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BONUS- 475A-Reverse benefit of podcasting — how your sphere of influence can grow YOU

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver some thoughts from an old benefit of starting a podcast. Initially, you were told by such pundits in podcasting like Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting that podcasts can help you grow your sphere of influence (as well as grow your audience).

Well, after some thought, I have a case study that proves to new and aspiring podcasters, that podcasting can help your sphere of influence to GROW YOU.

Case study is a podcast show that has been around since 2014 — The 2030 Podcast. And, as a short story, this podcast had absolutely NO promotion or marketing or sales calls-to-action. In fact, there was not even a SUBSCRIBE button on the web page of its latest episode, or on the web pages of its prior episodes.

This podcast show grew when its episodes were picked up anonymously by a current podcast show, Grumpy Old Bens, by one of the co-hosts (Sir Ryan Bemrose) and included on a 24-hour online stream (noagendastream.com). It was played as a published episode in which the producing managers found value in what was said and knew that the current audience of noagendastream.com would find it as having great VALUE to the current stream audience.

Now, I myself, as a subscriber to the Grumpy Old Bens show, had heard during various hours of this 24-hour stream my episodes being played and broadcast on the stream. What a wonderful surprise it was to me — and I quickly informed my co-host, Matt Cox of the podcast show called Brunch with the Brits, of that activity. He was surprised and glad of that activity.

But again, there was NO marketing, no promotion, no sales, no bumpers, etc. of any sort to try and increase our audience, and thus to GROW OUR INFLUENCE.

The results: well, since that time, over several months, our download numbers have grown — sometimes to 3,000 downloads per week per episode or more. And all this due to like-minded listeners receiving the stream and hearing our podcast show episodes. And they, then have downloaded the episodes and listened to them.

So, as Dave Jackson said in a recent podcast episode of his School of Podcasting show:  “podcasting can help grow your sphere of influence…”

And now, we have seen that, in our experience, podcasting can help your sphere of influence grow the PODCASTER and the SHOW.

As you will hear in this audio episode, we have included a recent small clip from a show, Grumpy Old Bens, that describes the VALUE of our 2030podcast.com show, in which the co-hosts actually promote the show to their fan base of listeners (that is, to their own sphere of influence).

 

So, as you can see, there is no absolute rule that your podcast must have a plan to drive listeners and increase your audience numbers by growing your sphere of influence. There is always a situation that defies conventional wisdom by having your sphere of influence grow YOU.

We hope that this episode could give you another proven method for you, as an aspiring or new podcaster, to improve the results of your podcast show and episodes. And we wish for you the best in podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Grumpy Old Bens. All rights reserved.

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podcast

474- Argument about “just start” a Podcast — just DO NOT do it

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we present the argument from Ben Krueger that the common advice given to “just start” may be the wrong advice for having a successful podcast show. After we see why he says what he does, we bring in my own personal opinion from my own history when I “just got started” into podcasting. And we end up with a thought leader in the Podosphere, Paul Colligan of The Podcast Report show who is a mentor himself and helps aspiring podcasters to be prepared to monetize their shows and business podcasts.


First, let us see what Ben Krueger had stated in his email:

“Just get started!”

That’s the advice I hear all the time given to budding podcasters.


Yes, it’s true that taking action is better than getting stuck in the planning process. But I still think it gets more credit than it deserves.

Why?

First, “just get started” puts you at a huge disadvantage.

These days, everyone can launch their own show. Sometimes with a budget as low as $200.

So if you start a podcast without a clear attack plan…

And you’re just doing it for the sake of “getting your feet wet”…

You end up producing a messy, low-quality show that won’t stand out in the crowded podcasting world.

Second, every episode is important.

“Just get started” may get you published quickly…but it won’t get you recommended.

If your podcast doesn’t leave a good impression, it’ll probably end up in a prospect’s “do not listen” list.

Now, I’m not saying this to discourage you from producing your show.

But the reality is, podcasting isn’t for everyone!

And by doing the upfront work of planning, you’ll save time and potential heartaches in the future.

That’s why I want to invite you to a free consultation call, so we can see if podcasting is the right strategy for your business.”

