Heather is joined by her wonderful friend, Adam Schaeuble (podcasting coach and host), the man behind the highly acclaimed Podcast Business School. Adam has been instrumental in connecting countless podcasters, and his passion for helping others shines through in his work.
In this episode, the focus is on turning a podcast from a hobby into a thriving business. Heather and Adam dive into the strategies and insights needed to monetize a podcast effectively. They share their experiences and offer valuable tips for both aspiring podcasters and seasoned professionals. Whether you're starting out or continuing on your podcasting journey, you'll discover a treasure trove of gems to up-level your endeavors.
Podcasting can be an enjoyable hobby, but it also demands dedication and hard work. Heather and Adam discuss the two different lanes for podcasters – those who use podcasting to promote their existing businesses and those who embark on the challenging path of building a podcast business from scratch. They shed light on the opportunities and hurdles associated with each route, providing valuable guidance for all podcasting enthusiasts.
Tune in and get ready to get radical with your business as Heather and Adam share their expertise, insights, and enthusiasm for podcasting as a business venture.
Contact Heather: Instagram - LinkedIn - Email: heather@GetRadBiz.com
Get Radical With Your Business: Facebook - Website
Book a Discovery Call (via Zoom) - Schedule
Zeitzwolfe Accounting: Website - Facebook
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (00:00):
Hey there.
(00:00):
This is Heather's Zeitzwolfe andyou are listening to get radical
with your business.
If you are a content creator.
I am here to help you with allthings business, especially on
the financial side of business.
I am here to help you make senseof all those numbers.
what you track and look at, youcan impact.
(00:25):
If you are somebody who isinterested in podcasting or
podcast, curious, you are reallygoing to enjoy the show today,
no matter if you are juststarting off.
Or really, really experienced inpodcasting.
You are going to find a lot ofawesome gems in this podcast
episode.
All right here is my wonderfulfriend, Adam Schaeuble who is
(00:48):
the man behind the podcastbusiness school.
Adam Schaeuble, You've hooked meup with so many podcasters, I'm
thankful to the ends of theearth and back.
A big shout out to you.
Adam Schaeuble (01:05):
Well, I, I love connecting people.
When I first started podcasting,I didn't know any other
podcasters, so I'm kinda on thismission, if I know somebody that
you probably need to know, I'mgonna go ahead and make that
intro, and I love to do it.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (01:15):
Podcasters are the best people.
I've met so many wonderfulpeople in the podcasting space
it's such a great community ofpeople that are collaborative
they've got your back supportiveand it's not vindictive or any
of that kind of stuff, which isreally awesome.
Adam Schaeuble (01:30):
Yeah, and we kinda get each other like we're
all really hyper creative peopleand also understand that we want
to.
Feel like we're being heard.
And that's one of our bigdriving forces.
And it's crazy.
You go to a podcast conference,you don't have shallow
conversations with, you'resurrounded by podcasters.
You're going like, we're peelingback the layers of the onion in
every conversation that youhave.
(01:51):
Cause we're all, professionalconversationalists.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (01:54):
On your show, you talk about making your
podcast from a hobby to abusiness.
And so we're gonna concentrateon that part of it today, the
business part of it, because wewant people to make some money.
Adam Schaeuble (02:05):
That's right.
Money sound effect, Ching.
Yes.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (02:08):
ching.
Adam Schaeuble (02:09):
yes, indeed.
That's the big part of who I amand what I like to do.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (02:12):
Podcasting, it can be a fun hobby, and it is
a lot of work.
It is like having another job Ifeel like there's two.
Lanes for people withpodcasting.
There's the ones that arealready an entrepreneur and
they're starting a podcast toeither promote their business
or, have another revenue streamor something.
And then there's the people thatstart a podcast, they think that
(02:32):
they're gonna make money fromit, and maybe they do
eventually, but that's a tougherroad.
Adam Schaeuble (02:38):
Yeah, I've experienced both.
I launched my first show back in2015.
It was a health and weight lossloss show.
It was called The Million PoundMission.
I had a bunch of followers inthe UK who thought it was a
money show cause he's called theMillion Pound Mission.
all these people this guy's nottalking about money unsubscribe.
For the American audience, itworked well, but I owned a gym
(02:59):
that would be a situation whereI was looking to expand my brick
and mortar brand into the onlinespace and offer online coaching
and courses and programs andboot camps and all that stuff.
And it worked really well.
That was the primary goal therewas take what I've got.
Add some online momentum to it.
Grow the brand overall vianurturing and creating community
(03:24):
via podcasting.
And the podcast served my brickand mortar clients as well, so
it's a win-win.
So that's definitely apossibility now with my brand.
Now, podcasting Business school,I created something where there
was nothing for me.
I had no existing following, noexisting email list, no existing
offers.
No social media, no nothing made$0.
(03:48):
The way I evolved from a healthpodcaster into podcasting
business school is specifically,it took me three years to make
$37 as a podcaster.
So I was averaging a little over$10 a year income from my
podcast.
Mainly from like mushroom teacoffee, tea from four Sigmatic
affiliate fees.
I was like, man, I made 50 centsthis month.
Sweet online entrepreneur.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (04:08):
You always say the mushroom tea, but you
actually did try that.
Adam Schaeuble (04:11):
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Four Sigmatic.
That's great products.
And that was my very first, 50cents I made as a podcaster was
four Sigmatic affiliate fees.
It took me a while to figure itout, but then I did figure it
out and I was like, oh, I can dothese, like online challenges
and I would do.
A five day free challenge thatwould lead into a 28 day paid
(04:31):
challenge.
And so I'd get'em all fired upwith the freebie and a certain
percentage would convert overinto the paid challenge.
And the first one I did it, Imade$3,000.
I was like, whoa.
That was awesome.
I just did five days of work for3000 bucks.
I've never done that before.
With all these people that Idon't know that I can't
physically reach out and touch.
So then I kinda reversedengineered that and I started
(04:52):
doing these$97 challenges.
The first time I did that, Isold 140 of'em.
So I made about$14,000.
The second challenge I did, Iwas like, okay, now I'm starting
to figure this out.
Then my other healthentrepreneur friends started
going, okay, I see what you'redoing.
You're making good money.
How can you show me how to dothis also?
So then I was like, all I becamea consultant for health
(05:14):
podcasters on how to monetizethrough challenges and
memberships and things likethat.
Cause everybody wants to dosponsors.
I'm like, man, sponsors are abig old pain I'm a service
provider.
I'd much rather sell my ownprograms, products, and
services.
I was showing them how to dothat.
Then that led to me discoveringthat I'm really good at this
and.
I love it.
And it's, I talk about it on theshow all the time.
(05:34):
E l f, easy, lucrative, fun.
You wanna have an elf business.
And my gym had become a halfbusiness, H A L F.
Hard, annoying, lame,frustrating.
I was like 2019.
At the end of 2019, I justsmelled the pandemic coming and,
no, I'm just kidding.
I sold my gym at the end of2019, which is just tremendously
good luck right everything wentdown.
(05:56):
I was due for some good luck.
I admit it, that the mojo wasupon me and I went full-time and
I really just was like, I'mdoing this podcasting business
school thing.
And a couple years later I endedup selling my health podcast,
which is a cool little businessadventure to be able to do that.
With podcasting business school,I had to figure out, based off
of my initial consult thing my.
(06:17):
Consultations and things I wasdoing with health podcasters,
like how do I make this morerobust?
So I tried a few differentmembership models that didn't
really work.
I'm the king of terrible ideas,but I'll just try it anyway.
So my very first membership forpodcasters, I called the cult
for podcasters.
I'm like, it's not a membership,it's a cult.
And I it was I was like,everybody's gonna join cause
(06:38):
we're weird.
And I was, had, I was gonna havelike custom robes made and
everything and no, nobodyjoined.
That was a terrible idea.
But you can hear some of my oldepisodes what I talk about, join
the cult for podcasters.
