've gotten advice from, because if I had done it the way I wanted to, it wouldn't be here. The show would not be on now.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, I obviously can't speak to that, but I can tell you that, like, you have implemented things from the people that you hired, and you're doing well, you're excelling. And that's awesome to hear from.
Laura Brazan: Everything from the titling of the show to the structure of the show.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Which is really important. Gosh, we could do, like, a whole other episode on positioning. Right.
Laura Brazan: And it's not that there are a lot. A lot of people out there that have great ideas.
Joe Casabona: Right.
Laura Brazan: Great ideas. Shows that should have succeeded or they could do better. But if you keep doing it the same old way and it's not working, you know?
Joe Casabona: Right.
Laura Brazan: I'm not going to tell people how old I am, because I like people to think I'm younger than I am. But at this point in my life, I have learned that wisdom accounts for something.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And, like, I mean, you know, when I was in college, like, I was in Computer Science school, Facebook launched. And I went around saying, I could have launched Facebook, I could have launched a website that functioned similarly to Facebook, but I didn't. I Wasn't willing to do what needed to be done to make Facebook. Right. Like, I mean, there, you know, that's. Say what you will about big tech companies, but, like, you need to be a certain type of way and make certain sacrifices that I would not have been willing to make to do that.
And so, yeah, there are a lot of great ideas, but it is in the implementation, in who you surround yourself with and who you're willing to listen to. Yeah, absolutely. And so I'll link to Pod Launch, that's Courtney's company in the show notes in the description for this episode over at streamlined.fm or wherever you're listening to.
But when you came to me, your show had already launched and you hired me for my specialty. Right. Which is around systems and processes. So tell me, what was your process like before? I guess tell the audience because I know what your process was like before you hired me.
Laura Brazan: Well, I had hit a sticky point, you know, when we all get there at different points in our careers and our marriages in our lives, and that's when this little, the red light starts blinking and you go, you need help. You need help. You can't do this all by yourself.
And what was what I needed at the time and a lot more. But I had to, you know, I'm solo and I can't. I don't have endless sources of funding, so I needed to be very careful about how I spent my money. And I knew that if I didn't get this part done, I was going to have a mental breakdown.
And you realize when you start weighing things out, where you go, okay, there's one thing. It's like getting somebody to come clean your house. I've never had anybody clean my house. I just recently met with a housekeeper because I realized I've bit off more than my chew. I now have my 88 year old mother living with us as well. The one that you knew about, right?
Joe Casabona: Yes, yes, she's now here.
Laura Brazan: She's been here almost three weeks.
Joe Casabona: Oh, wow.
Laura Brazan: And I went, what's the one waste of my time right now? Do I want to spend more time with my mother, who is slowly. Dementia is eating her brain, and do I want to spend the money doing that or do I want to, you know, lose time with her that she really needs from me or hire a housekeeper? So you were my housekeeper for the podcast.
Joe Casabona: Awesome.
Laura Brazan: And essentially, I had everything shoved into one closet that I was trying to do in terms of what is a waste of my time to spend. I could spend time just even having more time to think about the content of my podcast, because nobody else can do that but me. For the time being, anyway. And so you came in and cleaned up my closet. And my closet was that I needed to streamline the part of my business that has to do with lining up speakers and sending out forms and getting responses and basically being my secretary, really.
Joe Casabona: Right.
Laura Brazan: You kind of helped set up my digital secretary, and that, along with AI, has made my life so much better. And now I have more time with my family, which is really very important to me. Family is very important, and I don't have a lot of personal time. So that's what you did for me. You created a very neat closet secretary, and I knew you'd do it well, and my money was very well spent.
Joe Casabona: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I wish I could clean my real closet. Yeah, I know, right? That was all off the cuff. I wish I could organize my real closet that way, but this is great. Right? You highlighted. You touched on two really important things here. Right? Because, like, I ask, I mean, I'm like a modern male, but I still have this strong. I won't say gender role, but I feel like I, as a man, should mow my own lawn. Right. Like, that is something that I should do. But then I realized one day during the pandemic when my wife was working as a nurse, that I didn't have the time I needed to mow the lawn. And when I got around to it three weeks later, after it rained, it took me nearly a whole day.
Laura Brazan: Same thing.
