Ideas for earning $1,000+ /month without podcast sponsorships.

Hey Pod Pals!

This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 8:34 am CST. 

I have to say that it feels GREAT to have a normal schedule this week after traveling two out of the last three weeks.

I'm a creature of habit and I love my routine!

My cold brew coffee is starting to do its thing in my brain region.....so let's do this!

This week's newsletter is being sponsored by ME. ⤵️ 

 

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Start a 10 Day FREE Trial inside of my Online Business Academy for Podcasters.

This is the program where I help podcasters build the foundation for their 6-figure online business. 

This program is for you IF:

👉 You want to learn how to leverage your podcast to get more clients.

👉 You want to build programs, products, and services to sell to your podcast listeners.

👉 You want to be surrounded by a community of podcasters with similar business development goals.

👉 You want quick access to ME to get input on things like podcast content, your offers, your sales process, and client retention strategies.

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This week we are going to talk about some simple strategies for generating $1,000 (or more) per month without any podcast sponsorships.

The more I reflect back on my early attempts at monetization back in 2015....the more I realize what a complete IDIOT I was.....LOL! 

Allow me to present Exhibit A: The time I decided to start a mastermind.

The year was 2015 and I had declared myself an expert after releasing about 13 podcast episodes.

I thought "time to SCALE this bad boy!"....even though I was getting less than 50 downloads per episode. 

One of my podcasting heroes, Joe Polish from the I Love Marketing Podcast, was making a ton of money by hosting in person mastermind events...

...so I naturally connected the dots that this was a great idea for me as well.

 

Here was my "well thought out" game plan:

1. Talk about the event on my podcast.

2. At least HALF of the listeners will probably want to come.

3. I will charge $500 for a ticket and then upsell into a high ticket mastermind.

4. I will order a customized license plate for my new Lambo that says "Podcaster".

 

🚨 Now if your "what a dumb idea" alarm isn't ringing quite yet....this should do the trick:

I decided that the best place to host the event would be Los Angeles, California....a place where I had NEVER been and I only had a couple of contacts.

So, to put this story out of it's misery, this was an EPIC FAIL.

❌ I didn't sell a single ticket.

❌ I ended up talking a couple of local podcasters into coming up and speaking and they brought about 7 friends total....that was the audience.

 

This painfully true story is an example of a few monetization mistakes that I see many podcasters making:

😱 1. We try to duplicate the monetization strategies of our podcasting heroes....even though our brand, business, and audience size are at a totally different level.

😱 2. We try over complicated monetization strategies that often involve a large time/financial investment.

😱 3. We create offers that WE think are cool.....when instead we should be creating offers that solve the pain points of our audience.

 

So, Pod Pals, with today's newsletter I want to give you three SIMPLE podcast monetization strategies that I would use if I were starting over right now.

💰 Simple Monetization Strategy #1: Create a 14 day customizable coaching/consulting package.

This is an offer that I have a lot of success with today. Here is how it is structured:

✔️ One 45 minute consulting session via Zoom (on day one).

✔️ One 15 minute follow up consulting session via Zoom (on around day eight).

✔️ Unlimited Q&A via the free Voxer app for the entire 14 days.

✔️ Create a Google Sheet/Doc for shared notes between coach/client.

✔️ Start out charging in the $250-$1,000 range. 

Here's what I love about this simple offer:

❤️ 1. You can have this up and ready to go in about a day.

You don't need to create an online course, shoot any videos, etc.

❤️ 2. You can customize the focus point to what the client actually needs help with.

I use this for focus points like podcast growth, podcast launch, or listener to client conversion.  

❤️ 3. These are fairly easy to sell from doing a Discovery Call.

You just need to figure out the prospects main pain point and make sure their budget fits your offer price. 

 

💰 Simple Monetization Strategy #2: Create a simple paid community structure.

You can call this a lot of different things like a membership, group coaching, mastermind, etc.

What we are talking about is YOU being paid to coach a group of people all at once. (also known as One To Many).

I see a lot of people making this type of an offer way too COMPLEX when they start.

So here are a few ideas to start simple and then build it up from there:

✔️ Set up a community coaching session 1-2 times per month. I use Zoom for this type of a meeting.

✔️ The community coaching sessions can be used for Q&A, teaching, or guest expert sessions.

✔️ You are giving your podcast listeners a place to be around like minded people AND get direct access to you.

✔️ Include a place where community members can connect and continue the conversation: FB Group, Slack Channel, Voxer Group Chat....etc.

✔️ If you are in a niche where you are helping people either make or save money you should charge in the $97-$197 per month range starting out.

If you are NOT in that type of a niche you will probably be in the $27-$97 range.

😎 PRO TIP: It helps to have a few foundational members in the group before you kick off promotion. 