Like I left all that on there.
Cause I want all my people tohear all the dumb stuff I tried
that didn't work so that theyhave hope and go, oh, this guy
screwed it up a whole bunch oftimes too before he figured it
(06:58):
out.
Fast forward a couple moreyears, I had a lot of experience
where I was like, all right.
I think I can create courses, Ithink I can create coaching
programs.
I know what I can really focusin on.
So my first successfulmembership was Download Growth
Club.
That really took off.
We do really well with that.
And then I do a lot of justhybrid coaching and consulting
where I have courses and thingslike that.
(07:19):
It took me, I.
Three years to figure out how tomake money as a podcaster with
Lane one that you talked about,expanding my current brand and
business, and then a couple moreyears to figure out how to
create something where there wasnothing and it explode a brand
new brand with offers and thingslike that.
So I think the moral of thebeginning of this story is it's
gonna take some time and yougotta have the chops to stick
(07:41):
with it.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (07:42):
In the beginning it was easier having
this other business that thepodcast was actually like a
marketing tool.
And For the people that are outthere that are like, okay, I'm
starting a podcast.
I don't have this otherbusiness, maybe they have some
experience, they have passionaround what they talk about.
The easiest route may be likecoaching, consulting having
courses, that sort of thing.
(08:03):
You work with people who wannatake their podcast and turn it
into a business.
Where do you feel that people,what's the easiest route to do
that
Adam Schaeuble (08:10):
I like the$1,000 number cause that's like actual
money, that's more than a tankof gas right now, which,
hopefully never gets past that.
Let's say we make a first way tomake a thousand bucks as a
podcaster, we want coaching,consulting offers, I challenge
my clients to create somethingthat's gonna be in that 1000 to
$1,500 range as an offer.
(08:30):
And a lot of'em freak out.
They're like, Oh my God, that'sa lot of money.
I was charging$3 an hour before,or what, like people don't
charge enough.
It's crazy.
But I've got my friend Ashleywho's in, she's got a budget
based show and she's I can'tcharge that much.
I was like, we're not asking fora one hour consultation.
This could be a six monthprogram.
(08:51):
This could be a year longprogram.
We have all these variables.
It could be a course pluscoaching, it could be all these
things.
But I like the idea to be inthat thousand to$1,500 price
point, because now we're notnickel and diamond chasing.
I gotta get, pay my bills andreplace my income.
I have to get 500 people to buythis thing, this$5 thing.
(09:11):
It's no, let's just have areally high impact offer.
So I like ending up in that 1000to$1,500 zone then we reverse
engineer that and go, what do Ihave experience in that?
I may be.
Four or five steps ahead on thepath that my listeners are on,
and I can kinda be the people'schampion.
I can be on this hero's journeyand how can I mentor them?
(09:33):
How can I consult?
How can I coach and show themhow to get to where I am?
Those five steps further,faster?
How can I teach them to get fivesteps to where I am in one step
or two steps and not make allthe mistakes?
That's one of the hugeadvantages that I have in
podcasting is, I've screwed itup every possible way that you
can, the evidence is in mybacklog.
You can go listen to my firstepisodes.
The audio's terrible.
(09:54):
The offers are terrible.
Nobody's buying anything, but Ijust kept going.
I'm like 800 episodes deep atthis point.
The first 500 are a lot ofpractice and screw ups, but the
last 300, I'm like, all right,we got this puppy dialed in and
now I can mentor other peopleand show them.
How to not screw it up like Idid basically.
That's my tagline.
Don't screw it up.
I already did that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (10:15):
What about the people out there that, have
like imposter syndrome or maybethey have this mindset of I'm
not worth it, or no one's gonnapay me that kind of money.
Right Out of the gate.
When you were first startingout, you went through and made a
lot of mistakes.
Were you offering things at alower price?
And then how did you find thatsweet spot of 1000, 1,500?
Adam Schaeuble (10:36):
Here's the test that we could do.
If the thousand dollars,$1,500package offer makes your stomach
turn, start at 200 bucks, createa thing that you're gonna charge
$200 for.
So maybe that's three 30 minutesessions, coaching sessions with
you, or consulting or whatever.
Here's a little package that Ilike that I'll put out there.
A lot of consultations are oneone hour session, and I used to
(10:59):
do these, and I kept on gettingemails from people the following
week and the week after that.
Where they're asking questionsafter they actually tried to
implement what I dished out inthe 60 minutes.
So now I do 60 minutes ofconsulting, but I break it up
into 45 minutes and 15 minutes.
So we do a 45 minute session,and then one to two weeks later,
we book the 15 minute follow upso that they have some, I'm
(11:21):
trying to do this time inbetween.
I use an app called Voxer wherethey can get unlimited access to
me.
They can vox me as many times asthey want in that two week
period.
That way it's built in.
I can charge 700 bucks for this.
Because I'm helping peoplerebrand, I'm helping people how
to make money.
I'm teaching people how to growtheir downloads or whatever I'm
consulting on.
What could you do and split uplike that where you're adding
(11:42):
that value like something likeVox, where they can ask you
questions on the fly.
anyway, We can start at a$200price point and I want you To
sell that, and if you get a yesevery time you get an immediate
yes.
Go up by 50 bucks next time youoffer it.
All right, it's 250 bucks.
Get an immediate yes, okay, nexttime it's 300 bucks.
And you'll just keep gettingyeses until you start getting
(12:03):
nos.
Then we go, okay, now we're inthe market zone of what they're
willing to pay for, what it isthat you offer.
And then as we get better, andmaybe you create an online
course now that's a part of theoffer, and now the offer just
went up to$500 because.
Now it's a course and coachingand a nice little hybrid model.
Maybe instead of doingone-on-ones, you can offer some
monthly group coaching as well.
(12:25):
Boom.
Now our value went up again andwe can charge more.
That's where I would start offwith I would ladder it up.
That way you can build your ownconfidence as you test things
out.
And also marketing it as a betagroup or a test group, cuz
that's truly what it is.
Let's say you have a socialmedia following, or an email
list or a little bit ofsomething that you could work
with there.
You can go, Hey, I am startingthis consulting program.
(12:47):
It's gonna be based off of X, Y,z result.
I need four people that wouldhelp me test this.
I'm going to charge a thousanddollars for this eventually.
But right now it's gonna be 200bucks and then you can make your
first thousand bucks by justhaving a five person test group.
some of that, all those thingsare valid things that I have
tried and have absolutelyworked.
And the key is focus on buildingrelationships.
(13:08):
If you're not a super salesyperson and you feel weird about
it, just build relationships,keep adding value.
And if you keep hitting youraudience over the head with
value, value, value, eventuallywhen they are ready to buy
you're the top of mind person.
And that's kinda the strategy Itend to take.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (13:22):
I think a lot of people think if I give
out all my best stuff online onmy podcast, no one's gonna pay
me money.
But really the difference isthey wanna be able to interact
with you and ask questions.
And it's one thing to hearadvice, but it's another to
actually have guidance andsupport from a coach or a
consultant face to face.
What should people talk about ontheir podcast?
(13:44):
And if they are trying to buildthis business, this consulting
business, should they be talkingabout all the things that are in
their offers?
Should they be building up tothe offer?
From all the things that you'vedone, what do you think is the
best route?
Adam Schaeuble (13:56):
There are different routes.
I don't know if there's a bestroute, but there, there'll
probably be a best fit for eachperson out there.
But one kind of very specificexample that I can pull outta my
own little cash of podcasts thatI've got here I had a limited
series show called PodcastLaunch Tips.
And notice the branding, youknow exactly what it is when you
hear it.
Like that's important as well.
(14:17):
But I didn't plan on doing thisforever and ever.
Like I, like with podcastingbusiness school, I'm like, this
is a long haul deal.
I'm gonna keep doing it.
But podcast launch tips, I'mlike, I'm gonna do 75 to a
hundred episodes.