Joe Casabona: And so I hired somebody to mow my lawn once a week, every week in the spring, for 35 bucks a week. And I never have to think about mowing my lawn. And so, like, the time that I'm saving that I could spend in the business or with my kids. Right. I never have to tell my kids, oh, I can't play right now because I have to mow the lawn. Right.
Laura Brazan: And my brain doesn't work the same way as yours does, but all of the components that we need to put together, what we're doing, there are different people that do different things better than we do. And I think it's important to utilize that if that's, you know, if that's what you see. And I definitely saw that.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. To continue with the lawn mowing analogy, can I tell you that there's, like, we have a shed in the back of our house. It's where I go, all my Yankee stuff is there, and I'll smoke cigars back there. And I have A TV. But there's a small strip in the back and there's a fence, and it's, like, just slightly too narrow to fit my lawn. Lawnmower. And so I was, like, trying to shove my lawnmower back there, and the first time the guys mowed my lawn, they just took the weed whacker back there. And I'm like, I'm an idiot. Like, it never occurred to me to do that because it's like, weed whackers are for weed whacking. And I was like, I can't believe it.
Laura Brazan: Well, I think, yeah, that's one of the beautiful things about realizing that somebody else can do it better than you can.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: Because we all can feel a little stupid about that stuff or think that we should be able to do it, or I think, oh, what Joe does, I could do that.
Joe Casabona: Right.
Laura Brazan: That's not that hard.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. And if you want to spend all of your time thinking about, Right. Like, these guys mow multiple lawns per day every day in the summer. And so they're obviously thinking about, how can I even. I noticed, like, over time. Right. They would do my backyard one way, and then the next time they would do it differently because they have optimized. Right. They have to avoid a trampoline and a giant dirt hole in the middle of my backyard when we let our kids dig, because we feel like that's important. But also, there's just a hole in my backyard now.
Laura Brazan: I feel that it's important to sit with my mother and cook chicken noodle soup.
Joe Casabona: Yes.
Laura Brazan: Yeah.
Joe Casabona: So anyway, I feel like we've delivered on this message. Right.
Laura Brazan: I think the listeners are getting our point.
Joe Casabona: Yes, I think so. So, yeah. So when you came to me, you were doing a lot of things. You were. I think, I recall you were doing booking the call, doing the release, recording, editing, and then you would send it to the guest for approval, essentially. Right. Are you still doing that?
Laura Brazan: No, it's all automated through Zapier and a bunch of names that I don't need to be familiar with. Because you are. But whatever you did, it's working.
Joe Casabona: One of the reasons I wanted to have you on the show is because I am really proud of the automation I built for you for this particular thing.
Laura Brazan: Should be.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, in part, I feel like. So I recommended Cal.com to you, right?
Laura Brazan: Yes.
Joe Casabona: This is the other part of it. Right. Is you were paying for a lot of software that you didn't need to pay for, I think. Right.
Laura Brazan: Yeah. So I actually ended up saving money because you told me, like, oh, you don't need. I'm not going to mention names of companies that I scaled back on.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: But. Because who knows, they may be advertising with you, but it actually saved me money because I don't remember exactly how much I spent. Whatever it was, it was worth it with you. But there were things I didn't need that I was spending money on. And then you would even advise me when you just try to buy a yearly access to that because it'll still be around and if you don't need to spend money on that because you can go to this place and buy that on special when it comes around. And you knew all those worlds that I'm not familiar with. And so, yes, now I think I'm probably spending half a month of what I was before. So how long has it been? I know I need to hire you again, but it's been, what, more than six months?
Joe Casabona: Yeah, yeah, it's been. Yeah, yeah, something like that.
Laura Brazan: And I probably saved at least what I spent with you.
Joe Casabona: Yeah.
Laura Brazan: And my life is easier.
Joe Casabona: Well, and that's great. Right. Cause I think, like, I think there's a big lesson here because I certainly get shiny object syndrome so much that like, I made part of my business trying tools. Like, I make content about that so that I could still try them. But for my core business processes, I'm very much like, if it ain't broke, right? If the thing that I'm using is not broken or the new thing doesn't vastly improve, then I don't need to switch.
Laura Brazan: And I knew I could trust that with you. I knew you weren't going to sell me something that I didn't need. Yeah, you were really good about that. And thank you. I value that a lot in the people that I work with and that I hire, even to fix the floor in my house, you know, I want to talk to somebody that isn't going to sell me something that doesn't really work for me and that I can't use.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Thank you. And like, I know it's tough, right, because like, you know, affiliate programs have kind of ruined recommendations a little bit. And I participate in many. Right. But I am also super clear and I will present multiple options and I try to present at least one or two where I'm not an affiliate. Right. I'm giving you what I will not.
