March 18, 2025 • 36 mins
What does it take to create 500 podcast episodes? Beyond the microphone setup and editing software, there's a deeply personal journey filled with unexpected twists, hard-earned wisdom, and surprising revelations about what truly matters in content creation.
When I pressed record on episode one in 2018, I was obsessed with download numbers and convinced I'd hit one million downloads within my first year. Looking back from the perspective of 1,514 total episodes produced across all my shows, I can't help but smile at that naive ambition. The real milestone wasn't reaching a specific download count—it was the first time I received a review from someone I didn't know, seeing listeners appear in locations across the globe where I had no personal connections.
The business side of podcasting has been equally eye-opening. My first monetization attempt wasn't through massive sponsorship deals but a humble $50 coaching call with my first client, Rachel. I've had spectacular failures, too, like my membership program "Poddy People," which I ended up refunding entirely because it wasn't structured properly. Yet these stumbles led to some of my greatest successes—affiliate partnerships worth tens of thousands of dollars and a thriving Podcasters Connect community that fuels my passion daily.
Perhaps my most valuable lesson has been that podcasting is no longer an audio-only medium. Today's listeners want options—audio episodes for their commute, video versions on YouTube, short clips on social media, and comprehensive show notes. This multi-format approach not only serves your audience better but dramatically increases your monetization opportunities as brands recognize your expanded reach.
As we launch our new digital product store in the coming weeks with accessible templates and tools specifically for podcasters, I'm setting my sights on the next 500 episodes with ambitious plans to interview industry leaders and continue growing this incredible community. Whether you're just starting out or hundreds of episodes in, remember that podcasting is a long game—but with the right mindset and strategies, each episode brings you closer to creating something truly meaningful that connects with people around the world.
🎧 Free On-Demand Training:
Ready to grow your podcast, stay consistent, and finally start monetizing? Watch my brand-new training, The Podcast Growth & Monetization Blueprint: What’s Working Now, and get a sneak peek inside my private community, Podcasters Connect — plus exclusive access to our custom AI podcast assistant!
👉 Watch now: krystalproffitt.com/growth
Click the "Send Krystal a Text Message" link above to send us your questions, comments, and feedback on the show! (Pssst...we'll do giveaways in upcoming episodes so make sure you leave your name & podcast title.)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
500 episodes.
That's hundreds of hours behindthe microphone and tons of
lessons learned, and today I'mpulling back the curtain on what
it really takes to reach thismilestone.
So this episode today is partof a raw truth and part business
(00:22):
breakdown and part futurevision for what's next with the
Profit Podcast.
So if you're listening to this,whether you're just starting
out or you've been at it for awhile I want to share the
hard-earned lessons, what I dodifferently and where I see
podcasting going from here.
(00:43):
So if this is your first time,tuning in, buckle up, because
this is going to be an excitingepisode.
And if you've been around herefor a while, you may hear some
stories that you probablyhaven't heard before and I know
you're a sucker for those too.
So let's get right to it.
Welcome to the Profit Podcast,where we teach you how to start,
(01:06):
launch and market your contentwith confidence.
I'm your host, crystal Profit,and I'm so excited that you're
here.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday, because if you've been
trying to figure out the worldof content creation, this is the
show that will help be yourtime-saving shortcut.
So let's get right to it, shallwe?
That will help be yourtime-saving shortcut, so let's
get right to it, shall we?
(01:27):
So you may have briefly caughton to the fact that I said this
is our 500th episode and if thisis your first time tuning in,
hello and welcome to the ProfitPodcast.
I am your host, crystal Profit.
I'm a podcast coach and contentstrategist and we're in for
(01:52):
some fun today because I startedthinking what do I want to do
for my 500th episode, becausethat's a big deal, like y'all,
that is halfway to a thousandepisodes for this podcast.
Now, in total, I recently didthe tally on how many episodes
across the Profit Podcast mythree-year podcast, the Potty
Report, my content therapypodcast, my digital course
(02:12):
podcast I added all of them up.
It was 1,514 episodes that weproduced just in Profit Media.
These are just the episodesthat I've produced just in
Profit Media.
These are just the episodesthat I've produced myself.
That doesn't include otherinterviews that I've done, other
trainings, like all the otherpieces where we've been plugged
(02:33):
into the podcast community.
1,500 episodes, and 500 of themare here on the Profit Podcast
since 2018.
Now this is the originalpodcast, right?
Well, let me take that back.
We were technically the RookieLife when we first launched and
now we are the Profit Podcastand with 500 episodes, I thought
(02:58):
, man, let's go back, let's do alittle journey through time.
We're actually gonna talk aboutthe hard truth of podcasting
success and what that looks like.
Then we're going to dive intothe business of podcasting and
what actually works.
Then we're going to talk aboutwhat's next for podcasting and,
for me, I'm really going toshare with you some of the
(03:19):
behind the scenes that I havenot shared anywhere else,
because that's what I love to doon this podcast is share those
behind the scenes details thatyou won't hear anyone else
sharing, because maybe they'reembarrassed or they want to just
be positioned as the expertthat makes no mistakes and y'all
know I'm all about mistakesaround here, and if you don't
(03:39):
know that about me, you're goingto learn it pretty quickly.
So let's just dive in.
Like I said, we're talkingabout the hard truth, about
podcasting success and what thatlooks like, and I want to
journey back to 2018.
I have this journal where I saidI want to start a podcast and
(03:59):
then it was 59 days later.
I still remember looking atthis, because it wasn't quite 60
days from when I said I want tostart a podcast to launching
the very first podcast episodeout into the world and I
remember thinking my definitionof podcast success with that
(04:20):
very first episode and puttingthings out into the world.
I was obsessed with downloads.
I was so focused on downloadsand just creating consistent
content like just put somethingout every single week that I
didn't really take time to getto know my audience or
understand who was actuallylistening or where I could add
(04:41):
value to the people.
I just thought I need a milliondownloads in my very first year
and I know I know you'relaughing, I know somebody is
probably drinking their coffeeor sipping on their water and
they just did a spit takebecause they're like wait,
crystal, crystal, hang on, hangon, hang on.
You thought you were going toget a million downloads in your
(05:03):
first year, really, because ifyou've been around, maybe you're
naive.
You thought you were going toget a million downloads in your
first year, really, because ifyou've been around, maybe you're
naive.
Maybe you're still in that.
What is it?
Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, likeyou have thought this too.
If you're just getting into thepodcast game, you're like I
know that I could get a milliondownloads in my first year.
Maybe that is possible if youhave millions of followers on a
(05:25):
different platform or you havean existing audience customer
base.
I had neither of those.
I was a nobody.
I was an absolute nobody,showing up and saying how hard
can this be?
I can do this.
I can get a million downloadsin a year.
I still have not hit a milliondownloads on the podcast.
(05:46):
We're really close to gettingthere for our YouTube channel.
We're in the 800,000 views forthe YouTube channel For the
podcast.
I still haven't hit thatmilestone.
So even though we're on 500episodes, we're not there yet.
But that has not stopped us.
So I just want to throw thatout there.
I was naive in how long Ithought it would take to get a
(06:08):
million downloads, but I do havefriends.
