David Walker begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting - Blog Not SlogA few of you may have noticed I have been quiet for the past couple of days.

Wouldn’t say they have been my most productive of days online, but hey ho.

But I did finally get to interview David Walker.

My very first interview ever, woohoo!

I was buzzing after I done it, straight on the phone to my Mum too ha ha.

My mum was very proud of me, she knew how much of a nervous wreck I had been about this interview and she was almost as excited as me that I had finally done it.

Was it as nerve wracking as I imagined?

No, it was not that bad, actually even enjoyed it a bit!

David was lovely, very patient and he is a top guy in my eyes, after my nerves settled I actually enjoyed the interview and even had a little laugh at some points throughout it.

So who is David Walker?

If you don’t know David Walker, he is a full time Internet Marketer, professional blogger and lover of Cardiff City Football Club!

He recently ran his own Joint Venture Giveaway themed around his 30th Birthday which generated him 3000 subscribers in just under 2 weeks, outstanding I say!

So I wanted to try and discover a bit about David’s background, failings and successes and maybe sneak a few tips from him for us.

The interview is added below for you to listen (it’s about 30 minutes long):

One last thing, in the interview I mention David’s prequel ebook “Blog Not Slog” you can get your free copy by clicking here.

Sally’s Skype Interview Survival Guide…

If you are considering interviewing someone just now or in the near future I detailed everything I went through below:

1. Essential Kit and Artillery

Ok, there are some components you will need before you can interview an expert, here are the ones I used:

First thing I needed was Skype.

Skype is a free software application that allows you to make voice calls over the internet, it also has instant messaging chat and video calls.

Calls to other skype users are free, calls to landline telephones and mobile phones require a fee.

Next I needed a microphone headset.

You need a headset with a microphone, so you can talk and listen obviously.

I just got a reasonably cheap USB one from online, now I would say my cheap one does not have the best sound quality so if you can, get a good one if you intend on using it lots.

Skype Call Recording Software

Next I needed software to record the calls I made on Skype.

For this I used Pamela for Skype.

There are lots of free software out there, but I opted for Pamela because it has lots of great features and functions.

You can get a free 30 day trial of Pamela, but I am not sure how long you can record a call for using just the free trial.

2. Get Your Target In Your Sights

Now obviously, if you intend to interview an expert you need to find someone willing to let you interview them and pump them for as much information as possible.

This was kinda hard for me, I was not sure who or how to approach an “expert”.

So I looked around in coaching forum area for advice.

I seen two previous Alex Jeffreys students who have found great success online, so they were my target.

I sent them a private message along the lines of this…

Hiya, my name is Sally, I would like to start interviewing some experts but I don’t really know how to approach them, can you please give me some tips or advice?

Both David Walker and Marcus Passey replied with the same sort of advice and an offer to interview them.

I genuinely did not think they would offer to let me interview them, so that was really cool!

Being a coaching student of Alex Jeffreys helped me greatly in this task, but I am quite confident I could get other experts away from the safety net of the coaching forum now.

The advice they both gave was not to feel intimated or scared of gurus/experts, to remember they are just normal people.

I would say that I didn’t message David or Marcus right off the bat, I had actually visited their blogs and left a few comments to introduce myself a little first.

Remember most blog authors approve their comments themselves, so it’s a good chance they will remember you if you are regularly commenting on their blog, I remember the people who regularly comment on my blog.

You need to know the person you are interviewing, do a background check on them so to speak.

Read their blogs.

Read any ebooks they have written.

Watch their videos.

Subscribe to their mailing list / newsletter.

Basically become their shadow and learn everything you can about them beforehand.

Ok so now I had my target in sight it was time to move on…

3. Mission Objectives

I had to decide what my objective would be for the interview.

The main objective was to pump the expert for some super duper marketing tips obviously.

But I also wanted to reward the person allowing me to interview them too.

I had to gather some links for any products they had and remember to mention them in the interview.

