Discover how to transform your passion into meaningful impact! Join our interview with Cindy Doyle as she shares her journey and practical strategies to inspire change in your field.
IE 421: Turning Passion into Impact with Cindy Doyle
Cindy Doyle is a podcaster, author, international speaker, content creator, and licensed, professional counselor with a group private practice in the north Texas area.
She also has an education-based company called Code 4 Couples that educates law officers and their spouses on emotional and relational health and how to be resilient while working in law enforcement.
When did you decide that you wanted to go from the practice into helping people and creating online content to reach more people?
Cindy is married to a law enforcement officer and is a trauma counselor and couples’ therapist. She would see couples come into the therapy room and was able to help them but her own relationship was annoying to her.
There were things she tried to do that didn’t land well in her marriage. When doing her research, she found that there was nothing out there for police spouses except for books that said to “suck it up buttercup” or were trauma based.
She started digging into research journals, police psychology journals, police and law enforcement journals, etc. to try to figure out what might be going on that she didn’t know. She found that there was a lot of neuropsychology going on in her husband’s brain that conditioned him to respond the way he does.
A phrase she uses for this is “What keeps you safe on the job spills over at home.” She and her husband were both unaware that his job was spilling over at home.
As she started to fix her own relationship of 15 years, Cindy wondered if she could do something bigger and naively started a blog in 2016. This is the same year that five Dallas police officers were shot and Cindy wanted to do more to support the community.
Then, she randomly started a podcast. Later, she realized there was a strategy to all of this. She knew that she wanted to get it out there and educate others on what they were going through.
One reason that many small businesses fail is because they are not sure of their overall purpose and the problem they are trying to solve for their audience. Businesses start to click when you are able to apply your own personal experiences, serve, and help others that are struggling.
How are you using your podcast to increase your visibility?
The podcast has been Cindy’s best marketing. People are now asking to be on her podcast. It is growing because it is so niched.
The last two years, she has been really consistent. She can see who is listening. People will find her because of the podcast.
She did not expect people to begin to respect her as an authority and view her as interesting, personal, and willing to share her own failures. Because she is authentic, people connect with her.
That is the best marketing because people listen to her and connect with her. People ask her about her husband, travels, dogs because she uses those things to personalize herself on the podcast.
Before the podcast, were you speaking and getting paid for it the way you are now?
No way! Cindy spoke occasionally at her statewide professional conference and those are always free. Paid speaking was not on her radar.
Now, her income can be broken down into ⅔ of her income comes from speaking and ⅓ is from her therapy practice. Speaking and training is a big part of her income now since she is able to charge what she is worth. Other people find value in what she has to say. The podcast has enabled people to find her.
How else are you utilizing your podcast on your website?
Cindy puts her podcast on the website as a blog, which drives traffic to the website because Google finds it.
When she first started podcasting, she randomly did a podcast and didn’t understand the podcast itself wasn’t going to drive people to the website. She is still learning the other ways that bring people in and to be more strategic about the content she is putting on the podcast instead of being random.
There is a plan behind it. When they go to the podcast, they end up on a blog and then the website that is easy to navigate, provides them routes to take to identify their pain points, their needs, and allows them to easily find all of the services that Cindy offers; services, products, books, speaking opportunities.
Cindy is still on a journey to find out what the next thing or product she wants to create. It is always a journey. There is never perfection to say she is done. Instead, it is discovering what is shifting and changing.
As she moves through the process, her perspective is also changing. Where she was six years ago is different than where she is today. She has managed to keep up with the trend and stay on top of the minds for people who are going to hire her to speak and her audience.
What is the main product you offer first to the spouse of an officer?
Cindy only has a few products. She has her book and the workbook that goes along with it. She has some freebies and opt-ins. She has education to offer to individuals that come to her website.
Cindy has focused on departments, agencies, and organizations because they are the ones that provide her with a bigger income. This has caused her to see what other items she is missing and lay out a plan for the lifespan journey for law enforcement careers. For departments, she created a “Train the Trainer” program.
Cindy used the things she had a passion for and created the website and podcast. She is trying to serve people. Others saw that and she was able to start the whole speaking part of her revenue stream.
She is learning what her audience needs and is able to create products for the departments whose officers may not have the income to pay her to speak or train.
Cindy expected to be reaching out to individuals, spouses, and officers or that they would reach out to her and ask why their relationship wasn’t working. It did start that way but then departments started reaching out to her to speak.
People began finding her through the podcast. Cindy is not working on products and courses for people she works with one-on-one and those who want to dive deeper on how to impact their relationship and the topics in her book.
If someone wanted to be a speaker and talk about their passion or expertise, are there recommendations about how to get started?
Cindy does suggest starting with a podcast. When she started, she also posted YouTube videos of the podcast. She recommends making sure you have your messaging down. Know what you want to highlight and talk about. Know your expertise.
Know what makes you unique and how you present your information. Part of what makes you unique is your story. Share your story.
This is vulnerable because you are sharing a part of yourself. People connect to your journeys and your struggles. It makes them feel seen.
A podcast gets your messaging out there. Decide what you want to talk about. Whatever medium you use to get your message out, blogging or podcasting, when you are talking about something on a regular basis and you keep breaking it down, people will want to hear more.
One of Cindy’s messages is “What keeps you safe on the job spills over at home.” She is able to spend hours on that topic.
Cindy thinks it is helpful to guest on other people’s podcasts. Leverage someone else’s audience and talk to them. People are always looking for guests on their podcasts.
Look for other videos you can use. Perhaps you have been interviewed by someone else. Cindy has a recording of a speaking presentation she did. She is going to have that edited down into smaller parts so she can drip it out to her audience.
It can be part of your email, opt-in, or freebie to send video out.
She also recommends that if you are going to pursue speaking, be active on LinkedIn. That is the audience that is going to hire you.
Your audience may not be on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. While people may see you on those platforms, they are going to validate your credentials on LinkedIn.
The first speaking gig Cindy got was from a spouse that heard her content. You don’t know where your leads will come from.
No one is your competition. Stand out. Don’t compete.
The podcast gives people the opportunity to find you, listen to you, and connect with what you are doing.
What would you say is the number one tip you would give to people that are trying to get a business off the ground while dealing with all of life’s happenings?
Consistency. It is better to do small things often, just like your marriage and relationship, instead of coming on bold and then going away.
You don’t have to do your podcast weekly. Cindy batch recorded all of her podcasts and then dripped them out every two weeks. People don’t know that she batched them. They just see the consistency of the podcast.
Do something you can do consistently. It is easy to want to bite the elephant but instead be consistent.
Don’t try to be clever with your business names. Be direct. Cindy wishes she had picked a different name. Cindy is a great example of having a website that is meant for the right audience.
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