I have friends that have hittens of millions of downloads in
their first year, some of themeven in the first few years that
they've put their content outthere, and I just want to like I
don't want to say it's notpossible, but I can tell you
that is not the journey that mycontent has been on and I told
(06:29):
y'all, I would tell you thetruth here Like we're getting
the real real, like real realbehind the scenes today.
And the other piece that I wantto share is not just the good,
the bad and the ugly, but I alsowant to share the moments of
when I felt I had made it,because that was just as
important as my naive behaviorof thinking I was going to get a
(06:52):
million downloads.
So for me, when I knew I hadmade it and I wasn't focused on
the numbers, it was actuallywhen people that I didn't know
started reaching out to me andleaving reviews for the podcast.
It actually shocked me, if I'mbeing really honest.
It shocked me when I saw apodcast review that wasn't my
(07:15):
mom, it wasn't one of my friendswho had listened to the show
and been like I'll leave you agood review, I'll leave you a
five-star review and I'll do itanonymously, but I'm going to do
it under this name, likethere's several of those in the
very beginning of my podcastjourney.
But it was when I was like, oh,I was looking at my stats and
realizing I don't know anybodyin this town and it was North
(07:40):
Carolina was one of the firstones that I saw and I was like I
don't know anybody that livesthere who's listening to my show
.
And then different ones started, like Seattle Washington.
I didn't know anybody thatlived there.
And then New York, new York andthen it started traveling
globally.
All of a sudden, I saw some inJapan and Thailand and Australia
(08:02):
.
There were even some incountries that I didn't even
know existed.
I was like, oh my gosh, I don'teven know how to pronounce this
, but when I look at all theinfluence and the impact that
has happened, that's when I feltlike I'd really made it.
Quote the made it Like this is ajourney worth pursuing and
continuing to keep down thispath, because I was making an
(08:25):
influence on people I didn'teven know, and so that may not
be the definition of success forsomeone else, but, man, that
was that validation that Ineeded to just keep going and
keep showing up.
So if you're in that pointwhere you're like I don't know
if I've made it, I don't know ifI should keep doing this thing,
go check out your locations.
If you use Buzzsprout, you cango into your stats and see where
(08:48):
everyone is located and thensee do you know people in that
town?
Are these just your friends andfamily?
If they are, that's fantastic.
I love a great support system.
But if they're people that youdon't even know, people that
live in different countries thanyou're in.
It's pretty freaking excitingand really cool.
And that was one of the piecesthat I realized wow, I've really
(09:09):
made it.
I hit a totally differentmilestone.
But I also had moments where Iwasn't sure if I could keep
going.
I really wasn't.
I'm wincing.
If you're just listening to theaudio version, you don't see my
face on YouTube.
I wince a little bit becauseburnout hit me a few times
really hard before I figured outbatching and planning my
(09:33):
episodes and what that couldmean for my mental health, for
my creativity, for my ability toshow up with a lot of energy,
because I get comments all thetime.
Crystal, how do you show up withso much energy?
Why do you always seem likeyou're so like on it and you
have so much like exuberance andyou have all this energy.
(09:54):
Where does that come from?
One I drink a lot of coffee.
Let's just be really honest.
I drink a lot of coffee.
Like let's just be reallyhonest.
I drink a lot of almond milklattes and that's how a lot of
my content is fueled.
But I mean, I digress rightLike let's.
Let's not hate on my caffeineaddiction here, because the
other piece is I avoid burnoutbecause I'm able to batch record
(10:14):
, batch plan, batch edit, batchupload, batch publish, batch
schedule.
I mean, I have really learnedthe art of batching content and
that, my friends, is why I havenot burned out in this.
What seven-year journey ofcreating my content, and I
haven't skipped weeks and Ihaven't taken long breaks, and
(10:37):
it all comes down to batchingand planning.
So if you want to talk aboutpodcasting success, it doesn't
have to do so much with well,how many downloads did you get
and who's the biggest guest thatyou have?
I look at it as I've been ableto keep going in the lifestyle
that I want to have around mycontent and I'm still excited to
(10:59):
sit here and talk to you.
Have you ever listened tosomeone's podcast and you can
tell, oh my gosh, this host is,they're bored out of their mind
or they're talking in circlesLike who even knows what they're
talking about.
Why am I even listening to this?
I've listened to a few episodeslike that that I promptly
turned off, but I just wanted tobring that up.
Is if you're feeling likeburnout is a real thing, one?
(11:21):
We have tons of episodes on howto avoid burnout.
We actually had a burnoutspecialist on the show.
So make sure you go check outthat episode.
But I want you to just sit thereand take a deep breath and
evaluate what's going on in yourjourney.
Are you putting too muchpressure on yourself to hit a
million downloads, or are youputting too much pressure on
yourself to have this specificmilestone that you want to hit
(11:44):
in the first year, in the firstmonth, in the first week,
whatever it is?
Let's just take a deep breathand don't put so much pressure
on yourself.
But look at those kind ofintangible qualities, about
creating those deeperrelationships with your audience
or just really celebrating thatyou have other people listening
to your show that you're notrelated to or you didn't pay to
(12:06):
be there, and that's prettyfreaking cool.
But the last thing I'll sayabout this is learning about the
hard truth of podcastingsuccess.
I wanted to call out what Iwould tell myself on episode one
, like what would I tell myepisode oneself If I could go
back in time and be like Crystal?
Here's what you need to knowabout your podcasting journey.
I would tell her forget aboutthe freaking downloads, stop
(12:30):
worrying about the downloads.
The downloads will come, youwill have some, you will have
many.
You will have hundreds, youwill have thousands.
You will have tens of thousands.
You will have some.
You will have many, you willhave hundreds, you will have
thousands.
You will have tens of thousands.
You will have hundreds ofthousands of downloads.
But the thing that's mostmeaningful is the connections
that you have with your audienceand focusing on connecting with
real people, and those first 10to 15 listeners matter more
(12:56):
than you think.
It's the people that have beenaround for years.
Okay, there are people I cancall out by name that have been
in this community for years andI'm so grateful to have those
deep connections with them.
I can call them out by name Ican call out Kathy, I can call
out Carrie, I can call out Dan.
(13:17):
I can call out so many of youthat have been listening to this
content and that have beensupportive of this entire
journey, and they are in it forthe long game, and we're going
to talk about the long game herein a second, but I just want to
give a shout out to those ofyou that have been part of this
journey and those of you thatare trying to figure out what
podcast success looks like foryou, that have been part of this
journey and those of you thatare trying to figure out what
podcast success looks like foryou, please don't give up.
(13:40):
Please look for those littlenuggets of validation that can
help you in your journey, stayconsistent and work towards
those bigger goals.
But please don't let thosedownloads get in the way of you
thinking you're not successful,because if you keep showing up,
that's a really good sign ofsuccess, because I think the
statistic keeps dropping.
(14:00):
If you can get to your first 12episodes maybe it's even lower
than that and you can keep going, then you are in a very small
percentage of podcasters who canactually keep going.
So keep it up, right?
I'm throwing that in here now.
Keep it up.
We all have to start somewhere.
I know that's how we alwaysclose, but I feel like it was
really fitting for this segmentof the episode.