As you will hear in this brief episode, I myself had “just started” my own podcast show in 2006, but I had the help of tools and courses that were available to me:

  • The School of Podcasting was a program from Dave Jackson that helped me to learn how to prepare a good show and episodes;
  • I took the course from Jason Van Orden about Learn How to Podcast (no longer available) online and understood the rudimentary steps of producing a podcast episode — especially since there were almost no tools available at the time in the podosphere;
  • I leaned from the books available — from Podcasting for Dummies to the book by Todd Cochrane and another from Mr. Geohegen and others.

But thought leaders like Paul Colligan of The Podcast Report now mentors others and consults with them to prepare a podcast that will have business success for monetization.

And I think that the 2 groups of podcasters — one that podcasts as a hobby or for passion, and the other that podcasts for business with monetization in mind — are what podcasters have to determine when they are sprayed with the words “just get started” by many of the podcasting instructors today.

For you, as a podcaster, which is the path you will follow? And which is the mentorship program that you will pursue and follow if you are serious about becoming a professional podcaster who will successfully monetize the podcast within your business?

And this email letter gives food for thought to the aspiring podcaster for a decision that should be made today.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger. All rights reserved.

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podcast

472- Podcasting opportunity lost — a case study

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a case study (in which I was involved) that was a good potential for creating a needed podcast show, but was lost in the “muck and mire” of the podosphere in its early stages.

This involves the idea of a potential startup podcast that could support a growing audience of entrepreneurs — and it was called Niche-Net (TM) (i.e., The National Internet Community of Hispanic Entrepreneurs Network).

This all started in the year 1994 — over a decade before the podosphere emerged. I was in the midst of starting my own entrepreneur venture, and it was called Niche-Net. This community was supposed to help the Hispanic community get into the entrepreneurial ventures for their own small businesses. At the time, the web site and the offers and offerings and products were varied, and a small outreach only included building web sites for that targeted community.

However, as with many startups, the venture only lasted a few years and then was gone. But what was interesting is that it did not rise up again when I got into the podosphere and started podcasts.

At that latest time, in 2005 and 2006, I could have easily started a podcast that probably would have been very successful in that market with that type of audience. But I did not. And I now know that I did blow the opportunity for a potential success of a show, as well as the successful promotion of offers, offerings, products and services for that community — even to the point of creating a meetup group and membership site based on the podcast show, which would have been called the Niche-Net podcast show.

So my case study encompasses the following aspects for discussion:

  • when do you know a good idea can develop into something later on for “the next big thing”?
  • what should you do to keep the idea captured until the right time?
  • what kind of mental ideas and plans and visions can you document, so that later on they can be brought into fruition with the proper new media environment or business environment?

My opinion and suggestions for these questions are the following:

When you have the idea for this new media or business idea, you should document every aspect of your vision — either in a business plan, or a feasibility plan, or an outline or detailed plan (to the extreme of a project management work-breakdown-schedule).

This documented plan should then be placed in a suspense file (either hardcopy or electronic), where you review the plan every quarter of the year and check to see if there are any new technologies or developments in which the plan can be resurrected and be incorporated into a road for a successful podcast or venture. In my case study, the original Niche-Net idea was for internet web pages (which were relatively new services for entrepreneurs in 1994) — but in 2005, the idea could have been resurrected for creating a podcast show with other means of monetization waiting to be discovered and implemented in membership sites, offers, offerings, products, services, etc., from the podcast show and its episodes and advertising.

And finally, the more detailed a feasibility plan is, the better off you may be to convert the plan into a more complete layout for a podcast show, with individual episodes that can address advertising, monetization, audience growth and opportunities for creating revenue streams of various types (e.g., from donations, tip-jars, advertising, book deals, audio sales of episodes, DVD sales of complete seasons or shows, etc.). In fact, the two resources that come to my mind are the books from Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting that started in 2010 and even today — the books of More Podcast Money and Profit from Your Podcast.

And, of course, there are many more ideas and opportunities for success (in many ways of defining “success” in addition to financial results) — including notoriety in the old “New and Noteworthy,” as well as speaking engagements, book deals, bloggingn, television and video shows and appearances, etc.


And so what are my lessons learned?

Well, I would suggest to start early and document your dreams. The better your details would determine the better your descriptions for making your dream into a reality once the environment appears to mold your original dream into a viable opportunity solution — especially for fame, notoriety, audience growth, acceptance or monetization.