Laura Brazan: I will not sell a product I don't believe in.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, it's exactly, exactly.
Laura Brazan: Because that comes back at you.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. Right. My, like my, my brothers and I would always Say word is bond. Right. Like your word is bond. You know, your word has weight. And if people can't trust my word, then I've got nothing.
Laura Brazan: Absolutely.
Joe Casabona: So, yeah, that's really important to me.
Laura Brazan: Honesty's everything.
Joe Casabona: Yes, I will use affiliate links and I will even say, if you don't want to use it, chop this part off. Or here's the non affiliate link.
Laura Brazan: Right.
Joe Casabona: Like, I'm just doing it in case you want to. Because I always ask for an affiliate link when someone recommends a tool to me. But the 5% that I'm going to make is not worth the hit in trust I'm taking.
Laura Brazan: Right.
Joe Casabona: But all of this is to say that it's easy to get shiny object syndrome. And so I'm glad that we were really able to really reduce your costs while making it easier.
One of the reasons that your automation is a little more complicated. I feel silly about this, but I didn't realize that cal.com made a change between when I signed up and then when you signed up. This was like not a very well publicized change. And so I ended up building that into the automation and I monitored that for a while to make sure it worked. But yeah, everything seems to be working well.
Laura Brazan: Wow. Yes, everything's working great. Yeah.
Joe Casabona: Awesome. So as we're kind of wrapping up here, first of all, we were able to eliminate parts of the process that you didn't have to do. Right. Like sending the episode for approval. I'm glad that I was able to. Or maybe that we were able to come to the agreement that most people are either not going to listen or not going to request changes, I think. Right.
And then yeah, on the communication side of things, like using the scheduling link and getting the.
Laura Brazan: I get a reminder the day before.
Joe Casabona: Yes.
Laura Brazan: It reminds them, but it reminds me.
Joe Casabona: Right.
Laura Brazan: That they're going to be on the next day. So that's a really nice prep. It logs it into my calendar automatically. I don't have to do that myself. And on my recording software.
Joe Casabona: Oh, that was a thing. Right. Cause you have a separate email address for your podcast domain. But we also wanted to make sure it made it to your personal calendar. Right?
Laura Brazan: Yes, it goes to all. Lining up all my calendars. So I have, you know, a personal calendar, my family calendar, my kids calendar, my work calendar, and all of the. That's what part of the problem was. I was having to keep track of different calendars and I was very confusing. And you simplified that process, which really made my life easier.
Joe Casabona: Yes, well, calendars are like my love language, so you definitely found the right person there. I feel like if it's not on, like, my calendar is more set than stone for me. Like, if it's not on my calendar, it doesn't exist, so.
Laura Brazan: Right. It doesn't happen.
Joe Casabona: Right. Yeah. My calendar crashed right before, like, a friend appointment I had, and I was five minutes late and I was mortified. And I was like, I'm so sorry. And they're like. And I'm like, my calendar crashed. Like, my calendar app crashed. I didn't get the notification, which I, It's very intrusive on my computer so that I don't forget. And that just didn't show up. And I was like. She was like,
Laura Brazan: I would fall apart. I don't know what to do.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. She's like, you're always on time. And I'm like, yes, always. I am always on time.
Laura Brazan: Well, it definitely. If my computer world crashes, then I just. That's my excuse.
Joe Casabona: Yep. Whenever. You know, the AIs, the large language models, the chatbots have been going down a lot lately, and I just wonder, I'm like, how many people are unable to work right now because Claude or Gemini or whatever are down?
Laura Brazan: And that's just a fact. That's the future. No way of avoiding that.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. But to that end. Right. I think, like, my audience knows that I'm pretty AI hesitant. But we did set up a few processes in a way that allows you to leverage AI in a way that I think is good, which is like processing information. Right. Like taking a bunch of data and doing something with it.
Laura Brazan: Yes. I now, when I pre interview people, you helped me by using AI to basically, I reach out and ask AI if that person is a good fit for my show, and I use it that way. I definitely use AI. But I think we're all learning that there still need to be people behind certain aspects of the processing life that we live.