(14:23):
So I wanna call out right nowif you're feeling stuck in your
podcasting journey and you'relike I don't really know what
else I should do, like I'mtrying to figure out podcast
success, then Podcasters Connectis a fantastic place where we
can break through some of thesechallenges together so you can
get expert advice, communitysupport and accountability to
help you grow.
(14:43):
So I just wanna throw that outas an option.
If you have not heard me talkabout it before, go to
crystalprofitcom, forward, slash, join.
You can actually join us forfree or grab a spot in our
founding members price becausethe pricing is going up.
If you're watching this in realtime, the founding members
price is going away really soonand you need to take advantage
(15:05):
of it before the price goes up,because it's happening and you
need to know what you need to doto get in at the ground floor
and the founding members price.
Okay, enough about PodcastersConnect.
We will come back to it later,but now we need to move on to
segment number two, and that istalking about the business of
podcasting and what actuallyworks.
(15:26):
So when I first started, Iwasn't even sure if I could
monetize my content.
I just kept thinking well, Ihave to have these millions of
downloads and thousands oflisteners in order to monetize
my show, right?
Everyone was just talking aboutCPM models and what that means
is cost per melee or cost per1,000 downloads, and then people
(15:46):
would say, okay, the CPM is $25or it's $50.
So you do fast math and you cansee how much money you can make
on however many downloadsyou're getting, and it's $25 or
$50 per 1000 downloads and Iwould look at my numbers and be
like I'm never going to make anymoney.
(16:07):
It's pennies on the dollar.
How much money I could makewith the amount of people that
are listening, because I wasonly getting like 10 to 15
downloads per episode and I knewthat this wasn't going to be
something that a sponsor isjumping up and down like saying,
oh, let me take my money, like,let me throw all this money at
(16:27):
you.
I knew that that wasn't goingto work and I knew that
eventually I wanted to monetizein other ways, and so I was a
little discouraged for a while,thinking if I don't have
millions of downloads, what am Ieven doing here?
Why am I even creating thisstuff?
I also knew that I wanted tocreate digital products, digital
(16:48):
services.
The first thing I ever did isshout out to Rachel.
Rachel was my very firstcoaching client.
I still remember this to thisday.
She paid me.
I want to say it was like $50,maybe maybe $50, for I can't
remember if it was 30 minutes or60 minute coaching call about
(17:09):
her podcast.
She just wanted to know howdoes this work.
What do I need to do?
And that was really gamechanging because I didn't know
what it was going to look like.
She just said, hey, can I payyou to walk me through how this
podcasting stuff works?
And I was like, sure, how muchis your coaching?
50 bucks.
I probably even said it whereit sounds like there's a
(17:31):
question mark on it, because Iwasn't sure, I didn't know, I
wasn't a coach, I wasn't evensure what the heck I was doing.
But I was like, okay, thisperson wants to pay me, then
sure, let's make that happen.
But it was so important forthat first coaching session to
happen, that way we couldeventually create our first
(17:52):
digital products.
And because I know you'rethinking this, you're like well,
crystal, you're talking aboutsuccesses.
What about some of yourfailures?
And I don't publicly talk aboutthis a lot because it is a
little embarrassing, but becausethis is my tell-all episode I
mean, episode 500 needed to bespecial.
So my biggest flop is my veryfirst membership.
(18:15):
This was called the PottyPeople.
So remember, I had a podcastcalled the Potty People.
So remember, I had a podcastcalled the Potty Report.
I was obsessed with the wholelike, oh, the potty term, like
that can work really well.
It has multiple nuances to it.
So if you haven't heard thisstory before, my dad growing up
was a plumber, and if you goback to the artwork for the
(18:36):
potty report, you can veryclearly see that it is a woman
sitting on a toilet looking ather phone.
I know if you haven't seen thisbefore, this is a lovely easter
egg.
For those of you that have beenaround here for a while, you're
like, oh, I missed the pottyreport.
Talk about like understandingyour audience.
I get so much hate mail.
Oh, it's not hate mail.
(18:56):
I get so many upset listeners.
When I shut down that podcast,they were like, oh my gosh, why
are you shutting down thispodcast?
It's my favorite part of myweek.
But here's the thing it was adaily show Monday through Friday
.
It was five minutes or less.
I did love enjoy creating it,but it wasn't sustainable for
how I was going to keep runningmy business and all the things.
(19:19):
Something had to go that yearand that was the thing that had
to go.
But I digress.
I was obsessed with the pottyterm, so I started the Potty
People.
And what was the breakdownright?
Why was this such a big flop.
It was not structured well andthis was totally my fault, right
, I'm not here to blame anybodybut myself.
(19:41):
And it comes down to I didn'treally know what I was doing.
Can I freely admit that here,this is a safe space, right?
I did not know what I was doingbut I saw other people
launching memberships and I waslike, well, if they can do it, I
can do it.
But in reality, what I wasdoing wasn't sustainable and I
just ended up refunding everyonethat paid me and y'all.
(20:04):
It was thousands of dollars.
It wasn't like it was just $500here or $200 there.
It was thousands of dollars inrefunds that I gave back to the
people that joined because Iknew it wasn't going to work
long-term.
So you've heard the term likecut bait, like, yeah, just cut
bait and run.
I know it's a fishing term,it's one of those like my
(20:25):
husband fishes, my dad fishes,my brothers fish, and I even
think about fishing and it'slike, yeah, it was literally
cutting bait.
It was dragging the bottom of alake, it was stuck on all kinds
of seed weed and it wasn't likereeling anything in.
It was.
I felt stuck.
I felt stuck in this membershipand I knew long-term that it
wasn't going to work.
So I had to cut the bait offand just say you know what we're
(20:48):
going to try again in thefuture, but this isn't going to
work and If I hadn't have donethat, we wouldn't have our
thriving Podcasters Connectcommunity that we launched
multiple years later once I didknow what the heck I was doing
and how I wanted to structure it, and it is something that is
one of the most successfulthings in my business today.
(21:08):
So, speaking of success, ifyou're wondering about the
business of podcasting and whatit actually looks like and how
it works, one of the biggestsurprise revenue generators for
my business in the last 12months were my affiliate
marketing and sponsorshiprevenue.
Like that really shocked methat it was so much of my
(21:29):
revenue that I made in 2024because these were opportunities
that I didn't see coming withreally big businesses.
That ended up being really wellfor my business.
I got to collaborate withRiverside and with Kit and Swell
, ai and other companies that Ijust never had that on my vision
board.
These weren't on there to workwith them eventually, but
(21:52):
because I had the foundation inplace of all these other
episodes, all this other content, I was able to figure out how
can I make these partnershipssuccessful, and that's something
I'm really proud of that I lookback on over the last 12 months
.
But at the end of the day, themonetization that I absolutely
love the most is still creatingdigital products for this
(22:15):
community, like specifically forpodcasters.
Because I know you so well, Iknow what you need.
I'm in constant communicationwith people in this community
and it makes my heart so happyto create a digital course,
create a template, create aworkbook, create something
that's going to help you be moresuccessful in your journey,
(22:37):
because I hear directly backfrom you and that fuels my fire
to keep going, to keep creatingcontent and keep creating
products.