With the documented dream in a suspense file, a review in the form of envisioning if your dream can fit into the new environment would be a benefit that can spark a new idea — and that new idea of a fit into the new market could spawn a unique or different way of improving the opportunity for a solution or another way of serving a new audience.

And then, from the review of the documented dream in your suspense file, you can then put together a plan for implementing the dream in terms of time, money, effort and possible returns (even with great feedback from trusted advisors — who may end up being your financial backers, supporters, investors, etc.). And if you have the resources to finance the dream yourself as a startup or as a podcast that can grow for a minimal investment, then you have the start to what could be a “dream come true” that will provide VALUE for your customers and listeners, as well as REWARDS for yourself in more than just financial ways.

This is a case study which I use now as a lesson learned — and it has created for me a BEST PRACTICES method of using creativity and matching it with opportunity and planning to have a possibility of going for success in podcasting and business. And who knows? If I had used my own practices stated here, then possibly the Niche-Net membership site and podcast environment might have been a very successful venture for myself at this time.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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podcast

454- Quantifying money to be made by podcasting

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the topic of how much money you can make by podcasting.

As you will hear in this audio episode, the theme was taken from a recent episode and post from buzzsprout.com/blog.

Ideas for adding additional streams for generating revenue are delivered. In addition, this specific podcast series, PodcastReporter.com, has also described (in earlier episodes) different methods of creating revenue streams from your podcasting within your business.

One aspect that demands attention in this audio episode is that downloads are not the only indication of success for generating revenue. In fact, there are many ways to make money — and they are given in the recently published book from Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting called “Profit from your Podcast.”

We hope that you can be successful in monetizing podcasts and go toward delivering value to your listeners, so that you can also join the club of 6-figure professional podcasters.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and buzzsprout.com/blog. All rights reserved.

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podcast

451A- BONUS – First look at the bonus resource from Dave Jackson

In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we take a first look into the bonus deliverable that was sent to those who purchased a book from Dave Jackson called Profit from Your Podcast.

 As you may well know, I did purchase the book from Dave Jackson, and I recently received an email from him which thanked me for my purchase of his book, along with a link and instructions for reaching the bonus content which he specified in his book.

I decided to sign up for the bonus content and I went to the link and became a member of his bonus area. After logging on, I did a quick recon of the site and what Dave had deliveed.

It seemed to me that he was using a template for a mastermind group. It was also called “More podcast money” in some spots later in the site. Now, this More Podcast Money was the name of his previous book (which this one obviously updated), and he had a free podcast with the same name that originally dealt with monetizing your podcast.

So I went through and gave my own opinion of the site and what it could propose to podcasters (and I did this in a very informal “stream of consciousness” method — right, nothing sophisticated or professionally planned).

So, in this audio episode, after my walk-through, I do give a final perspective from only my viewpoint of the book and the value it could provide to new podcasters, aspiring podcasters, or veteran podcasters.


My own final perspective was that this book could be a good resource for both aspiring podcasters and new podcasters. But myself, as a veteran podcaster, would be reluctant to see the value of the site until more participation and sharing occurs. As was stated in the audio episode, Paul Colligan (at  paulcolligan.com ) once tried to start Podcaster Space (on the heels of the 2006 MySpace.com craze), but it also required group participation — and so, I found myself to be the only one for a while in the site. And because of the lack of participation from others, the site failed.

And so, I, a veteran podcaster, will come back and see if the participation does exist, and then I can see if there is value in the content or not.

In the meantime, I thank Dave for going the extra mile to create this site (like a mastermind group site) and encourage those podcasters who want to become profitable in monetization to use it and participate.

With my gratitude to Dave Jackson, my old consultant from 2006, I thank him.

And so, for this podcaster, I would like to thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c), Matrix Solutions Corporation and Dave Jackson and Profit from your Podcast. All rights reserved.

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podcast

446- Case study review — how Evo Terra creates his podcast

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the recent article in the podnews.net newsletter that reviews how Evo Terra creates and produces his podcast show of PodcastPontifications.com.

For any podcaster that has known Evo, this would seem like a very interesting story. As I have known Evo since 2007 when I met him in person at a Podcamp conference in Arizona, I considered this of great value. For he has been a master podcaster, as well as an author who wrote several of the first books on podcasting in 2005 and 2007 (i.e., Podcasting for Dummies and Expert podcasting practices for Dummies).