Mentioning their blog or site is the least you can do as they are allocating their personal time for free after all.

Now I have never interviewed anyone in my life, so it was all kinda new to me, I wasn’t quite sure what I should ask etc etc, but I think the more I do it, the better I shall get.

So for those of you out there, scared like me, there is light at the end of the tunnel I promise.

Just remember practice makes perfect.

4. Planned Precision

Your interview should be planned to precision.

I am not saying you plan out your whole day like:

0800 hours: shower

0830 hours: brush teeth

0900 hours: breakfast

But you need to plan every detail of your interview.

You have to try and be as flexible as possible with the person you intend to interview.

You need to work around their schedule not yours.

Of course there will be some come and go, but essentially try to let them decide the time.

You need to compose a set of questions to ask.

Really, I think questions will vary depending on who your interview, so I wouldn’t say there is a generic set your could use.

I wrote out my questions and sent them to David prior to the interview.

What rights will be attached to the interview?

David and I agreed on joint rights, meaning we can both use the interview how we please.

Who will record the interview?

You?

Them?

Decide before you start.

These might seem like petty details, but they need to be established before the interview.

Planning is key.

5. Search And Destroy All Distractions

Distractions must be eliminated before the interview.

Seriously, go around the room you intend to use for the interview call and get anything out that can potentially disrupt your interview.

Get kids and pets out of the room.

You don’t want to be live on a call and have your child running in screaming “Mummy, Mummy”.

I had to move Jade’s Guinea Pig (Rose) into the other room while I made the call, it’s a noisy little thing!

Turn off all phones, that means your house phone and your mobile phone.

Set skype status to busy, so you don’t get any distractions from that either.

Plan ahead and try to avoid all of these distractions.

Now I am not saying all plans will run smoothly, they didn’t for my interview with David.

He was busy, I was busy.

Finally we got a time set, but there was a booby trap lurking beneath the surface which leads me on to the next part…

6. Booby Traps

Now you know this was my first interview right?

It did not go to plan, and I thought I had planned for everything…

The interview with David happened at the second attempt, and it was my fault.

First Booby Trap…

I never tested that my headset and microphone was working correctly with skype and it wasn’t!

There is a test feature on skype, to test your headset and make a dummy or test call, don’t be like me, use this before you call the person you intend to interview.

Second booby trap…

I never learned how to use Pamela.

I thought I just clicked record and that was it, turned out it was configured properly.

Each time I pressed record I got an error saying the output file could not be created.

I later found out I had to click on a setting to configure the mp3 codec.

Third Booby Trap…

I couldn’t find my questions I wanted to ask!

I had emailed them to David, but could I find them on my pc…. NOPE.

Print off your questions and have them close at hand.

After all of the booby traps were fixed, I was ready to start the interview and guess what?

Another bloody booby trap.

I had not wrote an introduction for starting the interview, god give me strength.

All through each booby trap David was very patient with me, thankfully, but after that catalog of errors we obviously ran out of time.

David had plans for that evening, so we had to ditch that attempt and rearrange another time…

7. Mission Accomplished

Finally the interview took place.

No more booby traps, nice and smooth phew.

Of course once the interview was done I then had the added problem of how on earth to get it onto my blog.

That was kinda simple though, nice little plugin named wpaudio and it was uploaded in a jiffy.

If you want to blog and not slog, then remember to grab your free copy of David’s prequel ebook “Blog Not Slog” by clicking here.

So there you have it, my very first interview, yet again littered with mistakes but got there in the end.

Now you should have a good idea on how to conduct your own interview, so go forth and find someone worthy of your own very first interview.

Good luck,

Sally :)

ps. I would like to get the audio transcribed, so that’s my next “mission” finding a good transcription service, so if you know one please leave a comment below and save me a little bit of google searching!

***UPDATE***

Now Found A Transcription Service, will add in the next post once I know it’s a good one.

Important – Switched to EVP for my audio button, no longer using wp plugin.

Filed under: Interviews

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