I don't know why I get sotongue twisted with that, but
keep creating products that willhelp you be more successful in
your journey and reaching youraudiences.
(22:57):
So I have this concept calledthe ripple effect of podcasting,
and what I see is the moreimpact I can have on you and
your show, then you can takethat knowledge and impact your
audience and hopefully they aretaking that knowledge that
you're sharing and impacting thepeople in their lives, and that
ripple effect is just sopowerful and, at the end of the
(23:20):
day, I can do that really wellwith our digital products and
services, so that's really whereI love spending most of my time
for creating products andservices in the business.
But the biggest lesson thatI've learned about monetization
is stop waiting until you have amassive audience, because
monetization is aboutpositioning your content and not
(23:44):
just numbers.
Because, again, I learned thisfirsthand in the sponsorship
deals that I did in the tens ofthousands of dollars in the last
year and I want you tounderstand this too, because it
was a big takeaway for me lastyear.
But speaking of, I'm reallyexcited about what we have
coming up in the next few weeks.
(24:04):
We're launching a digitalproduct store, so in the future,
you're gonna be able topurchase digital products,
whether it's a Google Sheettemplate or a PDF guide, or we
have Canva templates coming yourway that are all gonna be
catered to the podcastingexperience, and I cannot wait
for it.
(24:24):
We're gonna have all thesehosted on our kit platform so
you'll be able to easily go inand buy your $9 products, your
$20 products, your $40 products.
Like these are gonna be our lowticket.
Like, implement immediately.
Like, purchase it and getstarted.
Your $20 products, your $40products.
These are going to be our lowticket Implement immediately,
purchase it and get started, butthey're going to help you track
your numbers better, reallyimplement strategies that can
(24:46):
help you grow your downloads andengage with your audience.
So it's really combining thetwo things that I know you
really want to do to succeed.
And again, it's not all aboutthe numbers, but I mean, come on
, if you can grow your downloadsand engage with your audience
at the same time, it's prettycool.
It's pretty sweet, right.
All right.
Last thing that we got to talkabout.
(25:07):
So this is segment number three.
We're talking about what's newfor podcasting and what's new
for me in 2025 and beyond.
So the biggest change inpodcasting that I have seen in
my 500 episodes is people wantmore options, right?
So whenever I first started, itwas audio only, and if you did
(25:28):
show notes tool, that show notestoo, that's cool, right.
If you have show notes on yourpodcast website, that's great,
great.
It wasn't a requirement.
It was more or less like, yeah,you could do that, but audio
only.
Podcasts just aren't enoughanymore.
They're not, and I hate sayingthat because I know some of you
are like but girls, well, it'sall I can do right now.
(25:50):
I get it.
I get it, but let's make a planto add in some more formatting
options, because people wantoptions.
Even myself, like as a listener.
I love the show Armchair Expert.
It is one of my favoritepodcasts.
I don't miss an episode.
I actually have to catch up onseveral episodes, but I will
listen to it on the audio onlyversion.
(26:12):
But some days I feel likewatching the YouTube channel.
I will watch an episode thatI'm really interested in or I
want to see their expressive,like nature, or watch their
faces, or I'm just like, oh man,I really want to check out that
expert.
Or, you know, I'm going to haveYouTube playing while I'm
working or doing something else,and I love having the options
(26:34):
of listening on my phone whenI'm going on a run and I don't
have to watch anything, or beingable to check it out on YouTube
as well.
And, of course, I love seeingtheir short clips on Instagram,
and this is the same for yourlisteners.
They want to see those shortclips, maybe on YouTube Shorts
or on Instagram, and they wantto see the video version on
(26:56):
YouTube and they want to be ablevideo version on YouTube and
they want to be able to have theaudio-only version Now.
I'm not saying that you have todo this today, immediately.
Like I said, I've been doingthis since 2018.
I have 500 episodes under mybelt just for this podcast alone
.
So I've been doing this a while.
I have some structure, I havesome framework, but I'd love for
you to build out a plan Maybeit's a six-month plan for you to
(27:18):
not just be producing contentin an audio-only format, but you
expand into other places,whether it's just promoting on
Instagram 2 or another socialmedia platform, or putting up
shorts on YouTube or writingblog posts for your website that
are your show notes for yourepisode.
(27:39):
But create a plan.
Create a plan to give yourlisteners as many options as
possible, and that will help yougo so far.
The other piece that I'll sayabout this is the rise of the
creator economy has given youmore monetization opportunities
than ever, but these are justgoing to continue to evolve.
(28:00):
So, the more platforms whereyou are, let me tell you it's
really cool to see someone notjust want to pay for a podcast
ad, but all of a sudden they'relike oh, you have Instagram and
you have YouTube and you have anewsletter and you have a
website.
Well, your value just goes upand they're like let me pay you
(28:22):
a little bit more for you topromote our product, our service
, our platform on all of thesechannels and we'll happily pay
an increased amount to sponsorthose things.
Yeah, we can go like.
This is a whole other rabbithole If you have not listened to
my episode with Justin Moore.
He is my sponsorship coach andhe has taught me all the things.
(28:45):
I want you to go check outthose previous episodes, because
it's really powerful when youhave all of these different
formatting options and then youcan take all of that to a brand
and put it up on a pedestal, putit on the silver platter, and
say, hey, you wanna sponsor thisBecause I have so much more
(29:05):
than just podcast downloads, butwe're not gonna go into that.
That's like a whole five hourconversation on different rabbit
holes we can go down.
So go listen to those episodesthat we've done with Justin
because they are very powerful.
All right, let's go into thebiggest trend that I see coming
next AI.
I mean, come on, it's been thebiggest thing the last few years
(29:26):
.
It's going to continue to playa huge role in podcasting,
whether it's production, it'splanning it's batching and I
literally used it to plantoday's episode.
I brainstorm with chat GPT.
I'm like, okay, I want tocreate a 500th episode and we
put together some key themes andit threw out some ideas and I
(29:48):
was like, no, don't use that,but use this and that's a good
idea, and ask me questions aboutthis so I can insert stories.
Like it's going to continue toplay a huge role and I think
that leaning into how you canuse AI in your platforms and how
you create content is going tobe really, really helpful for
you.
And then, what's changing forthe Profit Podcast?
(30:08):
Honestly, the strategy aroundhere has been consistent for the
last three years.
We're helping podcasters andcreators create with confidence.
We still produce those weeklysolo episodes or weekly
interview shows, and I don't seeany of that changing anytime
soon.
So we can take a deep breath.
(30:30):
Nothing is changing around hereanytime soon with the Profit
Podcast.
But I was asked recently like,well, what's your big goal for
the next 500 episodes?
And I just want to like, sithere for a second and just take
in.
We've done 500 episodes of thispodcast.
Actually, if you count all thebonus episodes that we've done,
(30:52):
it's more than 500, but we'lljust settle on the regular
episodes that we've done and Ijust want to say, for the next
500, I want to shoot even bigger.
I want to shoot my shot andinterview some really big names
in the marketing world.
So some of my dream guests Iwould love to have Seth Godin on
the show, pat Flynn, nathanBerry and since we're dreaming
(31:15):
really big, I'm going to throwout.
I would love to have MindyKaling do an interview with her
one day.
