The Unspoken Benefits of Having Your Own Podcast
Use the power of your voice to build your brand and business
#1 You can build a stronger network
Interviewing someone on your podcast is an intimate experience.
Nowadays it's rare that we sit down undistracted and ask someone about the details of their life for more than an hour at a time.
Some of my guests have told me that they aren’t used to this level of depth in a conversation and we have asked questions that they have never thought about before.
At times, I feel so close to my guests that I start to think of them as close friends. Some of them have since become my close friends and we are looking at partnering on new business ideas.
If you want to build a strong network in your niche, start a podcast.
It’s easy to get guests. When you reach out to people to be on the podcast, many will feel flattered by the offer and usually respond quite quickly. I’ve never really had anyone turn down a podcast appearance.
#2 You can make money
Even with a small listenership, you can monetize your podcast. You just need to get creative with how you do it.
There are so many models you can leverage. Monthly subscription, donation via Patreon, ads, sponsors, partnerships and even grants.
Due to the nature of our podcast, we found that our niche aligned closely with government grants. We pitched our concept and won close to $30,000 of grants, which we leveraged to gain sponsorship from a big shopping center.
The function of your podcast should match the form of your monetization strategy.
#3 You can build leverage and a brand
Audio content is more accessible than other forms of content.
People can listen to you whilst doing other activities like cleaning the house, driving or exercising. It’s quite difficult (and illegal) to watch a YouTube video or read a blog post while driving a car.
A podcast that targets a specific niche helps to position yourself as a thought leader. Not magically, but through consistency.
People will start to come to you for your knowledge and ideas because they know your name. Repetition builds trust and trust builds brands.
By having a strong brand, people will start approaching you with opportunities.
It’s happened to me. I’ve been offered lucrative board positions, and government committee roles and also attracted close to $70,000 of freelance work that helped launch my consulting company.
You never know who is paying attention. You might be one podcast episode away from connecting with your next client or business partner.
#4 You can build new skills
Do anything consistently and you’ll get better at it.
Here are some of the skills I learned from podcasting:
Communication and public speaking
Listening
Interviewing
Verbal positioning and framing
Humour (yes, I feel like I am funnier)
Audio engineering
Content creation and marketing
Business
DMing interesting people to chat
I didn’t know how valuable listening and interviewing skills were until I worked with people who have zero competencies in these skills. It almost hurts to watch.
Starting a podcast was like a crash course in media training. I got paid to build skills while building my own company.
That’s what I call a win-win.
#5 You can have a lot of fun
My main motivation for starting a podcast is because I thought it would be enjoyable. And I was right. I have a lot of fun when planning and recording podcasts.
I get so much out of conversations I almost feel like I should be paying for this knowledge and insight. The main reason to do anything creative is that you get an intrinsic sense of enjoyment.
If I only did the podcast for money or fame, I would have quit when we weren’t getting any funding or much of a listenership. Anything creative takes time to build. Give yourself the space and runway to enjoy the process.
#6 You can repurpose content
My content creation motto: make once, cut many times.
I’ve had ideas on my podcast that I’ve turned into Medium articles.
I’ve had snippets of the podcast go viral and reach a large number of people.
Create your content once and repurpose it many times.
Once you reach a threshold of content, you can build an economy of work that works for you, not against you.
Closing thoughts
Overall, having my own podcast has been a rewarding experience and taught me a lot of valuable skills.
But I won’t lie. It’s a lot of work.
When you have a podcast you’ve essentially got a start-up media company. You are building systems and processes from scratch whilst trying to iterate on your value proposition to increase listenership.
There are times when I felt like quitting. There are even more times I didn’t feel like interviewing someone or editing the podcast for weeks.
But I’ve learned so much from the process that I feel unstoppable. This podcast has given me the skills and confidence to make my first online course and potentially venture onto YouTube.
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