BLOC Podcast

57: Content Curation and Creation with Lavinia Mehedintu

August 23, 2022 Heidi Kirby Episode 57
BLOC Podcast
57: Content Curation and Creation with Lavinia Mehedintu
Show Notes Transcript

On this episode, I chat with co-founder of Offbeat, Lavinia Mehedintu, about creating a podcast, starting a business, and curating content.

Lavinia Mehedintu has been designing learning experiences and career development programs for the past 9 years both in the corporate world and in higher education. As a Co-Founder and Learning Architect @Offbeat she’s applying adult learning principles so that learning & people professionals can connect, collaborate, and grow. She’s passionate about social learning, behavior change, and technology and constantly puts in the work to bring these three together to drive innovation in the learning & development space.

Visit Offbeat: offbeat.works

Lavinia's suggestion for inspiration: producthunt.com


Connect with Heidi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiekirby/

Thanks for listening to the BLOC!

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiekirby/

Or check out what I'm working on over at https://www.getusefulstuff.com/

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Just trust your gut and go for the thing that feels right for you as well, because if it doesn't feel right for you, you won't be committed.

Heidi Kirby:

And welcome to the blog, the building learning and organizational culture podcast. I'm your host Heidi Kirby, and on today's episode, I'm talking to the co founder of offbeat Lavinia Mehedintu to about what it's like to start a newsletter. What it's like to start a business and how to curate amazing content. Hey, Lavinia, how are you?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Hi, I'm well, thank you. It's been a long day already. But Oh, good.

Heidi Kirby:

Good. Good. I'm glad to have you here on the podcast. And we'll just get right into it. Why don't you tell me a little bit about you, where you come from where what you're working on today and anything fun you want to share?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Awesome. So I'm from first time from Europe from Bucharest, Romania. I've been an l&d Professional officially and undercover for about nine years now. I started in in higher ed first designing career development programs for students. And then I moved to the beautiful corporate world.

Heidi Kirby:

Yay. Awesome. And so you have started a wonderful newsletter, called offbeat. You want to tell me a little bit about that and how that came to be?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Yeah, it's such a funny story. Because I started in the pandemic, at the beginning of the pandemic, it was mostly because I was bored out of my mind. Because, yeah, no interaction with friends, family, I had to stay in my house like everyone else, obviously. And they started this series of weekly LinkedIn posts, someone suggested it suggested me to turn it into a newsletter. And I said, Okay, let's try this. And last week, I sent the 109 issue, and I yeah, I can't believe it.

Heidi Kirby:

It's amazing. And it's weekly. Yes, it's weekly. Yeah. So how do you keep up with all of the content creation slash curation? Because I just started a newsletter, bi weekly, I'm on the fifth issue, and I'm like, how am I gonna keep this?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

I think it's a lot about habits, to be honest. Like, I picked up some very good habits right from the start. So each day, I spent some time just looking through a LinkedIn. And this is like my first tip for everyone started in starting a newsletter. I think, having a good LinkedIn feed with people that you follow that you appreciate, maybe they have different opinions over stuff that also helps. So I do this. And then I have a, you know, in two years, I gathered some trusted sources. So I spent time just going through them and seeing if they have something new. So this is what I kind of do from Monday to Thursday. And then what I do is, I spend Fridays, just going through all the resources that I've gathered, I usually save them to a bookmark. So it's nothing fancy. I don't use a tool. Maybe I should use one, but I can't seem to pick it. I

Heidi Kirby:

have your routine down. Now you already have it.

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Yeah, exactly. Probably because I don't want to disrupt it. Because I'm afraid that what might happen, you know, I hear that. Yeah. So Fridays, I go through everything. And I just put the newsletter together and write my reflections as well.

Heidi Kirby:

I love it. That's so great. I'm usually like scrambling on Tuesday morning, to put all my stuff together and thinking like, what is it going to be about this? But I do I resonate with that idea of being bored during the pandemic and starting something. That's how this podcast got started. And, to me, it's much easier than curating content and trying to pull together resources, like I just need to find one resource in this case, and just ask a bunch of questions. And it's easy, you know,

Lavinia Mehedintu:

I'm sure it still has its challenges, you know, oh, sure. But yeah, but yeah, I and I have the bad fortune of sending the newsletter on a Sunday. So that was, but yeah, it's still lovely. And I wanted to say something else. The fact that talking to people just like talking to you or anyone in l&d is also a great source of inspiration because I keep hearing their issues and I come back to the resources have found or my own my own experiences. So, yeah, I get to reflect in writing as well.