Or Sarah Blakely, or ReeseWitherspoon you probably heard
me talk about them previously.
They are my North Star ofreally impressive women that
have done incredible things andbuilt these awesome empires, and
it's all about creating withconfidence and really supporting
(31:40):
other people on their journey.
And you know why not?
Why not shoot for the stars.
But that's all I have for youtoday.
So, at the end of the day, I amhere to celebrate 500 episodes
and I want to leave you withthis one thought, and that is
podcasting for me is a long game, but the right strategies make
(32:02):
all the difference, and not onlythe right strategies, the right
mindsets right.
We don't need to chasedownloads every single turn in
order to be successful and, Ithink, leaning into
understanding your audienceearlier in your journey can help
you have those bigger successesand those bigger milestones
engaging with your audience.
(32:24):
Lean into those episodes andthey will be great resources for
you to take through your next500 episodes.
So that's all I have for youtoday.
(32:44):
So if this is your first timetuning in, I'm so grateful that
you are here.
Make sure you hit that followor subscribe button wherever
you're watching and listeningtoday and, as always, remember,
keep it up.
We all have to start somewhere.
500 episodes.
That's hundreds of hours behindthe microphone and tons of
lessons learned, and today I'mpulling back the curtain on what
it really takes to reach thismilestone.
So this episode today is partof a raw truth and part business
(00:22):
breakdown and part futurevision for what's next with the
Profit Podcast.
So if you're listening to this,whether you're just starting
out or you've been at it for awhile I want to share the
hard-earned lessons, what I dodifferently and where I see
podcasting going from here.
(00:43):
So if this is your first time,tuning in, buckle up, because
this is going to be an excitingepisode.
And if you've been around herefor a while, you may hear some
stories that you probablyhaven't heard before and I know
you're a sucker for those too.
So let's get right to it.
Welcome to the Profit Podcast,where we teach you how to start,
(01:06):
launch and market your contentwith confidence.
I'm your host, crystal Profit,and I'm so excited that you're
here.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday, because if you've been
trying to figure out the worldof content creation, this is the
show that will help be yourtime-saving shortcut.
So let's get right to it, shallwe?
That will help be yourtime-saving shortcut, so let's
get right to it, shall we?
(01:27):
So you may have briefly caughton to the fact that I said this
is our 500th episode and if thisis your first time tuning in,
hello and welcome to the ProfitPodcast.
I am your host, crystal Profit.
I'm a podcast coach and contentstrategist and we're in for
(01:52):
some fun today because I startedthinking what do I want to do
for my 500th episode, becausethat's a big deal, like y'all,
that is halfway to a thousandepisodes for this podcast.
Now, in total, I recently didthe tally on how many episodes
across the Profit Podcast mythree-year podcast, the Potty
Report, my content therapypodcast, my digital course
(02:12):
podcast I added all of them up.
It was 1,514 episodes that weproduced just in Profit Media.
These are just the episodesthat I've produced just in
Profit Media.
These are just the episodesthat I've produced myself.
That doesn't include otherinterviews that I've done, other
trainings, like all the otherpieces where we've been plugged
(02:33):
into the podcast community.
1,500 episodes, and 500 of themare here on the Profit Podcast
since 2018.
Now this is the originalpodcast, right?
Well, let me take that back.
We were technically the RookieLife when we first launched and
now we are the Profit Podcastand with 500 episodes, I thought
(02:58):
, man, let's go back, let's do alittle journey through time.
We're actually gonna talk aboutthe hard truth of podcasting
success and what that looks like.
Then we're going to dive intothe business of podcasting and
what actually works.
Then we're going to talk aboutwhat's next for podcasting and,
for me, I'm really going toshare with you some of the
(03:19):
behind the scenes that I havenot shared anywhere else,
because that's what I love to doon this podcast is share those
behind the scenes details thatyou won't hear anyone else
sharing, because maybe they'reembarrassed or they want to just
be positioned as the expertthat makes no mistakes and y'all
know I'm all about mistakesaround here, and if you don't
(03:39):
know that about me, you're goingto learn it pretty quickly.
So let's just dive in.
Like I said, we're talkingabout the hard truth, about
podcasting success and what thatlooks like, and I want to
journey back to 2018.
I have this journal where I saidI want to start a podcast and
(03:59):
then it was 59 days later.
I still remember looking atthis, because it wasn't quite 60
days from when I said I want tostart a podcast to launching
the very first podcast episodeout into the world and I
remember thinking my definitionof podcast success with that
(04:20):
very first episode and puttingthings out into the world.
I was obsessed with downloads.
I was so focused on downloadsand just creating consistent
content like just put somethingout every single week that I
didn't really take time to getto know my audience or
understand who was actuallylistening or where I could add
(04:41):
value to the people.
I just thought I need a milliondownloads in my very first year
and I know I know you'relaughing, I know somebody is
probably drinking their coffeeor sipping on their water and
they just did a spit takebecause they're like wait,
crystal, crystal, hang on, hangon, hang on.
You thought you were going toget a million downloads in your
(05:03):
first year, really, because ifyou've been around, maybe you're
naive.
You thought you were going toget a million downloads in your
first year, really, because ifyou've been around, maybe you're
naive.
Maybe you're still in that.
What is it?
Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, likeyou have thought this too.
If you're just getting into thepodcast game, you're like I
know that I could get a milliondownloads in my first year.
Maybe that is possible if youhave millions of followers on a
(05:25):
different platform or you havean existing audience customer
base.
I had neither of those.
I was a nobody.
I was an absolute nobody,showing up and saying how hard
can this be?
I can do this.
I can get a million downloadsin a year.
I still have not hit a milliondownloads on the podcast.
(05:46):
We're really close to gettingthere for our YouTube channel.
We're in the 800,000 views forthe YouTube channel For the
podcast.
I still haven't hit thatmilestone.
So even though we're on 500episodes, we're not there yet.
But that has not stopped us.
So I just want to throw thatout there.
I was naive in how long Ithought it would take to get a
(06:08):
million downloads, but I do havefriends.
I have friends that have hittens of millions of downloads in
their first year, some of themeven in the first few years that
they've put their content outthere, and I just want to like I
don't want to say it's notpossible, but I can tell you
that is not the journey that mycontent has been on and I told
(06:29):
y'all, I would tell you thetruth here Like we're getting
the real real, like real realbehind the scenes today.
And the other piece that I wantto share is not just the good,
the bad and the ugly, but I alsowant to share the moments of
when I felt I had made it,because that was just as
important as my naive behaviorof thinking I was going to get a
(06:52):
million downloads.
So for me, when I knew I hadmade it and I wasn't focused on
the numbers, it was actuallywhen people that I didn't know
started reaching out to me andleaving reviews for the podcast.
It actually shocked me, if I'mbeing really honest.
It shocked me when I saw apodcast review that wasn't my
(07:15):
mom, it wasn't one of my friendswho had listened to the show
and been like I'll leave you agood review, I'll leave you a
five-star review and I'll do itanonymously, but I'm going to do
it under this name, likethere's several of those in the
very beginning of my podcastjourney.