Joe Casabona: Yes. Yeah. And I mean, which is like, I feel like it's a core tenant of your show. Right. Like, you're humans showing up for other humans and helping out other. And that's. AI can't replace that. So if we can use AI to allow us to do more of that, that's where I think the power is.
Joe Casabona: I think people are abusing AI by using it to show up instead of them. And that's the problem.
Laura Brazan: Yeah. This is just a little aside. So, you know, there's a lot of moralistic stuff that you have to cope with as a grandparent raising grandchildren. I actually now use AI to help me communicate with my daughter in law, who's the one who has ended up starting to show up for the kids because I get upset and angry. And so I'll write this letter and AI and I'll go, I want to send this to my daughter. What do you think? And AI will go, actually, I tone it down a bit. Yeah, I wouldn't be quite so angry.
And then in another situation where I was working in a business relationship, I tend to be very probably too understanding I was telling you about this earlier and I wrote a letter to the board of this particular organization and it said, no, I think you need to stay really firm on this particular issue because otherwise this looks like you're treating it like a personal issue and they won't take you seriously. So, I think I'm all for AI to be used along with.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, I'm definitely more of a reactive. People in my public life probably don't believe this, but I can get a temper. Like, I can get heated pretty quickly. I'm a very patient guy, especially when I'm helping.
Laura Brazan: You're Italian. You're supposed to be more
Joe Casabona: Yes. very passionate. Right?
Laura Brazan: Right.
Joe Casabona: And my coaching clients will see it. Right. If I feel like someone is screwing them, I get very angry on their behalf. Right. But I can't write an angry email on their behalf. Right. So usually I'll be like, this is what I want to say. All right? And I'll do the same thing. I'll be like, make me sound less like a jerk. Right?
Laura Brazan: Sounds less like I'm Italian.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's definitely helpful there. Like just a second set of eyes. Right.
Laura Brazan: Make me sound like a poor white boy.
Joe Casabona: Please, sir. Yeah. So I really, I love that. So now we've come out on the other side, you were feeling overwhelmed, worried about burnout. You have taken in multiple generations into your house at this point,
Laura Brazan: Four generations under one roof.
Joe Casabona: Maron. That's maron. Yeah. And so we went through this. As you've said, I helped save you money. Happily, I've helped save you a bunch of time. Where are you now with the show? Like, what are you spending your time on now and what are you thinking about for the future?
Laura Brazan: Good question. I'm going through a transition right now because after, let's say I'm soon to launch, my 100th episode
Joe Casabona: Oh, nice.
Laura Brazan: That will be coming next month. Yeah. We've done over 10,000 downloads.
Joe Casabona: Awesome. Yeah, that's amazing.
Laura Brazan: And so it's become a personal thing to me now and my listeners got over 3000 listeners are becoming family to me. So I think more about. I'm a little more relaxed about talking about the real. I think about what really makes a show unique and the people behind the show, the person behind the show, the hosts. I think if they've lasted a certain amount of time, you have to think about what sets you apart from everybody else and highlighting that and then thinking more again about how can I do less of what doesn't service me, serve me well, and more of me. So I'm thinking about those things now and starting to journal some pretty raw stuff about what this role is for me. Like, people think I clean up good. People think, oh, she has a perfect life. She's figured it all out. Three and a half years of doing this, and she's the perfect grandma. Wrong. Like, I lose it just like everybody does. And I probably need to pray more than I do. And I could say a lot of things that would make you realize that I'm a very real person. And just because I have a podcast and just because I've got 3,000 listeners, there's no such thing as being a success. It's real life.
And now I think I want to talk about that more with my listeners and get them to be able to engage more, because I think we need to hear. It's community for me. Right. So now I'm trying to figure out how to not just give good advice out there, but to create a more intimate community. That's where I'm heading with my podcast.
Joe Casabona: I love that. Really important, right? Cause I think, like. I think people see, like, the Joe Rogans and the Call Her Daddy podcasts, and they're like, I want millions of listeners. Right. But that's not where you make the impact. You make the impact, like you said, with community and.
Laura Brazan: And time sticking with it.
Joe Casabona: Yes, absolutely.