Why this article in the podnews.net newsletter? Well, I guess that Evo got tired of people asking him why he spends 3.5 hours per episode and 4 episodes per week for almost 350 episodes to do his show — and that begs the question of the description of his workflow. So I guess he decided to publish the answer and point people to the article as a reply.

Very much like the situation with Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting show, Dave constantly had to explain and answer the question of how someone can make money from podcasting. And so what did Dave do? He wrote a book, More Podcast Money (which is being updated with a new book, Profit from Your Podcast). And now, Dave can point to the book as a detailed reply once and for all.


Now, for aspiring or new podcasters who may ask Evo the same question (possibly in a webinar or a conference or a presentation), this article from Evo presents itself as a CASE STUDY.

In it, Evo describes the following details of his planning, his equipment, his recording, his production, his publishing — and then he goes into the details of WHY he takes so long (21 times the length of each episode) for final production:

  • Sound Conditioning:  these details describe how his environment for recording is prepared for recording;
  • Microphone: Shure SM7B mounted on a VIVO swingarm-mount
  • Audio Interface: Zoom H6, a portable recorder that has a lot of features and functions for recording either in a studio setting or the outdoors;
  • Computer: Mac Mini, which is my dedicated studio computer. 
  • Digital Audio Workstation or DAW:
  • Camera:  None, as his show of Podcast Pontifications is not a video podcast. But yes, there is a video version. 
  • Media Hosting Company: Captivate.fm, of which I sit on the Advisory Board. (Disclosure – so does Podnews’s Editor).
  • Website: PodcastPontifications.com is managed via and hosted by Webfow
  • Other Software: as described.
  • Pre-production:  And he delivers a bulleted list in this case study of what a typical schedule is like for him in the preparation and production tasks.
  • Creating a title and finalizing imagery;
  • Creating the “script” for the show
  • Production and live streaming: recording and creating the mp3 file;
  • Exporting the mp3 file to Descript for a full transcription.
  • The Writing and written editing: post-production
  • Publishing & Distribution: this can include scheduling and publishing the video and posting it to appropriate sites and web pages, as well as finalizing the ID3 tags.
  • Final syndication.

Now, all the details are not given here in the show notes or podcast episode — they are in the podnews.net article. I strongly recommend that ALL podcasters consume this article, so that they can see how a real  pro podcaster (i.e., one who wrote the book on podcasting) actually describes his workflow and tasks in the planning, production and publishing of his episodes.

I feel that we can ALL learn something from the old masters (of which I consider Evo one). And some of us may want to compare our own workflow and tasks to see if we need to improve our show with either additional plug-ins, software, or other tasks.

In any case, I feel that any podcaster worth his salt will get enjoyment out of Evo’s article — especially since his sense of humor and his element of “disruption” come out loud and clear in his writing. Please enjoy.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Evo Terra of PodcastPontifications.com and podnews.com. All rights reserved.

 

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podcast

473- First look at the Dave Jackson book on monetizing podcasts

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss in the form of an overview the contents of the recent book from Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting called “Profit from your Podcast: Proven Strategies  to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood.” (from Allworth Press, New York)

Thus, this episode was my impromptu review of the contents of the book and the perceived value at first glance from myself, a podcaster of  15 years. Thus, it is a form of “stream-of-consciousness” description, with a few editorial comments. And I do apologize for the extraneous noise from my flipping the pages next to my condenser microphone.

One big bonus is the bonus course from Dave for those who have bought the book. I really look forward to getting the content and resources from this course — and I do plan to report on this later on in an episode.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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podcast

434A- Podcasting vs Social Media on smart phone

In this repurposed episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on the theme delivered originally by Dave Jackson in his School of Podcasting show earlier which compares the effective communication and better business results between Podcasting vs. the Social Media on a smart phone.

This topic came up previously by Dave Jackson in episode # 640, in which he interviewed Paul Colligan of The Podcast Report show.

As you will hear in this repurposed audio episode, there are main differences that define the environment of each platform — podcasts vs. social media. These include the “quick hit” of social media vs. the “listening and consumption of media with intimacy” to the listener. What is interesting for me is that Paul actually compared the landing-and-staying time of the user for each platform, and what this meant to him in the world of new media.