I'm gonna give everybodyeverything I know about
launching a show.
I ended up at 70 and it waskinda like Forrest Gump, and he
is I'm done running.
And I was like I'm done running70 is good.
(14:39):
I've got course and services andall that stuff my launch
services ranged from$800 to$4,000 I recorded 70 episodes of
my course.
I basically took out everyvideo, every module, every step
that I teach in my course thatpeople are paying for.
I had an episode on it, and sopeople might be like you just
(14:59):
gave away the farm, but here'sthe thing.
I will give you everything Iknow for free.
You will pay me to help youimplement it correctly.
And because nobody has what's inmy crazy space up my head now,
extra little herbs and spices,that special recipe, and when I
sprinkle that on top of what'sin the course, That's when
something special happens.
(15:19):
That's when I help you skipsteps and level up and shorten
your learning curve.
I put that podcast out.
I haven't recorded any episodesof that for several months.
And it's like a funnel.
People find it cause it's got areally good search engine
optimization.
They start binge listening.
The call to action is to gocheck out my course, check out
my online offers and I'mselling.
Those 800 to$4,000 offers on theregular from a show that I
(15:42):
haven't put anything out, Idon't market it at all.
Like I've got an email funnelthat deals with it on a little
freebie.
That's potentially a route thenyou could take as far as content
creation.
If you are a service providerand you're like, I wanna do more
of a long-term thing one warningI would put out there is if you.
I wanna sell your own programs,products, and services.
Like what I do, like whatHeather does.
(16:04):
I would highly recommendavoiding an interview only show.
Because if you only interviewpeople, then they're the expert
and you're the person thatinterviews experts and then you
try to sell your thing.
They're like, why would I buythis thing?
You're not the expert that otherperson is.
I don't wanna buy that otherperson's thing.
So solo episodes and what Iwould consider to be coaching or
consulting style episodes.
(16:25):
When people pay me money, I gotwo-thirds of your content.
I need you to be positioned asthe expert cuz that's really
important when it comes to, andnow I've got a course, now I've
got a free challenge.
Now I need you to do this.
That's gonna get you on my emaillist.
And if you don't positionyourself in that way, it's gonna
be a real slog like it's goingto be because that's what I did
for the first three years when Imade$37.
(16:47):
So if you'd like to make$10 ayear as a podcaster, follow that
route.
Or option B, then we go downthis other road.
But it's really important tounderstand there's so much more
out there in content creationother than just interviews.
And I'm not saying don't dointerviews at all interviews are
a great part of it because youcan pull somebody in that adds
that extra flavor to your brandthrough their knowledge and you
(17:09):
have complimentary services andthere's some synergy there
that's awesome.
But just don't get locked in,into, I only do interviews cuz
That's not gonna help you get towhere you wanna be from a
business perspective.
Does that make sense?
Heather Zeitzwolfe (17:22):
Yes, I agree.
And when I first started mypodcast, I was only doing
interviews and some of thefeedback I got was, When are you
gonna do a solo show?
I wanna hear you.
then I started doing more introscuz that was my.
Putting my foot in the waterkind of Oh, okay.
do a longer intro.
And then I was like, okay, I gotup the nerve and I started doing
some solo shows.
Those are the ones that peoplealways comment more to me.
(17:43):
we think okay, we're gonna havethis guest and they're gonna
share it to the world, and we'regonna get all these followers
from a big guest.
Usually is like the ones thatare like wa wa, wa cuz they've
shared out their stuff a milliontimes.
people don't care.
That's not a way to drivefollowers.
Okay.
I wanna talk to you about, Oneof your important things that
you do is pod pals.
(18:03):
And this allows people to givetime, you call it eyeball to
eyeball.
With your.
Followers or listeners becausethey're out there, we don't see
them.
It's like we're notcommunicating with them unless
we get them to DM us onInstagram, which is a lot of
times like pulling teeth.
Adam Schaeuble (18:20):
Yeah.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (18:20):
into this thing where you give value and
then they get to spend time withyou.
That's brilliant.
Could you talk about how peoplecan implement this strategy in
their.
Podcast and bring their businessskills into it so that they're
building their business.
Adam Schaeuble (18:34):
One of the things I figured out is that you
have to initiate engagement.
We're all sitting on our buttswaiting for the engagement to
happen to us.
Oh, I put about this great show,and I hear this so often and
it's hilarious, and I laugh.
I can't help but laugh everytime.
I know these people arefrustrated and pissed, but
they're like, Adam, like we'rein this like heartfelt
consultation and they'restarting to get emotional.
Like I put so much work intothis and I even asked people to
(18:57):
email me on the show theirquestions and they'd never email
me their questions.
very rarely will a podcastlistener.
Be like, and now I will hop himout the old email and zip
Heather a question.
cuz they're doing other stuff.
That's the gift and the curse ofpodcasting is they're mowing
their lawn or they're takingtheir kid to school and they
forget, they're working out andthey're not gonna be like, oh
(19:19):
yeah, mental note, gotta goemail Heather, my question about
our show or whatever.
It's really hard to do.
you have to initiate engagement.
That's like mental note numberone.
The second mental note is wehave to ask ourselves if we're
truly community builders, whenare we giving our community a
chance to be a community?
Because me talking to themthrough a microphone where they
(19:40):
can't respond is not reallycommunity building.
That's why I did the Pod Palsthing I had a tough go at the
beginning is I didn't know anyother podcasters.
So I was like, I can be a hub ofconnection, Where I can help
other people meet otherpodcasters.
And we see so many coolconnections and people starting
shows together, doinginterviews, starting businesses
together, all this stuff.
(20:02):
I was like, I wanna be that hub.
I wanna help facilitate all thatand I'm gonna do it for free and
just make a bunch of friends.
I was like my pod pals, that'swhy I called the pod pal zoom
party, Even from the get go onthis.
It wasn't like I announced it onthe show and now I'm doing this
thing.
I want you to be a part of theshow and it's gonna be this
awesome panel discussion.
Cricket.
I had to go out and chase downpeople, my true pod pals that I
was already connected with.
I'm like, listen, I'm doing thisthing.
(20:23):
I didn't need you to show yourbutt up.
I need you to be there cuz Ihave to prove my audience.
We're gonna put it out as anepisode.
It'll be a great promo for you.
Everybody in my audience hearsit.
You shout out your brand, thewhole thing.
So I got five or 10 of my peoplethat.
I actually know that aren'tlisteners in my show.
I'm like, just come on, let's dothis thing.
And they loved it.
I put it out this episode andthe call to action was, here's
(20:43):
the link, the sign up for thenext one.
Then the next one I had abouthalf the people that I had to
strong arm in and the other halfwere people that actually listen
and click to link.
And then I released that one.
And then they started to justpick up to where now they fill
up to the point I have to sendthreatening emails on the
Thursday before.
I'm like, listen, it's full ifyou're not coming.
You gotta move your butt so Ican get somebody else in there.
(21:04):
So it's like totally switched.
The dynamic is switched wherenow it's an in demand thing and
it's hard to get a little seat,
Heather Zeitzwolfe (21:11):
Now you release it as a podcast episode,
and our buddy Janet Fish, she'sbeen doing the same thing.
I have a monthly meetup and Idon't release it as a podcast,
but now you've got me thinkingthat maybe I should be releasing
it as a podcast to drive peopleto come to this.
Do you think that you get bettersuccess in doing that then?
Adam Schaeuble (21:30):
Yeah.
Yes, especially in a space likeours where.
Like podcasters, one of theirfavorite things to do is be on
other people's podcasts.
O p P, you know me.
That's how the song goes.
I'm like, you can come on myshow and guess what?
You can shout out your show andhelp me create content.
And we do a little thing calledpodcaster speed dating, where
that's that little carrot Idangle out there.
And that's why people wannaattend all the time because
(21:51):
they're getting.
Booked on other people's shows.