Laura Brazan: Like, if you believe in what you're doing, you'll always find a way. It isn't about whether podcasts come and go, whether they're trendy or not. This is an avenue of media that will be here to stay. How it evolves and how it changes is another thing. But it's a great way of getting a message there. If you believe in the message you're giving, it builds upon anything Does, I think, with time.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, absolutely. I want to touch on something that you mentioned that you're thinking about that. I'd like to think that you have the space to think about this now, which is, you know, people want to see the real, the raw people love behind the scenes, content. And I forget where I read this. Like, it could have been a Facebook post. It could have been, like a philosophy book. I forget. But it was basically that, like, when we compare ourselves to people, we are comparing our worst thoughts to the best face that people are putting out in the world, right?
Laura Brazan: Yes.
Joe Casabona: And the truth is, like, my neighbor might think I'm a psychopath because we live in a twin, right? And there's no way she didn't hear me scream at my kids over the weekend because they let the dog eat chocolate, right? Like, he's fine, but, like, you know, I'm like, gosh, she must think I'm crazy. But she had a kid, right? And he's an adult now, and he's. But, like, she knows what it's like and probably even more than me because she was a single mom for a while. So, like, you know, I think it's good to see the hard stuff because we all are human and there is a community and a camaraderie, and it's nice to think that I'm not alone in this because we're not alone in whatever we're doing.
Laura Brazan: Yeah. And Joe's brain is interesting. So that's really what your marketing is, Joe's brain and what Joe loves to do. So I believe I do this. I work from home because I love what I do. I do this because I love doing it, not because I think, oh, it's a hot new thing out there. It's a hot topic, you know, and from a technical standpoint, where I can say I'm going from here is because I care about my listeners, how can I reach more of them?
So some people may think that's a monetary concern, but for me, marketing is about if I believe I have a good product and I know other people need it, how do I get it to more of them? If that's what you want, you know, like, that's the cool thing about podcasting, is that you can be one person. I don't have to physically be out there selling door to door. I'm selling door to door online. Maybe Joe doesn't want. Joe has to figure out how Joe wants to have more work. What do you want? What are your goals and avenues? So thinking about, technically, for me, how I can reach more people and consulting with people that can help me with that, that's probably the next hire I'm doing.
Joe Casabona: Nice. Nice. That's great.
Laura Brazan: Because I don't know.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, absolutely. Joe's brain is interesting, is something that's been said a lot about me, but probably not in the very nice way that you've said it here. So thank you.
Laura Brazan: That’s their problem.
Joe Casabona: Yes. Well, Laura, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing and like, saying a lot of nice things about me. If people want to learn more about you, where can they find you?
Laura Brazan: They can find me on my podcast at grandparents-raising-grandchildren.org, and that'll give you all the rest of the social media information you need.
Joe Casabona: Awesome. Love that. If you are listening in a podcast player right now, just go ahead and search grandparents-raising-grandchildren.org, as well on. I'll link to everything. Wherever you're listening to this, there will be links. So check those out as well.
Laura Brazan: If you're a grandparent raising grandchildren, we are the number one podcast on Apple and Spotify and all the other sources.
Joe Casabona: I love that. And if you are very likely, if you're listening to this show, if you are a parent, tell your grandparents about this.
Laura Brazan: And it's not just for grandparents. I have to say, what we talk about is not just for grandparents.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, I mean, absolutely. Right. You have a unique lens. You have a unique perspective on raising children. Because you've now seen it over multiple generations.
Laura Brazan: I'm now a modern parent.
Joe Casabona: Yeah, look at that. Yeah. So, like, it's. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's, you know, I get your newsletter. Your podcast shows up in my podcast feed. And like, you're right. Right. It is above, not above all things, but one of the big things is, like, raising kids is hard. And I like to tell people, like, yeah, it's hard now.
My wife always says to me, how did our parents do it? And I said, our parents didn't have to care about. About kids as much as we have to care about them now, which is like, it's not a knock. It's just like we have to be mindful of their feelings in a way that I just.
Laura Brazan: It's a rainbow of diversity.
Joe Casabona: Yes, yes.
Laura Brazan: That we are coping with and understanding. And if we want to raise healthy children. Right. We want to be concerned about mental health of our kids and pass on a greater legacy, which is what I always talk about. Grandparents want to leave a legacy. And if you as parents want to leave legacies, you have to be aware and caring and concerned about a lot more things than our parents needed to be concerned about.
Joe Casabona: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Laura, thank you so much for joining me today. This has been fantastic. It's always great talking to you.
Laura Brazan: You, too.
Joe Casabona: And thank you for listening. Again. Check out all of the show notes over at streamlined.fm. And until next time. I hope you find some space in your week.