Another theme is the “hype” from social media vs. the full consumption of media in podcasting. In addition, there is a brief description of the “OTG” topic for those of you who may have been contemplating to get “off the grid” in order to improve your mental health — with a key example of the podcaster who has done this (namely, Adam Curry in his show, No Agenda podcast).


We hope that you find this topic relevant and interesting for you, as a podcaster — and especially if you are a profitable podcaster. If so, we hope that the value you find in this discussion will help you select the better platform for your own communication and decide to invest your time in generating content, discussion and other areas of communication.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Paul Colligan and Dave Jackson. All rights reserved.

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podcast

431- Podcasting book teaches monetization — an update

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we repurpose an episode from another podcast (episode #68) called The Struggling Biz, in which we announce the upcoming arrival of an update to a book by Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting.

As you will hear in this brief episode, this is a completely updated revision of the prior book called More Podcast Money. In fact, Dave is giving away for FREE the episodes of the podcast called More Podcast Money until the update on Amazon arrives in September.

I myself have been listening to it, and getting a good review of monetization strategies — for there are numerous ways in which you can create revenue streams in podcasting.


The name of the updated version of the book is:

Profit from Your Podcast: Proven Strategies to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood

Thus, although the content of this brief episode serves only as an announcement mainly for entrepreneurs of the release date of the book. I myself will highly recommend that podcasters should read this and consume the content, for it may help you in your podcasting and moneetization efforts. It certainly did for me.

And, by the way, I am NOT getting compensated in any way, shape or form for my recommendation of this content. For Dave has been my mentor in the past, and I have been a member of his podcast membership site, and I have also been a client of his podcasting consulting services. But I believe greatly in what he does and the benefits which he has delivered to me and to his listeners in his podcasts.

I will re-announce the availability of the book when it does become a reality, and if you wish to pre-order the book, you may do so. I hope you can get the benefit of the experience from Dave’s 15 years as a podcaster and podcast consultant, and I wish you the best in becoming a successful profitable podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Dave Jackson. All rights reserved.

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podcast

430- Podcasting lessons learned after 100 episodes

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on an article published recently and authored by Denis Murphy called “11 Lessons from 100 Podcast Episodes.”

The link given in the published article is from medium.com.

Now, as I have been podcasting for 15 years, this article interested me, for I have had over 18 podcast shows, and I have had nearly 2 million downloads. And I wanted to compare my lessons learned after some shows that have had nearly 500 episodes (both The Struggling Entrepreneur, as well as my current podcast show of The Podcast Reporter with over 430 episodes).

From this article, the 11 lessons learned are:

  1. Solo episodes;
  2. Reach out to potential guests more than once;
  3. Most podcasts don’t even get past 7 episodes;
  4. Most days you feel like an idiot;
  5. You reconnect with your real voice;
  6. Discover your why;
  7. Other people’s assumptions and experiences;
  8. Treat social media as an ongoing experiment;
  9. You don’t need to earn money;
  10. You don’t need a huge audience;
  11. A personal development vehicle.

And each section contains a couple of paragraphs to explain just what the learned lessons provided as value to Denis Murphy as the podcaster.


However, for this podcaster, I have learned many lessons since 2006 — and I keep on learning lessons from my involvement and participation in the podosphere still today, as well as the future.

In addition, I do take issue from my own experience with several of Murphy’s lessons — in particular, numbers 4, 9 and 10. That is,

  • I have NEVER felt like an idiot when I participated as a podcaster in the podosphere;
  • I have tried to earn money, and I have been successful as a profitable podcaster; and
  • I have grown a large audience in the podosphere, with nearly 2 million downloads.

Thus, if you, as a new or aspiring podcaster, want to get some best practices, I would go to another source to see what some of them are, in spite of Mr. Murphy’s personal lessons learned. One such podcast show that gives a lot of best practices is The Audacity to Podcast from Daniel J Lewis; another is The School of Podcasting from Dave Jackson; and one last show is The New Media Show from Todd Cochrane.

As a matter of fact, this episode is giving me some impetus to prepare and publish an episode in this show for the future that will deliver to my audience MY OWN lessons learned after over 1500 podcast episodes from all my shows. Keep watching this space for any news of this upcoming episode later this year.

We do suggest that you read this article from Mr.  Muphy, but then we recommend that you put together YOUR OWN list of lessons which you yourself have learned in any number of key podcast episodes which can mean value and importance to you.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.