In episode 257 of The Pulling Curls Podcast, Hilary Erickson shares an update on her recovery post-appendix surgery, reviewing recent changes and challenges in her business, and announces a shift in the podcast’s schedule. Hilary discusses the impact of recent Google changes on her online traffic, her frustration with unresponsive business courses, and her decision to take a break from the podcast before returning with longer, expert-focused episodes in 2025. Stay connected via social media and newsletters for updates.
Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts
Timestamps:
00:00 Business Shift and Sponsorship Updates
03:50 Podcast Reflections and Guest Challenges
06:21 “See You in 2025”
Keypoints:
- Hilary Erickson updates listeners on her health, stating she’s fully recovered after an appendix issue.
- She shares insights into her business, including past sponsorships with Labry and March of Dimes.
- Google algorithm changes have negatively impacted content creators, affecting her website traffic.
- Hilary expresses dissatisfaction with recent online classes, highlighting poor customer support and value.
- There’s a plan to shift the podcast focus, reducing frequency but increasing episode depth with expert guests.
- Future episodes will explore topics like marital roles and informed consent, with contributions from experts.
- The podcast is going on a temporary hiatus and will return in 2025 with a new format.
- Hilary emphasizes the importance of subscribing to her newsletter for updates on future episodes.
- She encourages listeners to follow her on social media to stay informed about podcast developments.
- Hilary gives a shout out to Arizona’s favorable weather, expressing appreciation for her environment.
Producer: Drew Erickson
Transcript
[00:00:00.000] – Hilary Erickson
Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on episode 257, we are talking about what’s happening lately, so let’s untangle it.
[00:00:09.490] – Hilary Erickson
Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the Pregnancy Nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled, the Pulling Curls Podcast.
[00:00:29.860] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, first off, I’ve had so many of you guys ask me how I’m doing post-appendix, and I got to say I’m doing really well. I’m back to 100 %. I don’t feel any different than I did previous to the appendix. So I got to give a shout out to bodies and how they heal. I cannot believe that I went from septic could barely get up to fine. Within four months, maybe even three, I was back to normal. So I guess medical system does work.
[00:01:01.490] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, I did an episode last year on how I make money, and that was so popular. I thought I’d review what things are doing in my business and how some things are shifting, which is going to include the podcast. So stay tuned.
[00:01:15.190] – Hilary Erickson
First off, I have had some amazing opportunities. I had that podcast sponsored by L’abri, and I love working with them. I’m hoping to work with them again in the future. I’ve had a couple of sponsorships with the March of Dimes, which is just a dream come true to work with such a big company that has such a big reach.
[00:01:32.240] – Hilary Erickson
Really loving that, hoping to work with them again in the future. And sponsorships, of course, help the bottom line of the business. And so I’m really grateful for them. I’m always looking for new sponsorships, and I’m hoping to get the podcast sponsored more in the future. That being said, Google has just slaughtered content creators, people who write websites, even high-quality websites.
[00:01:52.980] – Hilary Erickson
And I’m looking at this through every niche. That includes food bloggers, great food bloggers who test their recipes. And I got to tell you, there’s a lot of food blogger recipes out there that they don’t test. They ask AI to make them a soup recipe, and then they just throw it up online. And then you eat it and you want to just throw up. So great food bloggers.
[00:02:13.040] – Hilary Erickson
They’re getting deranked on Google. Travel bloggers. This is AI writing travel blog information. They’re just being demonetized. Reddit’s coming up first. So it’s been really tough. I have had my traffic from Google just decimated, and that is hard to see. I’m trying to bring it back by working more on Pinterest. I took a Pinterest class, and I got to say, huge disappointment. He was like, If you don’t see a big increase, I’ll help you. And I’ve emailed him, and guess what? He hasn’t helped me. So I don’t know why I take these classes expecting anything.
[00:02:44.110] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, I got to say that I take my classes so much more seriously than these business classes take their courses. If a couple comes to me and they’re like, I’m having a hard time accessing it, or do you have any more information on this? I would be on it and helping them in whatever way that I could. And these people, I’m paying five times as much for this class, and they’re just like, sorry.