It's I know you've gotten bookedon several shows from coming to
pod pals.
You've found some guests goodthings are happening out there.
And I had really tried tofacilitate that as much as
possible.
Heck yeah, especially this year,I've really put in a ton of
effort just brainstorming, howdo I get more of my listeners to
be a part of my brand?
How do I pull them in?
How do we create content?
How can I release more episodeswith more of my listeners'
(22:14):
actual voices?
I'm doing podcast pals.
I do my podcast audits wherepeople come on every Friday and
I audit their show.
I started doing this Speak Pipething where I put a link in the
show notes.
I go, tell me what your favoriteepisode is.
And I'll put it at the end ofthe show because I started
getting real creative with this.
Heather, you're gonna enjoythis.
Where I'm like, what are the twomost skippable parts of a
(22:36):
podcast?
The intro and the outro.
Everybody's heard that.
Skip skip.
And then the main thing's done,they're like heard at the end.
Skip skip.
Who cares?
Just cut it off.
Not gonna listen.
now, And a few episodes that arecoming up.
I bring the plane in for alanding.
I can go and here's a pod paljust like you with an episode
recommendation.
So they get to shout out theirshow on my show that's the
incentive to come on and shouttheir brand out.
(22:59):
It's not me pimping out my ownshow.
It's somebody that listens to myshow, social proof, expert
positioning, and now they'llprobably go and listen to that
episode because a listenerrecommended it.
And I'm very confident if I canget somebody to listen to four
or five, six of my episodes,I've got'em.
They're gonna start binging.
And people that binge becomesuper fans become clients.
And I that's how I do mybusiness.
(23:20):
Just thinking about, and even ifyou're not a podcaster, how can
you create and collaborate andmake your audience and make your
ideal customers a part of yourbrand?
Is that an Instagram live whereyou do face-to-face q and a,
you're pulling'em up on thescreen with you?
Is it a pod pal sort of a thinglike I'm doing?
I would challenge all theentrepreneurs out there, Because
if you give your listener, yourideal customer a voice in your
(23:42):
brand, now they're a part of itand it's our brand.
You know what I'm saying?
It's not Adam's brand.
We're all a part of this.
The pod pals are a thing.
And like when I got up on stageand spoke at pod Fest this past
year, when I say the word podpals, They go crazy.
They're like, I'm, that's me.
Yeah.
I'm one of those that's it'spretty damn cool.
(24:03):
That's my strategy around that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (24:05):
Yeah, I had people coming up to me at
podcast movement saying, I metyou on Pod pals, and I was like,
oh yeah, that's right.
Adam Schaeuble (24:10):
that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (24:11):
Yeah.
That's very cool.
Okay, before we wrap up, I dowanna ask you about, you
mentioned brainstorming.
The word planning has come inthere and I am a real advocate
for planning things out.
As creative entrepreneurs, welike to fly by the seat of our
pants, try things we got shinyobject syndrome.
But planning is important.
And if we wanna have a podcastwhere we actually generate money
(24:31):
from it, we have to have a plan.
And granted in the beginningexperimenting is important too,
but having some idea where wewanna take this thing.
So just quickly, how do you doyour planning for are you
looking a year out, a couplemonths out?
Like how do you do your planningfor your show?
Adam Schaeuble (24:47):
If you're just getting started, my advice for
brand new people when they'remapping up their content is we
gotta get you to a year.
If we can get you to a year ofepisodes every week, you're
probably gonna stick with it.
If you only think three episodesahead, and then I'll figure it
out from there, you probablywon't.
The current stat is there havebeen 4 million podcasts launch.
There are only 155,000 that havemore than 10 episodes and have
(25:09):
released anything in the last 10days.
I should tell you something, ifyou're just getting started, I
want you to make brainstormlist.
With 52 items.
Let's say you're gonna dointerviews and solo episodes, 26
and 26, I want you to write down26 topics that you can talk
about dealing with your niche.
Then I want you to write down 26people that you would like to
interview on your show.
(25:29):
Maybe some of these are peopleyou already have connections
with some of it might be likeyour dream top 10 list.
Now we have a year of contentmapped out where you can go
every other week.
Solo interview, putting thepuzzle together.
That's something you can do.
But just, I did this, I got thistip from Brennan Burchard, who's
a major coach in the coachingspace.
I did this and it saved my firstshow.
Cause it was so hard I wouldn'tto quit every single month,
(25:51):
every single week.
I was like, I just gotta do thatnext rep.
I just gotta do the nextepisode.
I've already got it lined up.
I can talk about that.
I could spend 15 minutes doing asolo episode or talking to this
person.
I'm good to go.
So I have all my clients do thatthat are just getting started at
26 and 26.
Let's map that out first.
And then if you're gonna docoaching style episodes that can
take away from a category, maybeyou're like, I don't know, so
(26:12):
many people.
All right.
13 people you can interview, 13people you can do a consulting
style episode with, and then 26solos, and now the math starts
to work.
And I know that Heather math, sothat would be a good newbie
beginning space.
Now let's go to the other end.
Where am I at right now with mycontent?
Now it's based around the nextoffer that I want to put out
(26:33):
there.
But the interesting thing is 99%of the time I don't sell
anything from my show, but whatI talk about sells into what I'm
selling.
You know what I'm saying?
It creates interest.
For example, I've got a campaignto promote my Download Growth
Club, which is a membership forpodcasters that are getting less
than a thousand downloads perepisode.
So that's a paid membership.
I'm gonna do a three weekaudience engagement challenge
(26:55):
that leads up to the promo push.
This weeks before that I'mtrying to get people to sign up
for the challenge.
So I go, okay.
Audience engagement and downloadgrowth.
So all my content for that sixweeks audience engagement and
download growth, and I'm drivingpeople.
I'm basically fishing with theright lure for the people that
would be attracted as if theylove these episodes.
(27:17):
They're gonna love mychallenges, they love my free
challenge.
They're a great candidate for mymembership.
I've reversed engineer it fromwhat I would like to put out
there as an offer.
And I've got a shout out.
My friend Jan Ditchfield shehelped me concoct this whole
formula and it's really amazing.
That's how I map up my content.
Now, on that, I could do thatonce per quarter and be like,
what's my main thing I wannasell this quarter?
The main thing I wanna put outthere from an offer perspective,
(27:39):
reverse engineer the content toattract the right person, get
them interested, and reallyengage.
Cuz sometimes podcast listeners,they skip around, they'll go
away for a couple weeks thattopic isn't necessarily my jam.
And maybe it's a couple weeks ofthat.
But now we start pulling back inweek after week.
That gets the momentum going inthe right direction.
Maybe they pop in for a pod palzoom party.
(27:59):
I get some FaceTime with them.
Maybe they start following me alittle closer on the ig.
That's my content map outstrategy now.
And if you're just gettingstarted, don't start there.
Start at the other end.
And if you're somewhere in, inbetween maybe you look at an
offer and just aren't quite likein as intense about it as with
the topics as I am right now.
But you can get there.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (28:18):
It's key to really understand what your
offer is and what it entails,because if you are unclear on
your offer, then it's gonna beunclear what you're gonna be
talking about.
Adam Schaeuble (28:27):
Oh yeah.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (28:28):
Adam, where can people find you?
You do like IG lives, you do thepod pals.
Tell us of where people couldfind you and hang out with
Adam Schaeuble (28:36):
the main hub that you can find everything.
I've got a very simple website.
I had a very simple website andI simplified the simplest
website in the world.
So if you just go to podcastingbusiness.school, it's a do
school url.
I'm still questioning thatdecision.
Podcasting business.school.
The other one wasn't available.
They wanted$5,000 for it.
I'm like, Nope.
(28:56):
I'm a cheapo.
So podcasting business.school,there is one video and three
buttons.
The buttons will guide you.
I have a button for free things.
I have a button that helps mefeed my family, and I have a
button for my podcast.
