Nikki’s got a cool work opportunity that means she’s stepping away from recording for a bit — so we’re taking a short hiatus and re-releasing some of our favorite episodes in the meantime (all labeled, so you know what’s a rerun).
While we’re off, I’ll be writing Elijah’s book, spending time with family, and doing some behind-the-scenes upgrades — including moving fully off Substack. If you followed us there, make sure you’re subscribed on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you don’t miss anything.
All our show notes, frameworks, and book recs now live at firstdatesandsoulmates.com.
We’re also close to a big YouTube milestone — if you’ve got a second, hit subscribe at Youtube.com/@FirstDatesSoulmates. It genuinely helps, even if you mostly listen elsewhere.
Miss us already? Check out:
🎙️ Would Recommend — Nikki’s podcast on customer experience
🎙️ Aggressively Human — Meg’s podcast on keeping business human in the age of AI
👯 Nikki as a guest on Meg’s podcast talking customer service in the age of AI
See you in the fall. 💛
Transcript
Hey there, soulmates.
2
:It's Meg.
3
:I am coming to you on a Monday this
week for a bit of a behind-the-scenes
4
:announcement and some updates.
5
:Obviously, the most important update that
I have to share with you today, if you're
6
:watching this on YouTube, you already
know, is I did end up cutting my bangs.
7
:I know I have been threatening to cut my
bangs since, uh, the Off Campus episode,
8
:and I decided to go ahead and do it.
9
:So if you're only listening to the
audio feed of this, head on over to
10
:our YouTube and check it out 'cause
they're so super cute, you guys.
11
:Now for the real announcements,
the actual important things
12
:to interrupt your feed to say.
13
:Nikki has had this really cool
experience handed to her for
14
:work, and so she needs to take a
bit of a hiatus from the podcast.
15
:And so we'll be off for a couple of
weeks, but you won't be without podcast
16
:episodes . We're gonna be re-releasing
some of our favorite episodes.
17
:I'll make sure to label
them as re-release.
18
:We might even do little intros of here's
why we're - re-releasing this one,
19
:here's why this is one of our favorites.
20
:So especially if you're fairly new
to the podcast, there may be old book
21
:read-alongs or pop culture references,
movie watches that you missed when
22
:they came out the first time, and
you'll be able to catch them this time.
23
:I really had a good time figuring
out what those episodes were going
24
:to be, and hopefully you'll have
just as much fun either hearing
25
:those episodes for the first time or
revisiting them again with fresh ears
26
:so Nikki's off doing cool things for work.
27
:I will be writing the next book,
so those of you who are waiting for
28
:Elijah's story, that is on the way.
29
:I will be spending more time with
my family because Upstate New York
30
:in winter is a hell hole, but it's
kind of nice in the summer, so we
31
:actually get to spend time outside.
32
:Um, and also, I'm taking some of
that time that I would normally spend
33
:researching and preparing for episodes
and recording and editing, and I'm gonna
34
:be doing some big behind-the-scenes
upgrades on the podcast itself,
35
:on the YouTube, on the website.
36
:So if you see some of those upgrades,
that's what's going on right now.
37
:You may have already noticed that
we moved the feed off of Substack.
38
:So if you follow us on Substack,
you will need to move your feed
39
:to Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
40
:Um, if you were already listening
on one of those channels, hopefully
41
:you didn't notice anything, and
it was a really smooth transition.
42
:But if you're looking for show
notes, we're no longer gonna
43
:be putting those on Substack.
44
:They actually all exist now
on firstdatesandsoulmates.com.
45
:So if you're looking for anything
from us, firstdatesandsoulmates.com
46
:is the place to get that.
47
:That's gonna be show notes.
48
:That's gonna be our frameworks.
49
:I'm going through and taking our
recommendations when we have those
50
:episodes where we have, like,
literally some of them, we have
51
:40 recommendations for books.
52
:And so I'm turning them into
blog posts, so that way people
53
:can find them more easily.
54
:Um, I know many of you have said,
like, "This is a great list,
55
:and I can't always find it."
56
:So we're trying to make that as
searchable and findable as possible.
57
:I'm also planning to do a pretty major
backlist upgrade on the YouTube channel.
58
:We're actually very close
to a YouTube milestone.
59
:We've got just over 400 subscribers.
60
:We would love to get 500 so that
way we can hit that big milestone.
61
:If we hit 1,000, that would be amazing
'cause it can open up a lot of sponsorship
62
:opportunities for us, and the ability to
communicate with you in different ways.
63
:So even if you are listening to this on
Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever
64
:you're listening to it, if you could just
pop over to YouTube and just click the
65
:subscribe button, give a little thumbs up
for my bangs 'cause they're so cute, and
66
:then you don't have to listen to it again.
67
:. That would be really, really helpful
for us and make us feel really loved.
68
:But we had a couple months there
on the YouTube channel where we
69
:weren't uploading the videos as they
were coming out just 'cause w- we
70
:didn't have the capacity to do it.
71
:So while we're on our podcast hiatus, I'm
gonna update some of those old YouTube
72
:videos, so you'll get two or three new
YouTube videos every week of existing
73
:podcasts s- so that people will be able to
find them more easily on YouTube as well.
74
:So if there were any of those videos
that you missed, you can head on over,
75
:subscribe to our YouTube channel.
76
:You'll get those in your feed
as soon as they're available.
77
:. So we will be back in the fall.
78
:We'll be primed and ready to go.
79
:We'll have some better marketing
infrastructure in place.
80
:That way we can serve you even better
and create better content for you.
81
:And in the meantime, if you miss us,
especially if you're also a business
82
:owner, we do also both have our own
podcast separately from each other.
83
:So if you're into customer
experience, you can go check out
84
:Nikki's new podcast, Would Recommend.
85
:Or if you're run- running a business
and you wanna make sure that it
86
:stays human in the age of AI, you
can check out a podcast that c- I
87
:co-host called Aggressively Human.
88
:And we actually just had Nikki on
as our guest to talk about customer
89
:service in the age of AI just a
couple weeks ago, so I'll put that
90
:link in the show notes as well.
91
:But most of all, soulmates, this is a
great opportunity for me to say thank you.
92
:Thank you for listening.
93
:Thank you for watching.
94
:Thank you for being a soulmate and being
a part of our community, and we're so
95
:excited to share these re-releasing
of episodes with you over the next few
96
:weeks and get reinvigorated so that way
we can come back to fall hot and talk
97
:all things, you know, love hypothesis
and shifters and paranormal and holidays
98
:and, ugh, yes, I already have picked
out the sentient food romance for our
99
:third annual American Thanksgiving.
100
:So we've got really cool things coming up.
101
:Stick with us, and we'll
be back in the fall