But it was when I was like, oh,I was looking at my stats and
realizing I don't know anybodyin this town and it was North
(07:40):
Carolina was one of the firstones that I saw and I was like I
don't know anybody that livesthere who's listening to my show
.
And then different ones started, like Seattle Washington.
I didn't know anybody thatlived there.
And then New York, new York andthen it started traveling
globally.
All of a sudden, I saw some inJapan and Thailand and Australia
(08:02):
.
There were even some incountries that I didn't even
know existed.
I was like, oh my gosh, I don'teven know how to pronounce this
, but when I look at all theinfluence and the impact that
has happened, that's when I feltlike I'd really made it.
Quote the made it Like this is ajourney worth pursuing and
continuing to keep down thispath, because I was making an
(08:25):
influence on people I didn'teven know, and so that may not
be the definition of success forsomeone else, but, man, that
was that validation that Ineeded to just keep going and
keep showing up.
So if you're in that pointwhere you're like I don't know
if I've made it, I don't know ifI should keep doing this thing,
go check out your locations.
If you use Buzzsprout, you cango into your stats and see where
(08:48):
everyone is located and thensee do you know people in that
town?
Are these just your friends andfamily?
If they are, that's fantastic.
I love a great support system.
But if they're people that youdon't even know, people that
live in different countries thanyou're in.
It's pretty freaking excitingand really cool.
And that was one of the piecesthat I realized wow, I've really
(09:09):
made it.
I hit a totally differentmilestone.
But I also had moments where Iwasn't sure if I could keep
going.
I really wasn't.
I'm wincing.
If you're just listening to theaudio version, you don't see my
face on YouTube.
I wince a little bit becauseburnout hit me a few times
really hard before I figured outbatching and planning my
(09:33):
episodes and what that couldmean for my mental health, for
my creativity, for my ability toshow up with a lot of energy,
because I get comments all thetime.
Crystal, how do you show up withso much energy?
Why do you always seem likeyou're so like on it and you
have so much like exuberance andyou have all this energy.
(09:54):
Where does that come from?
One I drink a lot of coffee.
Let's just be really honest.
I drink a lot of coffee.
Like let's just be reallyhonest.
I drink a lot of almond milklattes and that's how a lot of
my content is fueled.
But I mean, I digress rightLike let's.
Let's not hate on my caffeineaddiction here, because the
other piece is I avoid burnoutbecause I'm able to batch record
(10:14):
, batch plan, batch edit, batchupload, batch publish, batch
schedule.
I mean, I have really learnedthe art of batching content and
that, my friends, is why I havenot burned out in this.
What seven-year journey ofcreating my content, and I
haven't skipped weeks and Ihaven't taken long breaks, and
(10:37):
it all comes down to batchingand planning.
So if you want to talk aboutpodcasting success, it doesn't
have to do so much with well,how many downloads did you get
and who's the biggest guest thatyou have?
I look at it as I've been ableto keep going in the lifestyle
that I want to have around mycontent and I'm still excited to
(10:59):
sit here and talk to you.
Have you ever listened tosomeone's podcast and you can
tell, oh my gosh, this host is,they're bored out of their mind
or they're talking in circlesLike who even knows what they're
talking about.
Why am I even listening to this?
I've listened to a few episodeslike that that I promptly
turned off, but I just wanted tobring that up.
Is if you're feeling likeburnout is a real thing, one?
(11:21):
We have tons of episodes on howto avoid burnout.
We actually had a burnoutspecialist on the show.
So make sure you go check outthat episode.
But I want you to just sit thereand take a deep breath and
evaluate what's going on in yourjourney.
Are you putting too muchpressure on yourself to hit a
million downloads, or are youputting too much pressure on
yourself to have this specificmilestone that you want to hit
(11:44):
in the first year, in the firstmonth, in the first week,
whatever it is?
Let's just take a deep breathand don't put so much pressure
on yourself.
But look at those kind ofintangible qualities, about
creating those deeperrelationships with your audience
or just really celebrating thatyou have other people listening
to your show that you're notrelated to or you didn't pay to
(12:06):
be there, and that's prettyfreaking cool.
But the last thing I'll sayabout this is learning about the
hard truth of podcastingsuccess.
I wanted to call out what Iwould tell myself on episode one
, like what would I tell myepisode oneself If I could go
back in time and be like Crystal?
Here's what you need to knowabout your podcasting journey.
I would tell her forget aboutthe freaking downloads, stop
(12:30):
worrying about the downloads.
The downloads will come, youwill have some, you will have
many.
You will have hundreds, youwill have thousands.
You will have tens of thousands.
You will have some.
You will have many, you willhave hundreds, you will have
thousands.
You will have tens of thousands.
You will have hundreds ofthousands of downloads.
But the thing that's mostmeaningful is the connections
that you have with your audienceand focusing on connecting with
real people, and those first 10to 15 listeners matter more
(12:56):
than you think.
It's the people that have beenaround for years.
Okay, there are people I cancall out by name that have been
in this community for years andI'm so grateful to have those
deep connections with them.
I can call them out by name Ican call out Kathy, I can call
out Carrie, I can call out Dan.
(13:17):
I can call out so many of youthat have been listening to this
content and that have beensupportive of this entire
journey, and they are in it forthe long game, and we're going
to talk about the long game herein a second, but I just want to
give a shout out to those ofyou that have been part of this
journey and those of you thatare trying to figure out what
podcast success looks like foryou, that have been part of this
journey and those of you thatare trying to figure out what
podcast success looks like foryou, please don't give up.
(13:40):
Please look for those littlenuggets of validation that can
help you in your journey, stayconsistent and work towards
those bigger goals.
But please don't let thosedownloads get in the way of you
thinking you're not successful,because if you keep showing up,
that's a really good sign ofsuccess, because I think the
statistic keeps dropping.
(14:00):
If you can get to your first 12episodes maybe it's even lower
than that and you can keep going, then you are in a very small
percentage of podcasters who canactually keep going.
So keep it up, right?
I'm throwing that in here now.
Keep it up.
We all have to start somewhere.
I know that's how we alwaysclose, but I feel like it was
really fitting for this segmentof the episode.
(14:23):
So I wanna call out right nowif you're feeling stuck in your
podcasting journey and you'relike I don't really know what
else I should do, like I'mtrying to figure out podcast
success, then Podcasters Connectis a fantastic place where we
can break through some of thesechallenges together so you can
get expert advice, communitysupport and accountability to
help you grow.
(14:43):
So I just wanna throw that outas an option.
If you have not heard me talkabout it before, go to
crystalprofitcom, forward, slash, join.
You can actually join us forfree or grab a spot in our
founding members price becausethe pricing is going up.
If you're watching this in realtime, the founding members
price is going away really soonand you need to take advantage
(15:05):
of it before the price goes up,because it's happening and you
need to know what you need to doto get in at the ground floor
and the founding members price.
Okay, enough about PodcastersConnect.
We will come back to it later,but now we need to move on to
segment number two, and that istalking about the business of
podcasting and what actuallyworks.
(15:26):
So when I first started, Iwasn't even sure if I could
monetize my content.
I just kept thinking well, Ihave to have these millions of
downloads and thousands oflisteners in order to monetize
my show, right?
