‘You’ve got to go in HOT’
And fight like a warrior.That’s what Tim Tinnins knows better than most. For eight years, he served on the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s SWAT team. Thirty-two years total on the force. Twenty-seven of those on the road. Four years protecting three different governors.
Tim knows what it means to breach a door and face what’s on the other side.
But in 2012, the fight came for him in a way no tactical training could prepare him for. His newlywed bride, Angie, lost her battle with colon cancer. She was 39 years old.
And Tim’s entire world went cold.
Tim had to sit inside the crushing silence of grief and let that pain do what pain does—break everything open before anything new can grow.
But out of that fire came a mission: The Red Slipper Warrior Project.
Now Tim takes everything he learned about “Going In Hot” and pours it into women battling cancer. He’s no longer kicking in doors with a SWAT team. He’s building a different kind of force, one that helps women fight the hardest battle of their lives and refuse to let a diagnosis define them.
“I was never in a fight in my life that I didn’t get beat up some,” he says.
That’s the truth about cancer, too.
It knocks women down. But it does not get to have the final word.
A few weeks ago, I visited Tim at his office. His love for Angie wasn’t a fading memory tucked into a frame on the wall. It was the engine driving everything. Every slipper, every book, every blanket, every message embodying the Warrior Mindset.
His mission is clear: honor the whole woman, not just the diagnosis. Remind her that her identity and her strength are never defined by cancer.
Tim shared story after story of the women who received Warrior love packages, which included a pair of glittery red slippers to wear to chemo treatments.
They told him that sometimes, in those cold, sterile rooms where everything feels like it’s being stripped away, staring at those slippers was the only thing that held them together long enough to survive the treatment.
A flash of glitter in one of the worst moments of their lives. And it was enough.
The red slippers go back to a day when Angie was still alive. Tim had watched her drag him into yet another shoe store, and he finally asked, “Why shoes? Why MORE shoes?”
Angie looked at Tim and said:
“Cute shoes always love you.”
That one sentence became the seed of everything.
Angie did have to die first.
And Tim had to survive the valley of grief before the glitter could arrive.
But now, Angie’s legacy lives inside every pair of red slippers the Project sends out. That glitter shows up on a woman’s doorstep as tangible, undeniable proof: you are loved while you fight.
Here’s why I’m telling you this.
Your podcast is your warrior project.
You’ve walked through something to get to this mic. Maybe it was doubt. Maybe it was failure. Maybe it was cancer, a season that tried to break you open. And you survived it. You processed the pain. And now you’re ready to “Go In Hot” for the people who need to hear your voice.
Every episode you publish is a pair of glittery red slippers for someone sitting in their own cold, sterile moment—staring at their phone, wondering if they can keep going.
No one else can deliver that glitter the way you can. Your voice. Your story. Your conviction.
That’s why we podcast.
Your mic is a big part of your mission.
Your episodes are the ammunition.
And the people listening? They’re listening to what you created, holding on, getting through.
Don’t you dare stay quiet.
Jen
P.S. It took me hours to put this newsletter together. I kept reflecting on that time, listening to Tim share his story in his life with Angie and how God took that and turned it into something magnificent.
That's how it works.
There's so much that comes out of our pain that we cannot see when we are in agony and that is why we need to dig in and reflect and understand that God uses everything and the everything that you've been going through is how you become memorable, referable, and profitable.
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Become Memorable
Your podcast is your Red Slipper Warrior Project.
Every episode you publish is a pair of glittery shoes for a listener who feels beaten up by business, ministry, or life.
You’ve walked through your own fire to reach this mic. Now it’s time to lace up and deliver the goods.
🎬Teeny tiny action: You survived your fire to deliver glitter to someone else. Take 5 minutes and write your “Origin Story” not as a resume, but as a love letter to the person currently sitting in the darkness, waiting for you to bring them the light they desperately need. Identify the exact moment you decided to stand up after you had been knocked down.
Once you’ve captured that moment, you’ll realize your podcast isn’t about being an ‘expert’, it’s about being a guide. And guides don’t hoard their network; they connect their people to the mission. Let’s talk about how you can become the most referable person in your space by doing exactly what Tim did: giving others the floor.
Thanks for reading 🎤︎︎ Mic Drop Mastery! Subscribe to grow with me so you can grow your podcast profits.
Become Referable
Pass the mic, grow your empire.
Listen, the biggest, most exhausting lie we are taught in online business is that you have to hoard the spotlight to be the expert.
Please.
Tim didn’t build the Red Slipper Warrior Project by making it all about Tim. He built it by handing out the red slippers. He became the ultimate connector of hope.
Do you want to be the most wildly referable, go-to voice in your space? The one people literally cannot stop talking about?
Stop trying to be the only voice they hear.
When you promote someone else’s mission, when you loudly and proudly refer your audience to another warrior who can help them, you do not lose authority. You multiply it. You become the trusted hub for the exact solutions your listener is desperately looking for.
🎬 Teeny tiny action: Find ONE person, ONE mission, or ONE resource that helped you survive your own fire. Shout them out this week. Bring them on your show. Link to them in your emails. Not for a kickback. Do it because it’s exactly what your listener needs to win.
Let me practice what I preach right now.
I want to introduce you to an absolute warrior: my client, Jodi Silverman.
On Monday, May 4th at 12:15 PM Eastern, we are growing our network of rule-breakers, and I am proudly sharing the floor with her. We are tackling the giant elephant in the room that you are secretly wondering about:
Is podcasting on Substack the right next step for you?
This is NOT a pitch webinar. This is a totally live, open-mic Q+A where you experience live coaching in action. PLUS! You bring your questions about podcasting on Substack, I’ll bring the strategy, and Jodi will bring questions about what it looks like on the inside of Substack for your podcast.
Come meet the other podcasters who are curious about ditching the old, exhausting way and building something deeply profitable and completely yours.
The mic is open for YOU. This session is going to be fire.
Become Profitable
Fund the mission.
Let’s have a very real talk about money right now.
Tim couldn’t buy those glittery red slippers with just good intentions. It takes resources to run a mission.
You cannot fight for your listeners, deliver the glitter, or be the voice they desperately need if you are exhausted and broke.
If you are pouring your precious time, energy, and heart into a podcast that isn’t putting money back into your business, that is not a Warrior Project. That is a wildly expensive hobby.
And I want better for you.
This is exactly why we are flipping the podcasting model on its head and following Commandment #8 of Mic Drop Mastery: Sell Your Own Stuff.
Stop giving your best podcast real estate to someone else. You will earn faster with your own stuff than affiliates and sponsors ever could. That is why I’ve moved to Substack. Building paid tiers. Selling my own offers directly to the people who seek me out directly. You can do the same.
When your mission is fully funded, your impact becomes absolutely unstoppable.
🎬 Teeny tiny action: Look at your last three episodes. Did you invite your listeners to buy your stuff? Do you have a solid CTA?
Identify the exact battle your listener feels like they are losing right now, the massive, keep-them-up-at-night roadblock, that you could solve with a simple $47 audio series or a paid Substack tier. Write it down. That is your next offer.
Still trying to figure out how the heck Substack actually helps you sell your own stuff?
Get in the room on Monday.
If you are tired of the old, broken podcasting model and you want to know exactly how podcasters are using Substack to generate real revenue and fiercely loyal communities, you need to be at this Q+A.
Join me and Jodi Silverman on Monday, May 4th at 12:15 PM Eastern.
Jodi is going to share exactly what it looks like on the inside. Bring your questions about monetization, paid tiers, and how to actually fund your Warrior Project without burning out.
The mic is open. The strategy is real. Let’s get you paid for your work.