[00:03:06.450] – Hilary Erickson
Anyway, I’m just saying, just a big pet peeve soapbox of mine in the industry that I’m in. I have a goal to not take a single class this year because I can’t think of a single class I’ve taken that really has helped me. That’s all.
[00:03:17.510] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, which brings me here to this podcast. We are on episode 257 today. That is a lot of episodes, and I’m not here to repeat the episodes. I figure you guys can scroll back. A lot of people are like, oh, you should just bring back old episodes. And I could do that. But a lot of times people find my podcast because it’s linked in blog posts that are about that.
[00:03:36.650] – Hilary Erickson
I’ve already talked about a hospital bag. It’s linked in my hospital bag post. I talk about the hospital bag all the time, and I link to that hospital bag post in there. And my hospital packing list has not changed. So I’m like, oh, I really don’t want to rerecord that episode. I might end up recording a new episode on stuff like that, but right now I’m just like, that’s too much.
[00:03:55.380] – Hilary Erickson
And I’ve got to admit, because our podcast, it just hasn’t taken off like I hoped it would when I started it. We started probably before everybody started jumping on the podcast bandwagon. Late 2019, I think, is when we started it. And I’ve enjoyed it, but I got to admit, we’ve had people on this podcast that I did not enjoy having as guests.
[00:04:16.030] – Hilary Erickson
I get a lot of requests to have guests on the podcast that are basically just ads for companies or people, and I’m just not interested in that. I will say that I did the recording with Dani a couple of episodes before about Baby Child Safety, and I just enjoyed recording it with her. I was talking with a good friend who had a lot of insight on a specific topic.
[00:04:34.910] – Hilary Erickson
And so as I was thinking about that, that’s how I’ve decided to change the podcast. It’s going to come out maybe monthly. It’ll just be a fun surprise in your podcast player, or you’ll see me on social media and you’ll know one’s available and waiting for you. But my plan now is to come out with longer episodes with friends who are experts on a specific topic that I think will be really helpful for you guys. So I’m hoping to have Danny come back on and talk about how she got pregnant with her first baby.
[00:05:02.110] – Hilary Erickson
But I know I have a couple already in the works. We’re going to be talking about marital roles with one of my favorite social workers, and we’re going to be talking about informed consent with one of my favorite midwives.
[00:05:14.440] – Hilary Erickson
So I’m really excited for these episodes, and I hope you guys will really enjoy them. But we are going on hiatus for a little bit of time. We’re not really sure when we’re coming back. We have some episodes scheduled to be recorded, but I can’t keep making this podcast a weekly chore when it’s just not giving us the return in investment that we hoped.
[00:05:32.130] – Hilary Erickson
I’m hoping that we end up getting some podcast sponsors, and then maybe we increase how frequently we’re posting. I just don’t know.
[00:05:39.720] – Hilary Erickson
So we will see you sometime in 2025 with some longer episodes. Make sure that you’re following Pulling Curls on social media so you can see when we come up or follow me on the pregnancy nurse. Pregnancy will be on there. Regular Home Life will be on Pulling Curls.
[00:05:52.800] – Hilary Erickson
Thank you for listening. Thank you for hanging out with me. I’m excited for what’s going on in 2025. Please join my newsletter because those people will also always get a shout out when the podcast is relevant to them. You can always pick in the Pulling Curls newsletter what’s relevant to you. So if you’re not interested in pregnancy, like I wouldn’t be if I wasn’t the pregnancy nurse, you don’t need to get that pregnancy information, but I can send you other information that you will find helpful.
[00:06:17.040] – Hilary Erickson
Also, can I give a shout out to Arizona? Our weather has been so good lately. I’m just trying to relish in it. So I’ll see you sometime in 2025. Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls Podcast today. If you like today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.
Keywords:
Pulling Curls podcast, episode 257, pregnancy, parenting, sponsorships, Google, content creators, traffic, Pinterest, podcast guests, hospital bag, podcast changes, podcast frequency, podcast sponsors, podcast hiatus, marital roles, informed consent, expert guests, podcasts, social media, newsletter, Arizona weather, business opportunities, medical system, healing, appendix recovery, blog posts, AI, recipes, course disappointment, pasta sponsorship, March of Dimes sponsorship, Laborie sponsorship
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