Everyone was just talking aboutCPM models and what that means
is cost per melee or cost per1,000 downloads, and then people
(15:46):
would say, okay, the CPM is $25or it's $50.
So you do fast math and you cansee how much money you can make
on however many downloadsyou're getting, and it's $25 or
$50 per 1000 downloads and Iwould look at my numbers and be
like I'm never going to make anymoney.
(16:07):
It's pennies on the dollar.
How much money I could makewith the amount of people that
are listening, because I wasonly getting like 10 to 15
downloads per episode and I knewthat this wasn't going to be
something that a sponsor isjumping up and down like saying,
oh, let me take my money, like,let me throw all this money at
(16:27):
you.
I knew that that wasn't goingto work and I knew that
eventually I wanted to monetizein other ways, and so I was a
little discouraged for a while,thinking if I don't have
millions of downloads, what am Ieven doing here?
Why am I even creating thisstuff?
I also knew that I wanted tocreate digital products, digital
(16:48):
services.
The first thing I ever did isshout out to Rachel.
Rachel was my very firstcoaching client.
I still remember this to thisday.
She paid me.
I want to say it was like $50,maybe maybe $50, for I can't
remember if it was 30 minutes or60 minute coaching call about
(17:09):
her podcast.
She just wanted to know howdoes this work.
What do I need to do?
And that was really gamechanging because I didn't know
what it was going to look like.
She just said, hey, can I payyou to walk me through how this
podcasting stuff works?
And I was like, sure, how muchis your coaching?
50 bucks.
I probably even said it whereit sounds like there's a
(17:31):
question mark on it, because Iwasn't sure, I didn't know, I
wasn't a coach, I wasn't evensure what the heck I was doing.
But I was like, okay, thisperson wants to pay me, then
sure, let's make that happen.
But it was so important forthat first coaching session to
happen, that way we couldeventually create our first
(17:52):
digital products.
And because I know you'rethinking this, you're like well,
crystal, you're talking aboutsuccesses.
What about some of yourfailures?
And I don't publicly talk aboutthis a lot because it is a
little embarrassing, but becausethis is my tell-all episode I
mean, episode 500 needed to bespecial.
So my biggest flop is my veryfirst membership.
(18:15):
This was called the PottyPeople.
So remember, I had a podcastcalled the Potty People.
So remember, I had a podcastcalled the Potty Report.
I was obsessed with the wholelike, oh, the potty term, like
that can work really well.
It has multiple nuances to it.
So if you haven't heard thisstory before, my dad growing up
was a plumber, and if you goback to the artwork for the
(18:36):
potty report, you can veryclearly see that it is a woman
sitting on a toilet looking ather phone.
I know if you haven't seen thisbefore, this is a lovely easter
egg.
For those of you that have beenaround here for a while, you're
like, oh, I missed the pottyreport.
Talk about like understandingyour audience.
I get so much hate mail.
Oh, it's not hate mail.
(18:56):
I get so many upset listeners.
When I shut down that podcast,they were like, oh my gosh, why
are you shutting down thispodcast?
It's my favorite part of myweek.
But here's the thing it was adaily show Monday through Friday
.
It was five minutes or less.
I did love enjoy creating it,but it wasn't sustainable for
how I was going to keep runningmy business and all the things.
(19:19):
Something had to go that yearand that was the thing that had
to go.
But I digress.
I was obsessed with the pottyterm, so I started the Potty
People.
And what was the breakdownright?
Why was this such a big flop.
It was not structured well andthis was totally my fault, right
, I'm not here to blame anybodybut myself.
(19:41):
And it comes down to I didn'treally know what I was doing.
Can I freely admit that here,this is a safe space, right?
I did not know what I was doingbut I saw other people
launching memberships and I waslike, well, if they can do it, I
can do it.
But in reality, what I wasdoing wasn't sustainable and I
just ended up refunding everyonethat paid me and y'all.
(20:04):
It was thousands of dollars.
It wasn't like it was just $500here or $200 there.
It was thousands of dollars inrefunds that I gave back to the
people that joined because Iknew it wasn't going to work
long-term.
So you've heard the term likecut bait, like, yeah, just cut
bait and run.
I know it's a fishing term,it's one of those like my
(20:25):
husband fishes, my dad fishes,my brothers fish, and I even
think about fishing and it'slike, yeah, it was literally
cutting bait.
It was dragging the bottom of alake, it was stuck on all kinds
of seed weed and it wasn't likereeling anything in.
It was.
I felt stuck.
I felt stuck in this membershipand I knew long-term that it
wasn't going to work.
So I had to cut the bait offand just say you know what we're
(20:48):
going to try again in thefuture, but this isn't going to
work and If I hadn't have donethat, we wouldn't have our
thriving Podcasters Connectcommunity that we launched
multiple years later once I didknow what the heck I was doing
and how I wanted to structure it, and it is something that is
one of the most successfulthings in my business today.
(21:08):
So, speaking of success, ifyou're wondering about the
business of podcasting and whatit actually looks like and how
it works, one of the biggestsurprise revenue generators for
my business in the last 12months were my affiliate
marketing and sponsorshiprevenue.
Like that really shocked methat it was so much of my
(21:29):
revenue that I made in 2024because these were opportunities
that I didn't see coming withreally big businesses.
That ended up being really wellfor my business.
I got to collaborate withRiverside and with Kit and Swell
, ai and other companies that Ijust never had that on my vision
board.
These weren't on there to workwith them eventually, but
(21:52):
because I had the foundation inplace of all these other
episodes, all this other content, I was able to figure out how
can I make these partnershipssuccessful, and that's something
I'm really proud of that I lookback on over the last 12 months
.
But at the end of the day, themonetization that I absolutely
love the most is still creatingdigital products for this
(22:15):
community, like specifically forpodcasters.
Because I know you so well, Iknow what you need.
I'm in constant communicationwith people in this community
and it makes my heart so happyto create a digital course,
create a template, create aworkbook, create something
that's going to help you be moresuccessful in your journey,
(22:37):
because I hear directly backfrom you and that fuels my fire
to keep going, to keep creatingcontent and keep creating
products.
I don't know why I get sotongue twisted with that, but
keep creating products that willhelp you be more successful in
your journey and reaching youraudiences.
(22:57):
So I have this concept calledthe ripple effect of podcasting,
and what I see is the moreimpact I can have on you and
your show, then you can takethat knowledge and impact your
audience and hopefully they aretaking that knowledge that
you're sharing and impacting thepeople in their lives, and that
ripple effect is just sopowerful and, at the end of the
(23:20):
day, I can do that really wellwith our digital products and
services, so that's really whereI love spending most of my time
for creating products andservices in the business.
But the biggest lesson thatI've learned about monetization
is stop waiting until you have amassive audience, because
monetization is aboutpositioning your content and not
(23:44):
just numbers.
Because, again, I learned thisfirsthand in the sponsorship
deals that I did in the tens ofthousands of dollars in the last
year and I want you tounderstand this too, because it
was a big takeaway for me lastyear.
But speaking of, I'm reallyexcited about what we have
coming up in the next few weeks.
(24:04):
We're launching a digitalproduct store, so in the future,
you're gonna be able topurchase digital products,
whether it's a Google Sheettemplate or a PDF guide, or we
have Canva templates coming yourway that are all gonna be
catered to the podcastingexperience, and I cannot wait
for it.
