Your monthly podcasting expenses are probably too high!
Hey Pod Pals!
This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 9:03am CST.
I've been chatting inside of my Skool community for an hour already so my creative muscles are all warmed up!
Plus I've had an extra cup of cold brew coffee....so let's fire up the newsletter engine! 😉
📈 Today we are going to talk about saving you some $$$ with your monthly podcasting expenses.
This newsletter topic was inspired by a few interactions I've had lately.
One of my new consulting clients is spending close to $100K per year on their show....and it gets less than 50 downloads per episode! 😱
Another person asked me if I thought spending $3,000 per month on recording at a local professional podcast studio was a good idea!!! 😱😱😱
I think one of the reasons that a lot of newbie podcasters give up and quit is because they get overwhelmed by what I would consider to be unnecessary expenses.
TRUE FACT: I have had a lot of success in podcasting both in terms of growth and monetization with over 1 million+ downloads and over $1 million+ earned.
Here are the things that I DIDN'T need to invest in to get there:
❌ $500 mic
❌ $1,000 camera
❌ Professional recording studio
❌ Fancy home studio setup
❌ Fancy mixer/sound boards with lots of colorful buttons
❌ Podcaster editors/producers
❌ Social media agency
❌ Paying to fly guests in for interviews
So...here is exactly what I'm currently spending money on when it comes to my podcast and online business.
Let's start with the equipment I use:
💰 $97 ATR 2100 mic: This model isn't available anymore for some reason. But just let this sink in: I've got 1.2 million downloads with a $97 USB plug in mic!
💰 $197 Logitech camera: Yep...another USB plug in device!
💰 $35 Mini foam wall: Again....this is so old it is not sold anymore. It looks like one of the black sound panels that you see in fancy podcast studios. It's a half circle shape and I put it directly behind my mic when I record.
💰 $75 LED ring light: I don't record video content anymore but this thing did the job when I was doing video. I still use it for all of my video based coaching/consulting sessions and video content for my paid community.
Now let's peek at monthly recurring costs:
💰 Libsyn $25/month: I've used Libsyn for my podcast hosting for over a decade now. I feel like investing in a paid hosting platform is an important thing for new podcasters to do. Spending $20-ish per month is worth it for the improved analytics and ease of distribution.
💰 Zoom $15/month: Yep....I still record my interviews on Zoom. This is also what I use for my coaching/consulting sessions and when I'm recording videos for courses.
💰 Descript $12/month: I LOVE how easy Descript makes editing. Their Studio Sound button does most of the editing for me in one click!
💰 Canva Pro $10/month: This is one expense I could probably get rid of since I'm not doing many posts for image based social media platforms anymore.
💰 Calendly $9/month: I LOVE this scheduling app! Before finding Calendly I was using a scheduling system that cost me $50/month and it sucked!
💰 Skool $99/month: This is a new expense for me after launching the community. The nice thing is that I've already added way more MRR (monthly recurring revenue) from the community to make this expense well worth it.
💰 Kajabi $250/month: This is an expense that I'm going to transition away from over the remainder of this year. I'm going to move my courses inside of Skool and my email marketing to Kit. I just have to figure out what to do with my website...can Kit host a home page??? (Let me know!)
💰 Ad spend $300-$500/month: Every month I invest in podcast player app banner ads and ads in newsletters to help me grow my audience.
💰 Miscellaneous: Each year I also invest in attending live events, various coaches/courses, and of course my accountant who helps me file my taxes!
**Is there something that you think I've missed? Hit REPLY and let me know what it is!
Now I know that for some of you, podcasting is more of a hobby than a business and you might really love nerding out about microphones or some of the tech.
I know some podcasters that have SO MUCH equipment...but they love it all!
I've joked with a few of my Pod Pals that they might have more microphones than actual real life friends....😆
The key point I'm trying to make is that podcasters do not HAVE TO have all the fancy/expensive tech/equipment/etc to grow an audience and earn significant income.
Now back to my client that I mentioned at the start of this email, who is spending almost $100K on his show per year.
We are going to go through every single expense line by line and look for opportunities to save money or get rid of the expense completely.
My prediction is that I'm going to save him somewhere between $50,000 and $80,000 depending on how hard core we get!
📌 Last thing for today:
I recently tried a new experiment with my podcast SEO strategy and it resulted in my show getting 3,386 downloads in a single DAY.
This inspired me to create a 3 day free challenge inside of my new Skool community where I'm going to break down exactly what I did.
🗓️ The free challenge dates are July 28th-30th.
I'd love to have you join for free!
Talk to you next week!
Your Pod Pal,
Adam
⭐️ P.S. Here's the scoop on my podcast episode this week!
🎙️ Podcasting Business School EP 630: My Podcast Content Flywheel Strategy for growth and monetization.
In this episode I break down the system I created that has allowed me to:
-Release a fresh podcast episode every week for 11 years in a row.
-Send a fresh newsletter every week for 8 years in a row.
-Post 6x per day on Threads.
All while working 3 days per week and using ZERO artificial intelligence.