The Written Word Turned Into Audio On Autopilot

Each week, I’ll see an internal 3000-word thought piece I want to read or be sent a time-sensitive but 20+ page long work plan from a colleague.

I often don’t have the time to consume that much info.

Enter Recast.

It summarises long-form written content in a short-form podcast.

Here is how to set it up and how I’m using it.

1. Head to Recast

2. Follow the sign-up process for free - you’ll be directed to the screen below

   

3. Choose the device type you want to install Recast on - I use the Google Chrome Extension (I avoid phone use most of the day when I can)

   

4. Go to the URL that you want summarised (here is an example of a call transcript from a planning meeting we had for EU growth)

   

   Too many words to read through but easy to listen to

5. Select the Recast It Chrome Extension

   

6. You’ll get an email in your inbox with the summarised podcast

I’ll listen to these summarises on my laptop when:

• Doing dishes

• Cleaning up

• Looking for something productive to do in between meeting breaks

It is a simple time saver and the best transcript-to-audio tool I’ve found so far.

Why We Rebranded Our Gym

You've probably heard of "niching down".

The idea is to serve the smallest, most specific audience you can define. Because the smaller the audience, the easier it is to create something they'll love and the easier it is to market to them.

Most unicorns and successful brands start this way—niche—but inversely, not many small businesses do.

I've done a good and bad job of niching down in businesses I've run. Sometimes, it's scary. I worry I'll lose "the other" customers.

It took us seven years to make the leap at Compound (our gym).

We shifted from being an everyone's gym to an athletes' gym. Yeah, it's not exactly pioneering. Most athletes go to the gym. But the outcomes backed up all my previous experiences that niching down, works.

We didn't just become an athlete's gym overnight. It took us years of investing in our equipment, layout, and other aspects to reach a point where we could confidently say, "We're here to serve athletes".

Perhaps that's the most interesting thing about this experience. Until we said it out loud, none of our investments to that point mattered. It's backwards, but your product (in our case, our gym) doesn't tell people who you're here to serve; you do.

Literally, the day we rebranded, people started cancelling their memberships because they weren't athletes, and we no longer served them. This continued unabated for months.

The odd thing is that we changed precisely nothing at the gym during those first few months after the rebrand. Those who left were getting the same exact product and experience pre- and post-rebrand.

But guess what else happened? This is why our rebrand has been worth it.

With consistent messaging, we've become top of mind for athletes looking for a gym. The more we've called them out, the more they've come.

Since our rebrand, we've attracted professional sports teams, ex-All Blacks, world representative athletes, and even dancing with the star's competitors. The shift in clientele that we're attracting has been seismic. We even get people coming to us because "XYZ trains here."

To top it off, just this week, we hit an all-time high in membership numbers and had our best 28 days of revenue in two years.

Other factors have contributed to our turnaround, but niching-down has been the most influential.

Scale Your Health & Wellness Brand At Pace

Jay Downes is a world-class content creator and digital marketer who specialises in helping health and wellness brands get a return on their marketing dollars.

He’s launched a new site and is doing free consultations for anyone who wants a chat.

Just click this link or take a look below.

P.S. I want to see your face in the newsletter - just shoot over a reply with a blurb and who you help, and we’ll see if it’s a fit.