(24:24):
We're gonna have all thesehosted on our kit platform so
you'll be able to easily go inand buy your $9 products, your
$20 products, your $40 products.
Like these are gonna be our lowticket.
Like, implement immediately.
Like, purchase it and getstarted.
Your $20 products, your $40products.
These are going to be our lowticket Implement immediately,
purchase it and get started, butthey're going to help you track
your numbers better, reallyimplement strategies that can
(24:46):
help you grow your downloads andengage with your audience.
So it's really combining thetwo things that I know you
really want to do to succeed.
And again, it's not all aboutthe numbers, but I mean, come on
, if you can grow your downloadsand engage with your audience
at the same time, it's prettycool.
It's pretty sweet, right.
All right.
Last thing that we got to talkabout.
(25:07):
So this is segment number three.
We're talking about what's newfor podcasting and what's new
for me in 2025 and beyond.
So the biggest change inpodcasting that I have seen in
my 500 episodes is people wantmore options, right?
So whenever I first started, itwas audio only, and if you did
(25:28):
show notes tool, that show notestoo, that's cool, right.
If you have show notes on yourpodcast website, that's great,
great.
It wasn't a requirement.
It was more or less like, yeah,you could do that, but audio
only.
Podcasts just aren't enoughanymore.
They're not, and I hate sayingthat because I know some of you
are like but girls, well, it'sall I can do right now.
(25:50):
I get it.
I get it, but let's make a planto add in some more formatting
options, because people wantoptions.
Even myself, like as a listener.
I love the show Armchair Expert.
It is one of my favoritepodcasts.
I don't miss an episode.
I actually have to catch up onseveral episodes, but I will
listen to it on the audio onlyversion.
(26:12):
But some days I feel likewatching the YouTube channel.
I will watch an episode thatI'm really interested in or I
want to see their expressive,like nature, or watch their
faces, or I'm just like, oh man,I really want to check out that
expert.
Or, you know, I'm going to haveYouTube playing while I'm
working or doing something else,and I love having the options
(26:34):
of listening on my phone whenI'm going on a run and I don't
have to watch anything, or beingable to check it out on YouTube
as well.
And, of course, I love seeingtheir short clips on Instagram,
and this is the same for yourlisteners.
They want to see those shortclips, maybe on YouTube Shorts
or on Instagram, and they wantto see the video version on
(26:56):
YouTube and they want to be ablevideo version on YouTube and
they want to be able to have theaudio-only version Now.
I'm not saying that you have todo this today, immediately.
Like I said, I've been doingthis since 2018.
I have 500 episodes under mybelt just for this podcast alone
.
So I've been doing this a while.
I have some structure, I havesome framework, but I'd love for
you to build out a plan Maybeit's a six-month plan for you to
(27:18):
not just be producing contentin an audio-only format, but you
expand into other places,whether it's just promoting on
Instagram 2 or another socialmedia platform, or putting up
shorts on YouTube or writingblog posts for your website that
are your show notes for yourepisode.
(27:39):
But create a plan.
Create a plan to give yourlisteners as many options as
possible, and that will help yougo so far.
The other piece that I'll sayabout this is the rise of the
creator economy has given youmore monetization opportunities
than ever, but these are justgoing to continue to evolve.
(28:00):
So, the more platforms whereyou are, let me tell you it's
really cool to see someone notjust want to pay for a podcast
ad, but all of a sudden they'relike oh, you have Instagram and
you have YouTube and you have anewsletter and you have a
website.
Well, your value just goes upand they're like let me pay you
(28:22):
a little bit more for you topromote our product, our service
, our platform on all of thesechannels and we'll happily pay
an increased amount to sponsorthose things.
Yeah, we can go like.
This is a whole other rabbithole If you have not listened to
my episode with Justin Moore.
He is my sponsorship coach andhe has taught me all the things.
(28:45):
I want you to go check outthose previous episodes, because
it's really powerful when youhave all of these different
formatting options and then youcan take all of that to a brand
and put it up on a pedestal, putit on the silver platter, and
say, hey, you wanna sponsor thisBecause I have so much more
(29:05):
than just podcast downloads, butwe're not gonna go into that.
That's like a whole five hourconversation on different rabbit
holes we can go down.
So go listen to those episodesthat we've done with Justin
because they are very powerful.
All right, let's go into thebiggest trend that I see coming
next AI.
I mean, come on, it's been thebiggest thing the last few years
(29:26):
.
It's going to continue to playa huge role in podcasting,
whether it's production, it'splanning it's batching and I
literally used it to plantoday's episode.
I brainstorm with chat GPT.
I'm like, okay, I want tocreate a 500th episode and we
put together some key themes andit threw out some ideas and I
(29:48):
was like, no, don't use that,but use this and that's a good
idea, and ask me questions aboutthis so I can insert stories.
Like it's going to continue toplay a huge role and I think
that leaning into how you canuse AI in your platforms and how
you create content is going tobe really, really helpful for
you.
And then, what's changing forthe Profit Podcast?
(30:08):
Honestly, the strategy aroundhere has been consistent for the
last three years.
We're helping podcasters andcreators create with confidence.
We still produce those weeklysolo episodes or weekly
interview shows, and I don't seeany of that changing anytime
soon.
So we can take a deep breath.
(30:30):
Nothing is changing around hereanytime soon with the Profit
Podcast.
But I was asked recently like,well, what's your big goal for
the next 500 episodes?
And I just want to like, sithere for a second and just take
in.
We've done 500 episodes of thispodcast.
Actually, if you count all thebonus episodes that we've done,
(30:52):
it's more than 500, but we'lljust settle on the regular
episodes that we've done and Ijust want to say, for the next
500, I want to shoot even bigger.
I want to shoot my shot andinterview some really big names
in the marketing world.
So some of my dream guests Iwould love to have Seth Godin on
the show, pat Flynn, nathanBerry and since we're dreaming
(31:15):
really big, I'm going to throwout.
I would love to have MindyKaling do an interview with her
one day.
Or Sarah Blakely, or ReeseWitherspoon you probably heard
me talk about them previously.
They are my North Star ofreally impressive women that
have done incredible things andbuilt these awesome empires, and
it's all about creating withconfidence and really supporting
(31:40):
other people on their journey.
And you know why not?
Why not shoot for the stars.
But that's all I have for youtoday.
So, at the end of the day, I amhere to celebrate 500 episodes
and I want to leave you withthis one thought, and that is
podcasting for me is a long game, but the right strategies make
(32:02):
all the difference, and not onlythe right strategies, the right
mindsets right.
We don't need to chasedownloads every single turn in
order to be successful and, Ithink, leaning into
understanding your audienceearlier in your journey can help
you have those bigger successesand those bigger milestones
engaging with your audience.
(32:24):
Lean into those episodes andthey will be great resources for
you to take through your next500 episodes.
So that's all I have for youtoday.
(32:44):
So if this is your first timetuning in, I'm so grateful that
you are here.
Make sure you hit that followor subscribe button wherever
you're watching and listeningtoday and, as always, remember,
keep it up.
We all have to start somewhere.
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