Heidi Kirby:

That's awesome. So how has offbeat kind of opened up that network for you?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Well, what I did was and what I still do is share every time a new newsletter issue is launched, and tagging all the amazing people that write articles or do podcasts like yourself. And that's how people reached out to me started following me. And I got to meet so many amazing people from all over the world in these two years. And it's been great. Like, I also got to learn a lot about the power of networking and social learning communities of practice, which is kind of great.

Heidi Kirby:

Do you have fans? Oh, my gosh.

Lavinia Mehedintu:

There are some very funny people, people it's really even hard for me to say friends, but there are some people that maybe we've met right now. And they've been following golf beetroot for two years or one year and they say, Oh, my God, I'm finally meeting you.

Heidi Kirby:

But I think Isn't it crazy? Yeah. Yeah. It is. Just so wild. It's like who? Me?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Yeah, exactly. I'm like, No, I think friends is a very, very strong.

Heidi Kirby:

They're what we can call them fans of the news. Yes, that feels better. To newsletter rather than fans. Because I have fans of the podcast. They're not fans of me. They're fans of the podcast. But yeah, I mean, having something that's lasted for two years like that consistently. You end up with all of these people who are like, I've listened to every episode. I've read every issue. I've it's been so helpful. And at some point, you don't have to market it as hard because it's, it's taken on a life of its own and people find value in it and I think offbeat has been that way for me since the beginning. And I think I I know it was my l&d Bestie Aaron Chancellor that sent it to me the first time, but I think I think I ended up maybe like, halfway through like, like, issue 50 or something. So, offbeat is now more than a newsletter, though. Right? Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah.

Lavinia Mehedintu:

So as I was saying earlier, I think I discovered the power of community, right, and the board of social learning and sharing knowledge. And how important is that to anyone's career development and growth? The journey, right? And I, the newsletters is still kind of One Direction. I would say like, I do get some replies I people recommend resources and all that. But I always felt like, you know, I like to connect people. I like to see people connecting to each other and answering each other's questions, right. So yeah, this year, we started this, this private collective of l&d professionals, where we run, like, we do run events like any other community does. But we have some, we try and embed some practicals of practical ways of learning as well, we have, because in two years, you can imagine we've gathered such a huge library of resources. And we finally got the chance to put it all together. And people that are fellows can go through them and filter them and even save them to their own board. So yeah, we are just trying to build this collective where self directed learning is very, very important, as important as social learning and sharing knowledge. So yeah, that's what we've been up to.

Heidi Kirby:

Yeah. And how has that been? Like, what has the shift been like,

Lavinia Mehedintu:

oh, for myself, it's amazing. I get to interact with people. And I think I get to know them a bit more personally, then then I did before. We have this. We run masterminds small groups of people. And we've been meeting, we have two of them, because we're not such a big community. But we've been meeting for I think, five months now, every two weeks. And the kind of relationship that forms around such a group is it's yeah, it's getting just so personal. And we know each other struggles. And when someone says something, or we say oh, yeah, because you mentioned that so it's Yeah, it definitely gets more personal and authentic, which helps, you know, with psychology, psychological safety, which is, you know, we already know how important that is for Learning. So yeah, it's it's amazing.

Heidi Kirby:

Yeah, and what kind of let's start with the newsletter. But what would you recommend to someone who is thinking about starting a newsletter? Because I see, I get invited to subscribe to newsletters on LinkedIn, like, at least twice a week, if not more. And I just say yes. And then I never go. Because like LinkedIn is clunky to me for newsletters, first of all, and I keep forgetting that they exist. Yep. And there's no like reminder, like, you don't get like something in your email or with all your newsletters. It's just like they're hanging out somewhere. So I feel like, you know, everybody jumped on the newsletter bandwagon because LinkedIn offer that, but that there wasn't necessarily like a lot of planning and value. And something somebody said to me about my podcast recently, really resonated with me where they were like, think about how many people start a podcast, and then think about how many people are still doing years later. And I think the same goes for a newsletter, right? So how do you what tips would you give? And how do you? Like, what advice do you have for being consistent and keeping it long term?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Well, I think so reading a newsletter, or listening to listening to a podcast, it's a habit, right? And forming the habit. That's what we want as creators, right? And forming a habit takes time, hence, why a creator needs consistency. Because, you know, at first I was sending off bits to 40 people or something. And it was okay for two people. But it again, it grew organically, and I needed patience. I think patience helps a lot with being consistent. So that's first be aware that this is a new habit for people, and they need time to form that habit. And I think, to be honest, it's it's not only about consistency, it's even about when you send the newsletter, for example, although it's not the easiest for me to send it on a Sunday, but people have gotten used to receiving it. And next day, Monday morning, it's in their emails, and they start their week with the newsletter, I've received this feedback a lot. So again, although it's not that fun, I remember I was on a holiday and I was free for Formula One, and I was in the parking lot. And I had to send the newsletter, and I sent the newsletter.