And then you can hang out withme on Instagram at podcasting
Business School.
And I'm live all the time.
I love doing the DM thing.
Doing the DM thing is my jam aswell.
(29:17):
Those are the two main places.
Check out my show wherever youlisten to audio and yeah.
If you enjoyed this episode go,leave it a five star review and
be like that guy with that bigold voice.
That was my favorite episode.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (29:28):
And You have an adorable daughter that has
been helping you with socialmedia has been so fun to see
those posts.
Please follow Adam.
He's hilarious.
Thank you so much Adam.
wishing you Tell me your,
Adam Schaeuble (29:39):
Health, happiness, and many downloads.
Hey there.
(00:00):
This is Heather's Zeitzwolfe andyou are listening to get radical
with your business.
If you are a content creator.
I am here to help you with allthings business, especially on
the financial side of business.
I am here to help you make senseof all those numbers.
what you track and look at, youcan impact.
(00:25):
If you are somebody who isinterested in podcasting or
podcast, curious, you are reallygoing to enjoy the show today,
no matter if you are juststarting off.
Or really, really experienced inpodcasting.
You are going to find a lot ofawesome gems in this podcast
episode.
All right here is my wonderfulfriend, Adam Schaeuble who is
(00:48):
the man behind the podcastbusiness school.
Adam Schaeuble, You've hooked meup with so many podcasters, I'm
thankful to the ends of theearth and back.
A big shout out to you.
Adam Schaeuble (01:05):
Well, I, I love connecting people.
When I first started podcasting,I didn't know any other
podcasters, so I'm kinda on thismission, if I know somebody that
you probably need to know, I'mgonna go ahead and make that
intro, and I love to do it.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (01:15):
Podcasters are the best people.
I've met so many wonderfulpeople in the podcasting space
it's such a great community ofpeople that are collaborative
they've got your back supportiveand it's not vindictive or any
of that kind of stuff, which isreally awesome.
Adam Schaeuble (01:30):
Yeah, and we kinda get each other like we're
all really hyper creative peopleand also understand that we want
to.
Feel like we're being heard.
And that's one of our bigdriving forces.
And it's crazy.
You go to a podcast conference,you don't have shallow
conversations with, you'resurrounded by podcasters.
You're going like, we're peelingback the layers of the onion in
every conversation that youhave.
(01:51):
Cause we're all, professionalconversationalists.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (01:54):
On your show, you talk about making your
podcast from a hobby to abusiness.
And so we're gonna concentrateon that part of it today, the
business part of it, because wewant people to make some money.
Adam Schaeuble (02:05):
That's right.
Money sound effect, Ching.
Yes.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (02:08):
ching.
Adam Schaeuble (02:09):
yes, indeed.
That's the big part of who I amand what I like to do.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (02:12):
Podcasting, it can be a fun hobby, and it is
a lot of work.
It is like having another job Ifeel like there's two.
Lanes for people withpodcasting.
There's the ones that arealready an entrepreneur and
they're starting a podcast toeither promote their business
or, have another revenue streamor something.
And then there's the people thatstart a podcast, they think that
(02:32):
they're gonna make money fromit, and maybe they do
eventually, but that's a tougherroad.
Adam Schaeuble (02:38):
Yeah, I've experienced both.
I launched my first show back in2015.
It was a health and weight lossloss show.
It was called The Million PoundMission.
I had a bunch of followers inthe UK who thought it was a
money show cause he's called theMillion Pound Mission.
all these people this guy's nottalking about money unsubscribe.
For the American audience, itworked well, but I owned a gym
(02:59):
that would be a situation whereI was looking to expand my brick
and mortar brand into the onlinespace and offer online coaching
and courses and programs andboot camps and all that stuff.
And it worked really well.
That was the primary goal therewas take what I've got.
Add some online momentum to it.
Grow the brand overall vianurturing and creating community
(03:24):
via podcasting.
And the podcast served my brickand mortar clients as well, so
it's a win-win.
So that's definitely apossibility now with my brand.
Now, podcasting Business school,I created something where there
was nothing for me.
I had no existing following, noexisting email list, no existing
offers.
No social media, no nothing made$0.
(03:48):
The way I evolved from a healthpodcaster into podcasting
business school is specifically,it took me three years to make
$37 as a podcaster.
So I was averaging a little over$10 a year income from my
podcast.
Mainly from like mushroom teacoffee, tea from four Sigmatic
affiliate fees.
I was like, man, I made 50 centsthis month.
Sweet online entrepreneur.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (04:08):
You always say the mushroom tea, but you
actually did try that.
Adam Schaeuble (04:11):
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Four Sigmatic.
That's great products.
And that was my very first, 50cents I made as a podcaster was
four Sigmatic affiliate fees.
It took me a while to figure itout, but then I did figure it
out and I was like, oh, I can dothese, like online challenges
and I would do.
A five day free challenge thatwould lead into a 28 day paid
(04:31):
challenge.
And so I'd get'em all fired upwith the freebie and a certain
percentage would convert overinto the paid challenge.
And the first one I did it, Imade$3,000.
I was like, whoa.
That was awesome.
I just did five days of work for3000 bucks.
I've never done that before.
With all these people that Idon't know that I can't
physically reach out and touch.
So then I kinda reversedengineered that and I started
(04:52):
doing these$97 challenges.
The first time I did that, Isold 140 of'em.
So I made about$14,000.
The second challenge I did, Iwas like, okay, now I'm starting
to figure this out.
Then my other healthentrepreneur friends started
going, okay, I see what you'redoing.
You're making good money.
How can you show me how to dothis also?
So then I was like, all I becamea consultant for health
(05:14):
podcasters on how to monetizethrough challenges and
memberships and things likethat.
Cause everybody wants to dosponsors.
I'm like, man, sponsors are abig old pain I'm a service
provider.
I'd much rather sell my ownprograms, products, and
services.
I was showing them how to dothat.
Then that led to me discoveringthat I'm really good at this
and.
I love it.
And it's, I talk about it on theshow all the time.
(05:34):
E l f, easy, lucrative, fun.
You wanna have an elf business.
And my gym had become a halfbusiness, H A L F.
Hard, annoying, lame,frustrating.
I was like 2019.
At the end of 2019, I justsmelled the pandemic coming and,
no, I'm just kidding.
I sold my gym at the end of2019, which is just tremendously
good luck right everything wentdown.
(05:56):
I was due for some good luck.
I admit it, that the mojo wasupon me and I went full-time and
I really just was like, I'mdoing this podcasting business
school thing.
And a couple years later I endedup selling my health podcast,
which is a cool little businessadventure to be able to do that.
With podcasting business school,I had to figure out, based off
of my initial consult thing my.
(06:17):
Consultations and things I wasdoing with health podcasters,
like how do I make this morerobust?
So I tried a few differentmembership models that didn't
really work.
I'm the king of terrible ideas,but I'll just try it anyway.
So my very first membership forpodcasters, I called the cult
for podcasters.
I'm like, it's not a membership,it's a cult.
And I it was I was like,everybody's gonna join cause
(06:38):
we're weird.
And I was, had, I was gonna havelike custom robes made and
everything and no, nobodyjoined.
That was a terrible idea.
But you can hear some of my oldepisodes what I talk about, join
the cult for podcasters.
Like I left all that on there.
Cause I want all my people tohear all the dumb stuff I tried
that didn't work so that theyhave hope and go, oh, this guy
screwed it up a whole bunch oftimes too before he figured it
(06:58):
out.
Fast forward a couple moreyears, I had a lot of experience
where I was like, all right.
I think I can create courses, Ithink I can create coaching
programs.
I know what I can really focusin on.
So my first successfulmembership was Download Growth
Club.
That really took off.
We do really well with that.
And then I do a lot of justhybrid coaching and consulting
where I have courses and thingslike that.
(07:19):
It took me, I.