I would suggest offering up a few BETA Group spots (5-10) for free. 

Then do a launch period where you allow people to lock in spots for 50% of the regular price.

Here's what I love about this simple offer:

❤️ 1. It is VERY time efficient....as long as we do not over complicate things.

❤️ 2. We can help a lot of people all at once AND the community also gets to learn from and support each other.

❤️ 3. It creates monthly recurring income.

If you are charging $97/month and get just TEN members...you are bringing in almost $1,000/month. 

 

💰 Simple Monetization Strategy #3: Leverage a short free challenge and upsell into a paid continuation of the challenge. 

This was the exact type of an offer I used back in 2018 to start earning meaningful income as a podcaster and online business owner.

Here is the basic structure of this offer:

1. Host a three to five day free challenge that focuses on ONE major pain point that your audience has.

2. On the last two days of the free challenge present an offer to do a full 21-28 day paid challenge.

The first time I tried this I charged $37 for the paid challenge and made about $4,000.

The next time around I charged $97 and I sold 143 of them...aka...I made $13,871 from a three day free challenge!

Here's what I love about this simple offer:

❤️ 1. At a minimum you are still building your email list with the free challenge. 

❤️ 2. You can test out different pain points to see what your audience WANTS the most help with. 

❤️ 3. Once you lock in on a pain point that your audience really wants to solve you can create another offer to use on the back end of the paid challenge. 

I would suggest using strategy #2 from above and create a simple paid community offer for continued support after the paid challenge is complete.

 

Now that I have you all hot and bothered about making your first million with these simple offers....one word of CAUTION:

🚨Do NOT go buck wild and try all of these offers....all at once...or in rapid succession!

👉 Pick ONE and give it an honest chance to work. 

Then allow it to keep working until you even think about adding a second offer.

 

Last Thing: If you feel excited, but also a bit overwhelmed about where to start, this is the type of situation where I can be a lot of help.

I'd recommend doing a 10 day free trial inside of my Online Business Academy for Podcasters so you can tag me in and I will steer you in the right direction so you don't waste any of your precious time/money on building the wrong offer.

 

 

🎤 Podcasting Business School Episode 565: How to optimize your podcast for GROWTH w/Rob Walch from Libsyn

Topics discussed:

*Are keywords REALLY that important for your podcast name?

*Should I put the episode number in my episode title?

*Why have most podcasters seen a huge decrease in downloads since November of 2023?

*Do Ratings & Reviews actually help my podcast grow?

 

 

📈 Download Growth Club question of the week:

"Is there another podcast player app banner ad platform that you like to use other than Overcast.FM?"

I know I talk a lot about using banner ads on Overcast but I also use a platform called Podcast Addict. 

Here are a few key differences to know about:

1. Podcast Addict is a MUCH smaller platform compared to Overcast.

2. You can only run monthly ads that start on the 1st of the month.

3. You are limited to only running ads in the category that your podcast is listed in like "business" or "health". 

Sometimes you can get some great deals on this platform!

 

 

🚀 Podcast Launch Tip of the week:

If you want to maximize the organic discovery potential of your podcast you MUST leverage keywords in three specific areas:

1. The name of your podcast.

2. The podcast host description.

3. The individual podcast episode titles.

*Many people think that podcast show notes have SEO power.....WRONG!

Now we just need to figure out which keywords are the best ones to use!

⭐️ In episode 087 of Podcast Launch Tips I do a deep dive on how to figure out which keywords to focus on with your podcasting brand.

 

 

 🤩 Client testimonial of the week: My client Oskar has a great podcast called Pardon My Art: The business side of creativity.

Check out what he has to say about working with me inside of my Podcast Listener To Client Conversion Program:

"Adam has been a game changer in my quest to make my podcast more meaningful and monetizable. I've not only seen a significant increase in engagement and listenership, but I'm working on a new and exciting revenue stream!"

➡️ If you are ready to get some help with leveraging your podcast to get more clients and build your online business..... Hop on my Podcast Profit Potential Discovery Call Calendar and we can talk about working together.

 

 

✍🏻What's happening on the Threads app this week: Here is a long form SuperThread post that you might like:

"I'm 44 years old. I'm entering my 7th year as a full time podcaster. Here are 8 podcasting & online business lessons I wish I knew at age 34...." Full post HERE

 

 

I hope that you are enjoying this weekly newsletter!

Today I'm going to wrap up filming videos for my soon to be released course: Threads App Strategies for Podcasters.....stay tuned!

Talk to you next week!

Your Pod Pal,

Adam

 

⭐️ P.S. Ready for some help with your podcast launch, growth, or with getting more clients from your podcast?⭐️ 

Sign up for a FREE Podcast Profit Potential Discovery Call.