Unknown:

So that's dedicated.

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Yeah, so that's the first thing then when it comes to how you can be consistent. Again, I think it's all about habits. Because, you know, having those 1520 minutes, 30 minutes a day when I'm bored, when whatever, but I try to do that every day. And also, because, you know, I learned so much out of, you know, curating the resources because I have to read them, and I want to make sure that their quality is high. So myself as an l&d professional, I also learned a lot, a lot. So you have to make sure that you learn on the go as well. Yeah, I think that

Heidi Kirby:

is really great. Yeah, yeah, that's really great. I think that what you said about it, being a habit is really important. That's kind of how I've kept up with the podcasts for so long is it just, you know, if I don't have a guest, I know that I'm gonna have to at least come up with something by myself. And it really becomes that, you know, I have to do this. It's not an option to the point where I don't even forget, I just know that it's the opposite Tuesday. Right? And I'm like, oh, it's podcast Tuesday. Gotta have something ready. And I have such a process and what you were saying about you know, it being simple and bookmarking things is the same for me like, I don't edit the episodes really heavily right? I try to keep the conversations as natural as possible and have very little editing. So that really it takes maybe two hours with a recording like this to produce it at this point, which is super awesome because it used to take a lot longer. Yeah. Once you get that routine down, like you said, you can be you can be going, Oh, no, I've got to publish this podcast from my car out of town. And, you know, it's but you also, what drives me a little bit too is like the, the expectation of the people who've become the right like us, the people who are fans have the newsletter and the podcast, you don't want to let them down, right? Like, that's the people pleaser, right? Like, why is it like, I don't want them to not have a podcast episode if they're expecting one. And I think that that, like, That's motivation that we don't always think about. But that is so important. Yeah,

Lavinia Mehedintu:

I completely relate to that. And to be honest, at first, I was like, who would not notice if I don't send it or if I make a change? And then I made the change to the newsletter, and someone commented on LinkedIn, I'm not seeing action and longer is it not there? Have you dropped it? And that was, Oh, my God, people know this. So yeah, I think like, we're human beings, right? Even the feedback that you get that you help someone, especially working in learning, and like, getting that feedback that Oh, my God, that article have helped me in designing the program I'm doing or I've shared it with my manager, and we're doing this now. So yeah, that helps a lot, a lot. But on the other hand, because I was speaking about patience, that took a while, you know, until I got that feedback.

Heidi Kirby:

So yes, that's very true. You have to have like, you have to build it up as a habit first for you. Yeah, before everyone else starts noticing it. And yeah, especially with the things like, you know, off B, and the blocks that are that were grown organically, right? Like, I've never paid for ads, or you know, anything like that, or any type of like, it's all just been me promoting it, and the wonderful people that I talked to, and that's the other great part is like, including other people help so much, and it helps across the board, because then you're giving them a platform, it's like a win win win, right?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Yes, exactly. And I was actually, because this idea of learning newsletters, even internally in organizations, I've had so many conversations about that lately, even today, I had to be honest. And in the late latest off with issue, I actually wrote about newsletters, and I mentioned this, you know, involve people in all sorts of ways in your newsletter, for example, enough, but we have a section called five to go, where we invite people to share their recommendations, right? Or we have the spotlight where we invite them to reflect on their own learnings. And they get to share. And they also mentioned this, you know, reflection moment as being very powerful for them as well. So yeah, I completely understand what you're

Heidi Kirby:

saying. And then, on the other side of things, you're building a business now? Yes, I am. So give me some advice about that. And what what that's been like and what you would recommend to people who are thinking about starting their own business, or cohort based courses or community things

Lavinia Mehedintu:

like Yeah, so it's, it's a combination of things, to be honest, like, It's the freedom can be very fulfilling, obviously. But it can also stop you from doing things, because there are so many options out there. So you're making all the decisions, right? And you need to just trust your gut, obviously, do your research, I would say that, that's the first thing. And once your gut is informed with the research that I've been doing, just trust your gut and go for the thing that feels right for you as well. Because if it doesn't feel right for you, you won't be committed. Right? So that's the first thing then another thing that keeps happening to me and I have to, to just take a step back and reflect is that I have this big vision for offpage. Right? So I know where I want to get. But truth is that today I have to do the work that I have to do today. And I have to take maybe a very small step towards that big big vision. So I always try and you know, keep myself as grounded as possible. And always looking at the next step. I have to take as little as that is because it Yeah, it's just helps him not becoming very anxious because you want reach that vision anytime soon, right? So, yeah, you need to, yeah, just just take the next small step. And the other thing is also figuring out what feeds you, right? Because especially when you're so small, just like with the newsletter, right? Like, feedback isn't coming in on a regular basis, right? So you need to have some metrics for yourself to feel like you're you're progressing or just having some some feedback loops for yourself. Just not to go crazy. You