Three years to figure out how tomake money as a podcaster with
Lane one that you talked about,expanding my current brand and
business, and then a couple moreyears to figure out how to
create something where there wasnothing and it explode a brand
new brand with offers and thingslike that.
So I think the moral of thebeginning of this story is it's
gonna take some time and yougotta have the chops to stick
(07:41):
with it.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (07:42):
In the beginning it was easier having
this other business that thepodcast was actually like a
marketing tool.
And For the people that are outthere that are like, okay, I'm
starting a podcast.
I don't have this otherbusiness, maybe they have some
experience, they have passionaround what they talk about.
The easiest route may be likecoaching, consulting having
courses, that sort of thing.
(08:03):
You work with people who wannatake their podcast and turn it
into a business.
Where do you feel that people,what's the easiest route to do
that
Adam Schaeuble (08:10):
I like the$1,000 number cause that's like actual
money, that's more than a tankof gas right now, which,
hopefully never gets past that.
Let's say we make a first way tomake a thousand bucks as a
podcaster, we want coaching,consulting offers, I challenge
my clients to create somethingthat's gonna be in that 1000 to
$1,500 range as an offer.
(08:30):
And a lot of'em freak out.
They're like, Oh my God, that'sa lot of money.
I was charging$3 an hour before,or what, like people don't
charge enough.
It's crazy.
But I've got my friend Ashleywho's in, she's got a budget
based show and she's I can'tcharge that much.
I was like, we're not asking fora one hour consultation.
This could be a six monthprogram.
(08:51):
This could be a year longprogram.
We have all these variables.
It could be a course pluscoaching, it could be all these
things.
But I like the idea to be inthat thousand to$1,500 price
point, because now we're notnickel and diamond chasing.
I gotta get, pay my bills andreplace my income.
I have to get 500 people to buythis thing, this$5 thing.
(09:11):
It's no, let's just have areally high impact offer.
So I like ending up in that 1000to$1,500 zone then we reverse
engineer that and go, what do Ihave experience in that?
I may be.
Four or five steps ahead on thepath that my listeners are on,
and I can kinda be the people'schampion.
I can be on this hero's journeyand how can I mentor them?
(09:33):
How can I consult?
How can I coach and show themhow to get to where I am?
Those five steps further,faster?
How can I teach them to get fivesteps to where I am in one step
or two steps and not make allthe mistakes?
That's one of the hugeadvantages that I have in
podcasting is, I've screwed itup every possible way that you
can, the evidence is in mybacklog.
You can go listen to my firstepisodes.
The audio's terrible.
(09:54):
The offers are terrible.
Nobody's buying anything, but Ijust kept going.
I'm like 800 episodes deep atthis point.
The first 500 are a lot ofpractice and screw ups, but the
last 300, I'm like, all right,we got this puppy dialed in and
now I can mentor other peopleand show them.
How to not screw it up like Idid basically.
That's my tagline.
Don't screw it up.
I already did that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (10:15):
What about the people out there that, have
like imposter syndrome or maybethey have this mindset of I'm
not worth it, or no one's gonnapay me that kind of money.
Right Out of the gate.
When you were first startingout, you went through and made a
lot of mistakes.
Were you offering things at alower price?
And then how did you find thatsweet spot of 1000, 1,500?
Adam Schaeuble (10:36):
Here's the test that we could do.
If the thousand dollars,$1,500package offer makes your stomach
turn, start at 200 bucks, createa thing that you're gonna charge
$200 for.
So maybe that's three 30 minutesessions, coaching sessions with
you, or consulting or whatever.
Here's a little package that Ilike that I'll put out there.
A lot of consultations are oneone hour session, and I used to
(10:59):
do these, and I kept on gettingemails from people the following
week and the week after that.
Where they're asking questionsafter they actually tried to
implement what I dished out inthe 60 minutes.
So now I do 60 minutes ofconsulting, but I break it up
into 45 minutes and 15 minutes.
So we do a 45 minute session,and then one to two weeks later,
we book the 15 minute follow upso that they have some, I'm
(11:21):
trying to do this time inbetween.
I use an app called Voxer wherethey can get unlimited access to
me.
They can vox me as many times asthey want in that two week
period.
That way it's built in.
I can charge 700 bucks for this.
Because I'm helping peoplerebrand, I'm helping people how
to make money.
I'm teaching people how to growtheir downloads or whatever I'm
consulting on.
What could you do and split uplike that where you're adding
(11:42):
that value like something likeVox, where they can ask you
questions on the fly.
anyway, We can start at a$200price point and I want you To
sell that, and if you get a yesevery time you get an immediate
yes.
Go up by 50 bucks next time youoffer it.
All right, it's 250 bucks.
Get an immediate yes, okay, nexttime it's 300 bucks.
And you'll just keep gettingyeses until you start getting
(12:03):
nos.
Then we go, okay, now we're inthe market zone of what they're
willing to pay for, what it isthat you offer.
And then as we get better, andmaybe you create an online
course now that's a part of theoffer, and now the offer just
went up to$500 because.
Now it's a course and coachingand a nice little hybrid model.
Maybe instead of doingone-on-ones, you can offer some
monthly group coaching as well.
(12:25):
Boom.
Now our value went up again andwe can charge more.
That's where I would start offwith I would ladder it up.
That way you can build your ownconfidence as you test things
out.
And also marketing it as a betagroup or a test group, cuz
that's truly what it is.
Let's say you have a socialmedia following, or an email
list or a little bit ofsomething that you could work
with there.
You can go, Hey, I am startingthis consulting program.
(12:47):
It's gonna be based off of X, Y,z result.
I need four people that wouldhelp me test this.
I'm going to charge a thousanddollars for this eventually.
But right now it's gonna be 200bucks and then you can make your
first thousand bucks by justhaving a five person test group.
some of that, all those thingsare valid things that I have
tried and have absolutelyworked.
And the key is focus on buildingrelationships.
(13:08):
If you're not a super salesyperson and you feel weird about
it, just build relationships,keep adding value.
And if you keep hitting youraudience over the head with
value, value, value, eventuallywhen they are ready to buy
you're the top of mind person.
And that's kinda the strategy Itend to take.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (13:22):
I think a lot of people think if I give
out all my best stuff online onmy podcast, no one's gonna pay
me money.
But really the difference isthey wanna be able to interact
with you and ask questions.
And it's one thing to hearadvice, but it's another to
actually have guidance andsupport from a coach or a
consultant face to face.
What should people talk about ontheir podcast?
(13:44):
And if they are trying to buildthis business, this consulting
business, should they be talkingabout all the things that are in
their offers?
Should they be building up tothe offer?
From all the things that you'vedone, what do you think is the
best route?
Adam Schaeuble (13:56):
There are different routes.
I don't know if there's a bestroute, but there, there'll
probably be a best fit for eachperson out there.
But one kind of very specificexample that I can pull outta my
own little cash of podcasts thatI've got here I had a limited
series show called PodcastLaunch Tips.
And notice the branding, youknow exactly what it is when you
hear it.
Like that's important as well.
(14:17):
But I didn't plan on doing thisforever and ever.
Like I, like with podcastingbusiness school, I'm like, this
is a long haul deal.
I'm gonna keep doing it.
But podcast launch tips, I'mlike, I'm gonna do 75 to a
hundred episodes.
I'm gonna give everybodyeverything I know about
launching a show.
I ended up at 70 and it waskinda like Forrest Gump, and he
is I'm done running.
And I was like I'm done running70 is good.
(14:39):
I've got course and services andall that stuff my launch
services ranged from$800 to$4,000 I recorded 70 episodes of
my course.
I basically took out everyvideo, every module, every step
that I teach in my course thatpeople are paying for.
I had an episode on it, and sopeople might be like you just
(14:59):
gave away the farm, but here'sthe thing.
I will give you everything Iknow for free.
You will pay me to help youimplement it correctly.
