ban no fearHey Everyone,

So which one would you rather be?

The person interviewing OR the person being interviewed?

Both sides of the coin…

Last week, I overcame another fear, yep no fear here!

This time I was the interviewee, the person being interviewed.

You see, after my first experience as an Interviewer, I suggested to my blog readers that they too should find someone to interview.

I guess I should have known what was coming next …

Can I Interview YOU Sally?

Me and my big mouth!

I received several requests from people wishing to interview me.

All of which I declined, because I am NOT an expert, nor do I claim to be.

I do not feel I am at the right stage yet to provide any real value in an interview to be honest.

I am still a work in progress, currently following a coaching program with Alex Jeffreys.

To be brutally honest, I was actually scared and looking for excuses not to do interviews.

But One Request Tugged At My Heart Strings

I received a private message in the MWA (Marketing With Alex) forum from David Taylor.

David, is a fellow Scot (from Scotland just like me) and his message was so lovely and heart-felt.

He explained he was nervous about interviewing people online, and would I be his first.

How could I say no?

Only a week before David contacted me, I had been at the same stage as David.

I had never interviewed anyone and I had been afraid to do it.

So just like David Walker helped me, I agreed to help David Taylor.

Anyway, probably without even knowing it, David Taylor inadvertently made me face up to another of my own fears too, so I am truly grateful to him for that.

Setting Up The Interview

To make the interview process more simple, I suggested David composed a set of questions and sent them to me, which he did.

Once I received the list of questions, I wrote out a draft summary of my responses.

I wanted to try and give a lot of value in my responses and help the listeners obviously.

So it took me quite a bit of time to think about how I would respond to each question and how I could provide value.

Was Sally Nervous?

Actually yes I was, but funnily enough, not half as nervous as I was when I interviewed David Walker.

I am becoming a dab hand at interviews now you know ha ha.

Was David Taylor nervous?

Yes, he was very nervous.

I understood how he felt, it’s very nerve wracking interviewing for the first time.

I have actually told David to blog about the feelings and emotions he experienced from his first interview, so I hope he does that.

Interview Pre-Call

Basically the pre-call was just a run through of what would happen and to check everything was working fine.

Again, David stated he was nervous and I told him not to worry, it would be fine.

Time to record the call…

Is David Calling Back?

I remember sitting at my pc, waiting on David to call back.

Tick Tock Tick Tock…time passed by…

I thought to myself “He’s not gonna call back!”

“C’mon David, you can do it” I thought to myself.

Eventually, after about ten minutes or so, David called back.

David went straight into the interview introduction, asked each question, awaited my response and we finished the call.

In fact, David was quite witty and chipped in some great quotes and raised some really good points too.

He did really great, so well done David, I knew you could do it.

Did I say no hitches?

There was a little hitch, something that took me by surprise…

David actually threw me a curve ball and sneaked in a question about oil rig hopping.

My mind went blank for a few seconds, but I composed myself, and gave a decent response to the question.

David did apologise later for asking this question.

To be honest, there was no apology needed.

Not all interviews will be so meticulously planned, so it was good for me to have to think on my feet.

We killed two birds with one stone…

All in all, it was a great learning experience for us both.

David has finally completed his first interview and I have been interviewed for the first time.

Job done!

Now David and I are working our socks off, getting the interview ready for the listeners.

Just need a few final tweaks (which we will iron out on a skype call tonight) and we should be good to go.

I will be sure to write a blog post and let you know where you can access this interview.

Hopefully you will enjoy it, I know David and I had fun doing it.

To Be The Interviewer Or The Interviewee?

Hmmm, tough question.

I guess each interview will be different and unique.

But I have formed the following opinions at this moment in time.

Interviewer…

I would say that interviewing another person is easier.

From my experiences so far you do seem to get more work AFTER the interview.

For example:

YOU get the interview transcribed and create the pdf.

YOU create a video from the interview.

YOU create the squeeze page.

YOU get graphics done etc etc.

I am not saying you MUST do all that, but that’s what I personally did.

I actually wrote a blog post about the process I followed after interviewing David Walker which you can read here:

Blog Post: What Happened After My Interview Read Here

Signed, Sealed and Delivered…

After you have put the finishing touches on your interview, you simply send a copy of everything to the person you interviewed.

So basically, as the interviewer you may have a bit more work to do, they get it all on a plate.

But really that’s the way it should be if you think about.

You are picking the expert’s brain and they are dedicating their personal time to give you an interview.

Plus another good point to remember is that, more than likely, you will get a good amount of exposure to their subscribers base.

Of course, that’s only if they decide to share the interview with their list, which may not always happen.

Exposure from interviews can be great, success by association as they say.

You are ultimately aligning yourself with an expert and people will soon start to see you as an expert too.

All in all, a fair deal I think.

Interviewee…

Being the interviewee however gives you more exposure personally.

Maybe not just you personally, but you certainly get the opportunity to mention your products or future products that are coming out soon etc etc.

You get your chance to shine so to speak.

To share you knowledge, help others and become the expert in their eyes.

Plus you are not directly involved in the production of the various formats of the interview either.

Which is best for you?

Well, I guess that all depends on the stage you are at in your online career?

Do you know enough to give away value in an interview?

If not, interview some experts, learn lots of great tips from them, and get yourself to the stage of being classed as an expert.

Or just interview experts, no one is saying you have to be interviewed if you don’t want to.

I just want you to keep moving forward online, and not be afraid to try anything new.

At the Affiliate Millionaires summit that I attended in London this year, Donna Fox said something that stuck in my mind…

“To be the teacher, you only need to be one step ahead”.

So if you think about it, you don’t have to know every single thing.

Right now, you probably know more than enough to help MANY people move their online business forward.

So if you get asked to do an interview, take them up on the offer, get the questions beforehand, they might just not be that scary.

Interviews are lightning fast product creation at it’s finest, be sure to include them in your own plans.

Do it.

Do it now.

Speak soon, Sally :)

Filed under: Interviews

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