Heidi Kirby:

know, all of that is so great. I love what you said about having like, the informed gut, because I feel like a lot of times, especially on social media on like LinkedIn and everything, people, they're pushing the hustle culture so hard right there, like, you know, I was just talking with my business coach Sarah canister about this yesterday, you know, yes, yeah. And, you know, she was saying, like, there's all this stuff around, just dive in, like jump in with both feet. And she's like, why can't you just walk into the water slowly? Like, that's an option too. And I think that that kind of goes with taking in all the information. And, you know, I'm actually working on building a side, l&d business right now. And so a lot of that resonates with me to have, I have all these big things that I want to do. And I know that they're not going to all happen instantly. And you have to have like your today baby steps. Like, it's okay to daydream about where you're going to be in six months. But then you have to bring yourself back down and say, How am I going to wade into the kiddie pool?

Lavinia Mehedintu:

That's so cute. Yeah, yeah. And you mentioned something very interesting. We actually. So I tend to go into work like very, very deep, which is not healthy, especially, you know, having your own thing. It can feel like if you're not there, if you're not working, your your business isn't progressing as well. But to be fully honest, like, having your mental health spending time with the people you love spending time with yourself. That's so so important, because it feeds you and it gives you like mental space to Yeah, just relax, and then come back to work with with more energy. And, yeah, that's so important. And I feel like, right now, if you're looking at all the interviews, and all the big entrepreneurs and all that, exactly like you were saying, like hustle and the work, it is work hard, don't get me wrong. But it's also work smart, I guess, with yourself as well.

Heidi Kirby:

Yeah, you have to take care of yourself first. And like, you're, you know, you think of your your business or your career as like a little baby. And it's like the oxygen mask on the airplane, right? Like, you have to put yours on first before you can put yours on your little baby. And you're not going to have any energy to put into it. If you're spending that all on other things. And the best entrepreneurs I know, set those like you just like you're saying, set some of those really clear boundaries around. You know, I don't start work every morning until 10. I don't do meetings on Friday, I make sure that I take you know, a week off every couple of months and do nothing, you know, like they have these little ritual, right for for preservation and mental health and making sure that they take care of themselves. And I think that that's that's really important, because we don't see as much of that on social media.

Lavinia Mehedintu:

Yep, that's That's right. But, you know, even with social media, you don't know what's behind. Right? You don't know what's happening.

Heidi Kirby:

Absolutely. You know, and you only see the big glamorous thing, then you don't see. That's why I'm so passionate about just sharing like all of it, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, right, because I think a lot of people get discouraged when they only see the good things. And, you know, I think that a lot more people would try and there's so many smart people out there with great ideas that are probably a little bit discouraged by the fact that all they see is the

Lavinia Mehedintu:

good Yeah, yep. Yeah, I completely agree.

Heidi Kirby:

No, that's great. So my last question for you just to wrap things up is what resource other than because that'll be linked in the show notes, of course. But what resource other than offbeat would you recommend to someone who I'll let you choose wants to either build a business or or start their own content curation slash newsletter.

Lavinia Mehedintu:

That's hard. So if they want to start their own content curation, I would. That's actually really hard. I would look obviously, products and people that are already doing this. So I'm a very a huge copycat. So I look at what others are doing. And I say, oh my god, this applies for me as well. So just go into I'm not sure if people are familiar with this, but Product Hunt is a huge source of inspiration and any every other day newsletters and and yeah, products that are meant for curation pop up in there, so they can go and it's actually actually also a very good inspiration for people that want to start their businesses. Because it's, you know, seeing products every other day in there. You just realized, realize how big the world is, and how many you know how from a really small idea. Something can can be born, right. So it's it's full of inspiration product Hunter, I have to admit.

Heidi Kirby:

I've never heard of it. I'm gonna check it out. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much Lavinia, for joining me. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. Likewise. Thank

Lavinia Mehedintu:

you for for having me here. And yeah, just good luck with the podcast. You're doing an amazing job.

Heidi Kirby:

Good luck with the newsletter. Awesome. Thanks again for joining me on the blog. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends and review us on your favorite podcast platform. I hope you'll tune in again soon.