And because nobody has what's inmy crazy space up my head now,
extra little herbs and spices,that special recipe, and when I
sprinkle that on top of what'sin the course, That's when
something special happens.
(15:19):
That's when I help you skipsteps and level up and shorten
your learning curve.
I put that podcast out.
I haven't recorded any episodesof that for several months.
And it's like a funnel.
People find it cause it's got areally good search engine
optimization.
They start binge listening.
The call to action is to gocheck out my course, check out
my online offers and I'mselling.
Those 800 to$4,000 offers on theregular from a show that I
(15:42):
haven't put anything out, Idon't market it at all.
Like I've got an email funnelthat deals with it on a little
freebie.
That's potentially a route thenyou could take as far as content
creation.
If you are a service providerand you're like, I wanna do more
of a long-term thing one warningI would put out there is if you.
I wanna sell your own programs,products, and services.
Like what I do, like whatHeather does.
(16:04):
I would highly recommendavoiding an interview only show.
Because if you only interviewpeople, then they're the expert
and you're the person thatinterviews experts and then you
try to sell your thing.
They're like, why would I buythis thing?
You're not the expert that otherperson is.
I don't wanna buy that otherperson's thing.
So solo episodes and what Iwould consider to be coaching or
consulting style episodes.
(16:25):
When people pay me money, I gotwo-thirds of your content.
I need you to be positioned asthe expert cuz that's really
important when it comes to, andnow I've got a course, now I've
got a free challenge.
Now I need you to do this.
That's gonna get you on my emaillist.
And if you don't positionyourself in that way, it's gonna
be a real slog like it's goingto be because that's what I did
for the first three years when Imade$37.
(16:47):
So if you'd like to make$10 ayear as a podcaster, follow that
route.
Or option B, then we go downthis other road.
But it's really important tounderstand there's so much more
out there in content creationother than just interviews.
And I'm not saying don't dointerviews at all interviews are
a great part of it because youcan pull somebody in that adds
that extra flavor to your brandthrough their knowledge and you
(17:09):
have complimentary services andthere's some synergy there
that's awesome.
But just don't get locked in,into, I only do interviews cuz
That's not gonna help you get towhere you wanna be from a
business perspective.
Does that make sense?
Heather Zeitzwolfe (17:22):
Yes, I agree.
And when I first started mypodcast, I was only doing
interviews and some of thefeedback I got was, When are you
gonna do a solo show?
I wanna hear you.
then I started doing more introscuz that was my.
Putting my foot in the waterkind of Oh, okay.
do a longer intro.
And then I was like, okay, I gotup the nerve and I started doing
some solo shows.
Those are the ones that peoplealways comment more to me.
(17:43):
we think okay, we're gonna havethis guest and they're gonna
share it to the world, and we'regonna get all these followers
from a big guest.
Usually is like the ones thatare like wa wa, wa cuz they've
shared out their stuff a milliontimes.
people don't care.
That's not a way to drivefollowers.
Okay.
I wanna talk to you about, Oneof your important things that
you do is pod pals.
(18:03):
And this allows people to givetime, you call it eyeball to
eyeball.
With your.
Followers or listeners becausethey're out there, we don't see
them.
It's like we're notcommunicating with them unless
we get them to DM us onInstagram, which is a lot of
times like pulling teeth.
Adam Schaeuble (18:20):
Yeah.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (18:20):
into this thing where you give value and
then they get to spend time withyou.
That's brilliant.
Could you talk about how peoplecan implement this strategy in
their.
Podcast and bring their businessskills into it so that they're
building their business.
Adam Schaeuble (18:34):
One of the things I figured out is that you
have to initiate engagement.
We're all sitting on our buttswaiting for the engagement to
happen to us.
Oh, I put about this great show,and I hear this so often and
it's hilarious, and I laugh.
I can't help but laugh everytime.
I know these people arefrustrated and pissed, but
they're like, Adam, like we'rein this like heartfelt
consultation and they'restarting to get emotional.
Like I put so much work intothis and I even asked people to
(18:57):
email me on the show theirquestions and they'd never email
me their questions.
very rarely will a podcastlistener.
Be like, and now I will hop himout the old email and zip
Heather a question.
cuz they're doing other stuff.
That's the gift and the curse ofpodcasting is they're mowing
their lawn or they're takingtheir kid to school and they
forget, they're working out andthey're not gonna be like, oh
(19:19):
yeah, mental note, gotta goemail Heather, my question about
our show or whatever.
It's really hard to do.
you have to initiate engagement.
That's like mental note numberone.
The second mental note is wehave to ask ourselves if we're
truly community builders, whenare we giving our community a
chance to be a community?
Because me talking to themthrough a microphone where they
(19:40):
can't respond is not reallycommunity building.
That's why I did the Pod Palsthing I had a tough go at the
beginning is I didn't know anyother podcasters.
So I was like, I can be a hub ofconnection, Where I can help
other people meet otherpodcasters.
And we see so many coolconnections and people starting
shows together, doinginterviews, starting businesses
together, all this stuff.
(20:02):
I was like, I wanna be that hub.
I wanna help facilitate all thatand I'm gonna do it for free and
just make a bunch of friends.
I was like my pod pals, that'swhy I called the pod pal zoom
party, Even from the get go onthis.
It wasn't like I announced it onthe show and now I'm doing this
thing.
I want you to be a part of theshow and it's gonna be this
awesome panel discussion.
Cricket.
I had to go out and chase downpeople, my true pod pals that I
was already connected with.
I'm like, listen, I'm doing thisthing.
(20:23):
I didn't need you to show yourbutt up.
I need you to be there cuz Ihave to prove my audience.
We're gonna put it out as anepisode.
It'll be a great promo for you.
Everybody in my audience hearsit.
You shout out your brand, thewhole thing.
So I got five or 10 of my peoplethat.
I actually know that aren'tlisteners in my show.
I'm like, just come on, let's dothis thing.
And they loved it.
I put it out this episode andthe call to action was, here's
(20:43):
the link, the sign up for thenext one.
Then the next one I had abouthalf the people that I had to
strong arm in and the other halfwere people that actually listen
and click to link.
And then I released that one.
And then they started to justpick up to where now they fill
up to the point I have to sendthreatening emails on the
Thursday before.
I'm like, listen, it's full ifyou're not coming.
You gotta move your butt so Ican get somebody else in there.
(21:04):
So it's like totally switched.
The dynamic is switched wherenow it's an in demand thing and
it's hard to get a little seat,
Heather Zeitzwolfe (21:11):
Now you release it as a podcast episode,
and our buddy Janet Fish, she'sbeen doing the same thing.
I have a monthly meetup and Idon't release it as a podcast,
but now you've got me thinkingthat maybe I should be releasing
it as a podcast to drive peopleto come to this.
Do you think that you get bettersuccess in doing that then?
Adam Schaeuble (21:30):
Yeah.
Yes, especially in a space likeours where.
Like podcasters, one of theirfavorite things to do is be on
other people's podcasts.
O p P, you know me.
That's how the song goes.
I'm like, you can come on myshow and guess what?
You can shout out your show andhelp me create content.
And we do a little thing calledpodcaster speed dating, where
that's that little carrot Idangle out there.
And that's why people wannaattend all the time because
(21:51):
they're getting.
Booked on other people's shows.
It's I know you've gotten bookedon several shows from coming to
pod pals.
You've found some guests goodthings are happening out there.
And I had really tried tofacilitate that as much as
possible.
Heck yeah, especially this year,I've really put in a ton of
effort just brainstorming, howdo I get more of my listeners to
be a part of my brand?
How do I pull them in?
How do we create content?
How can I release more episodeswith more of my listeners'
(22:14):
actual voices?
I'm doing podcast pals.
I do my podcast audits wherepeople come on every Friday and
I audit their show.
I started doing this Speak Pipething where I put a link in the
show notes.
I go, tell me what your favoriteepisode is.
And I'll put it at the end ofthe show because I started
getting real creative with this.
