We recently connected with Rosa Sarmento and have shared our conversation below.
Rosa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I first learned about podcast management through a 90-day course. I learned the very basics there and then fell in love with the work. The bulk of what I know now comes from working with clients, each one has different needs and unique feedback, which helped me grow and evolve to meet those expectations. The very first podcast management client taught me a lot about audio editing for example and I had to step up to deliver a high-quality episode.
To speed up the process I think I could have partnered with a sound engineer sooner, we do have one on the team now and that opened up so much space in my schedule to take care of other aspects of the business and other clients’ needs.
A very essential skill to be a successful podcast manager (or a successful service provider in general) is creativity, think outside the box, try different things. Podcast hosts aren’t just looking for editors, they’re usually looking for someone who can help them uplevel their content, and that’s where being creative will make you stand out.
A great obstacle in my way was my mindset. Imposter syndrome was huge for me at the beginning of this business journey and it paralyzed me at times. I won’t say it’s not present anymore, but I’m learning to handle it better and nurture a “just do it” mindset (funny thing, I just worked on a podcast episode about this “just do it” mindset).
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Rosa, a 33-year-old Brazilian (born and raised) who now lives in Mexico for most of the year. Thankfully my work allows me the location and time freedom to travel for a few months every year. Freedom is a big personal and business value.
I’m a podcast manager and founder of Ideablossoms, a boutique podcast agency that has launched top-rated podcasts for small online business owners and produced over 800 podcast episodes! I help our clients amplify their message and visibility through content marketing that’s intimate, easy to consume, and sustainable to maintain and grow: Podcasts.
I pride myself on building a talented remote team of five people from diverse backgrounds and working with clients who have strong values and big missions. The podcast is a way of spreading the word on that mission, educating folks on it, and getting people on board. Social Impact is another business value and one that most of our clients share with us. We’re on a mission to make the world a better place, one episode at a time. It sounds cheesy (and it is) but it’s also true.
In fact, to make sure we can actually measure this, we partner with B1G1 to make every business interaction, every discovery call, every podcast launch, every digital product sold, every podcast episode produced turns into real-life impact around the globe. We’re currently building our impact page: https://ideablossoms.com/impact.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Ironically enough (considering I’m a podcast manager now), I wish I had discovered podcasts earlier. There’s so much you can learn, pick a topic, I guarantee you there are countless podcast episodes about it, some featuring experts who are leaders in their field and you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. That’s priceless.
Before starting my business and working with podcast hosts, I wasn’t really aware of all the content available out there in the form of podcast episodes. I knew podcasts existed, but I didn’t realize to what extent. That’s one of the reasons why I love what I do now. I truly enjoy getting valuable information in front of the people who are seeking it.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I have a few pivot stories, but this is my favorite one. It was 2019 and I had recently moved to Vietnam with my now husband. We were both expats living the Southeast Asia dream. It had been a dream of mine for many, many years.
Back then, we were online English teachers, we didn’t love it, but it allowed us to make our own schedule and work remotely; that was the main priority back then. We did our homework and it looked like the industry was booming in Vietnam.
Sure thing, my husband, a native US citizen, found a great job right away. Literally within days of arriving there. But my case was different. I wasn’t a native speaker, and even though I can speak fluently and flawlessly, they weren’t interested in my Brazilian passport.
I see how that was a blessing in disguise as it pushed me to start thinking outside the box, researching more about remote work, taking some chances as a freelancer, and finally, finding a career path that allowed me to get back in touch with my creative side (I majored in fashion design) while still giving me the freedom I deeply desired. That’s how Ideablossoms started.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ideablossoms.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/idea.blossoms/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosa-sarmento/
- Other: I have a free resource for whoever is interested in the podcast management career. My List with 6 [online] Tools I Use For Podcast Management: https://ideablossoms.com/6-tools-for-working-with-podcasts/