Heather, you're gonna enjoythis.
Where I'm like, what are the twomost skippable parts of a
(22:36):
podcast?
The intro and the outro.
Everybody's heard that.
Skip skip.
And then the main thing's done,they're like heard at the end.
Skip skip.
Who cares?
Just cut it off.
Not gonna listen.
now, And a few episodes that arecoming up.
I bring the plane in for alanding.
I can go and here's a pod paljust like you with an episode
recommendation.
So they get to shout out theirshow on my show that's the
incentive to come on and shouttheir brand out.
(22:59):
It's not me pimping out my ownshow.
It's somebody that listens to myshow, social proof, expert
positioning, and now they'llprobably go and listen to that
episode because a listenerrecommended it.
And I'm very confident if I canget somebody to listen to four
or five, six of my episodes,I've got'em.
They're gonna start binging.
And people that binge becomesuper fans become clients.
And I that's how I do mybusiness.
(23:20):
Just thinking about, and even ifyou're not a podcaster, how can
you create and collaborate andmake your audience and make your
ideal customers a part of yourbrand?
Is that an Instagram live whereyou do face-to-face q and a,
you're pulling'em up on thescreen with you?
Is it a pod pal sort of a thinglike I'm doing?
I would challenge all theentrepreneurs out there, Because
if you give your listener, yourideal customer a voice in your
(23:42):
brand, now they're a part of itand it's our brand.
You know what I'm saying?
It's not Adam's brand.
We're all a part of this.
The pod pals are a thing.
And like when I got up on stageand spoke at pod Fest this past
year, when I say the word podpals, They go crazy.
They're like, I'm, that's me.
Yeah.
I'm one of those that's it'spretty damn cool.
(24:03):
That's my strategy around that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (24:05):
Yeah, I had people coming up to me at
podcast movement saying, I metyou on Pod pals, and I was like,
oh yeah, that's right.
Adam Schaeuble (24:10):
that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (24:11):
Yeah.
That's very cool.
Okay, before we wrap up, I dowanna ask you about, you
mentioned brainstorming.
The word planning has come inthere and I am a real advocate
for planning things out.
As creative entrepreneurs, welike to fly by the seat of our
pants, try things we got shinyobject syndrome.
But planning is important.
And if we wanna have a podcastwhere we actually generate money
(24:31):
from it, we have to have a plan.
And granted in the beginningexperimenting is important too,
but having some idea where wewanna take this thing.
So just quickly, how do you doyour planning for are you
looking a year out, a couplemonths out?
Like how do you do your planningfor your show?
Adam Schaeuble (24:47):
If you're just getting started, my advice for
brand new people when they'remapping up their content is we
gotta get you to a year.
If we can get you to a year ofepisodes every week, you're
probably gonna stick with it.
If you only think three episodesahead, and then I'll figure it
out from there, you probablywon't.
The current stat is there havebeen 4 million podcasts launch.
There are only 155,000 that havemore than 10 episodes and have
(25:09):
released anything in the last 10days.
I should tell you something, ifyou're just getting started, I
want you to make brainstormlist.
With 52 items.
Let's say you're gonna dointerviews and solo episodes, 26
and 26, I want you to write down26 topics that you can talk
about dealing with your niche.
Then I want you to write down 26people that you would like to
interview on your show.
(25:29):
Maybe some of these are peopleyou already have connections
with some of it might be likeyour dream top 10 list.
Now we have a year of contentmapped out where you can go
every other week.
Solo interview, putting thepuzzle together.
That's something you can do.
But just, I did this, I got thistip from Brennan Burchard, who's
a major coach in the coachingspace.
I did this and it saved my firstshow.
Cause it was so hard I wouldn'tto quit every single month,
(25:51):
every single week.
I was like, I just gotta do thatnext rep.
I just gotta do the nextepisode.
I've already got it lined up.
I can talk about that.
I could spend 15 minutes doing asolo episode or talking to this
person.
I'm good to go.
So I have all my clients do thatthat are just getting started at
26 and 26.
Let's map that out first.
And then if you're gonna docoaching style episodes that can
take away from a category, maybeyou're like, I don't know, so
(26:12):
many people.
All right.
13 people you can interview, 13people you can do a consulting
style episode with, and then 26solos, and now the math starts
to work.
And I know that Heather math, sothat would be a good newbie
beginning space.
Now let's go to the other end.
Where am I at right now with mycontent?
Now it's based around the nextoffer that I want to put out
(26:33):
there.
But the interesting thing is 99%of the time I don't sell
anything from my show, but whatI talk about sells into what I'm
selling.
You know what I'm saying?
It creates interest.
For example, I've got a campaignto promote my Download Growth
Club, which is a membership forpodcasters that are getting less
than a thousand downloads perepisode.
So that's a paid membership.
I'm gonna do a three weekaudience engagement challenge
(26:55):
that leads up to the promo push.
This weeks before that I'mtrying to get people to sign up
for the challenge.
So I go, okay.
Audience engagement and downloadgrowth.
So all my content for that sixweeks audience engagement and
download growth, and I'm drivingpeople.
I'm basically fishing with theright lure for the people that
would be attracted as if theylove these episodes.
(27:17):
They're gonna love mychallenges, they love my free
challenge.
They're a great candidate for mymembership.
I've reversed engineer it fromwhat I would like to put out
there as an offer.
And I've got a shout out.
My friend Jan Ditchfield shehelped me concoct this whole
formula and it's really amazing.
That's how I map up my content.
Now, on that, I could do thatonce per quarter and be like,
what's my main thing I wannasell this quarter?
The main thing I wanna put outthere from an offer perspective,
(27:39):
reverse engineer the content toattract the right person, get
them interested, and reallyengage.
Cuz sometimes podcast listeners,they skip around, they'll go
away for a couple weeks thattopic isn't necessarily my jam.
And maybe it's a couple weeks ofthat.
But now we start pulling back inweek after week.
That gets the momentum going inthe right direction.
Maybe they pop in for a pod palzoom party.
(27:59):
I get some FaceTime with them.
Maybe they start following me alittle closer on the ig.
That's my content map outstrategy now.
And if you're just gettingstarted, don't start there.
Start at the other end.
And if you're somewhere in, inbetween maybe you look at an
offer and just aren't quite likein as intense about it as with
the topics as I am right now.
But you can get there.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (28:18):
It's key to really understand what your
offer is and what it entails,because if you are unclear on
your offer, then it's gonna beunclear what you're gonna be
talking about.
Adam Schaeuble (28:27):
Oh yeah.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (28:28):
Adam, where can people find you?
You do like IG lives, you do thepod pals.
Tell us of where people couldfind you and hang out with
Adam Schaeuble (28:36):
the main hub that you can find everything.
I've got a very simple website.
I had a very simple website andI simplified the simplest
website in the world.
So if you just go to podcastingbusiness.school, it's a do
school url.
I'm still questioning thatdecision.
Podcasting business.school.
The other one wasn't available.
They wanted$5,000 for it.
I'm like, Nope.
(28:56):
I'm a cheapo.
So podcasting business.school,there is one video and three
buttons.
The buttons will guide you.
I have a button for free things.
I have a button that helps mefeed my family, and I have a
button for my podcast.
And then you can hang out withme on Instagram at podcasting
Business School.
And I'm live all the time.
I love doing the DM thing.
Doing the DM thing is my jam aswell.
(29:17):
Those are the two main places.
Check out my show wherever youlisten to audio and yeah.
If you enjoyed this episode go,leave it a five star review and
be like that guy with that bigold voice.
That was my favorite episode.
Heather Zeitzwolfe (29:28):
And You have an adorable daughter that has
been helping you with socialmedia has been so fun to see
those posts.
Please follow Adam.
He's hilarious.
Thank you so much Adam.
wishing you Tell me your,
Adam Schaeuble (29:39):
Health, happiness, and many downloads.
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