Podcast Solutions Made Simple

Elevating Your Podcast Game: Investing Wisely, Not Freely

• Carl Richards • Season 1 • Episode 21

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Are you aware of how many people are tripping over 'free' advice in the podcasting world? Not all information is as good as it seems. In our latest episode, we peel back the layers of what 'free' really means in the podcast industry. What's the catch and is it really worth the hidden costs? As experts looking to level-up, we dive into why it's crucial to replace the pursuit of free solutions with strategic investments in quality tools and strategies that will elevate our game.

Let your podcast journey begin with our bootcamps - a treasure trove of templates, tools, and insights designed to get you started on the right foot. We also underline the significance of immersing yourself into other successful podcasts within your niche, and tapping into our team's expertise for personalized advice. The world of podcasting is large and potentially daunting - don't get lost in the pursuit of 'free' and instead, focus on scaling up with smart investments. Listen in to learn why 'free' is not always the best policy, discover the potential pitfalls, and how to navigate your way to podcasting success.

Got a question about something you heard today? Have a great suggestion for a topic or know someone who should be a guest? Reach out to us:
askcarl@carlspeaks.ca

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Podcast Solutions Made Simple. It's the podcast. That's all about podcasting. I'm your host, carl Richards. You know, in my 25 plus years in the broadcast and speaking world, I've noticed a lot of overwhelm when it comes to podcasting, and I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be that way. If you're a coach, consultant or other subject matter expert and the thought of starting a podcast seems too technical, too confusing, too time consuming or just way out of your reach, then this is the podcast for you. On this show, we give you the tools, tips and techniques to run a kick-ass show and share stories from people who have been there, done that and are enjoying massive success with their own shows. Oh, and if you're an existing podcaster, this show is also for you.

Speaker 1:

The mics are up, so let's dive into today's episode. And today we're continuing the conversation about the myths and misconceptions about podcasting and the misinformation that's being shared. And, as we said in the last episode, there is a boatload of information that's being put out there from some very reputable either industries or individuals who are, let's just say, they should be in the know, but they really aren't, and some of these people are podcasters. That's what makes it even scarier to be able to make the decision as to whether or not you launch a podcast or make changes to your podcast is. You're getting information, sometimes from people who have podcasts and say, hey, here's what I know, and they're coming at it from a place of experience. They're coming at it from a place of experience, but then somewhere in their webinar or their stage presentation, you'll hear words that sound something like this I'm no expert in podcasting, but here's what I can tell you. Let me talk about what that really means. What that really means is they want you to believe they know something about podcasting, but they really don't have much information, or all they can base it on is their own experience. It's kind of like me saying well, based on my experience of what it's like to fix my own car, I would say X, y and Z and, for the record, I would never, ever, ever think to fix my own car because it's just not in my wheelhouse, right? So let's take this discussion the next step further and you'll see what I'm meaning about this, because and I really wasn't sure where I wanted to start, but I think where we want to start with is this whole concept of podcasting is free, that you can launch your podcast for free, and, yes, there are a lot of free tools out there and there's a lot of free information out there to help you make some decisions about whether or not you should launch a podcast and things that you should consider when you're launching a podcast.

Speaker 1:

Here's the thing about free. If you are a subject matter expert and let's just say for the sake of this discussion, you are at six figures or you're very near six figures and you want to continue to level up, you have probably already experienced at some point in your business that free comes at a cost. I remember when I was setting up my first website, I essentially did it for free and let me tell you it came at a huge cost because, firstly, I didn't know what I was doing. The person who ended up doing it for me did it as a little bit of a barter, so it wasn't totally free, but essentially it was free and the information that they created for me wasn't exactly 100% what I wanted. I wasn't clear enough on my vision, but an expert in web design or an expert in walking people through that process would have a little bit more insight as to how to walk you through that to help you be aware of that. Or they would say you know what? I can't build your website yet because you need to really sit down with a business coach to figure out where it is that you want to go with this thing, ok, so free comes at a cost. Maybe there's something else you've done for free. Maybe you've tried to do your own bookkeeping and found out the hard way that you know when it comes to paying your taxes, maybe you made a mistake on Line 72 or whatever it was, so free comes at a cost.

Speaker 1:

So, yes, there are a ton of free tools out there, but free isn't always free. Think of the things that you can do for free in your business. Right, you can set up your own website. Like I said, there are free tools out there to do graphics, design, and even beyond your business, there's the World Wide Web, which is full of free information. You know Dr, google, auto Mechanic, google, even Chef Google, right, they're all out there.

Speaker 1:

But if you want to be the professional, if you want to be seen as the expert, setting your podcast up and launching it and maintaining it at no cost to you comes costly somewhere else. It's either costly in the fact that it's a huge burn of your time. In other words, you might be spending six, 10, 12 hours a week working on your podcast, and then maybe there's pod fade on your part or you get burnt out from doing your podcast, or it's just the fact that you get this information. You maybe have your VA or somebody like that do the work for you which, by the way, still isn't free but you have them work that into their schedule. But now it's maybe not set up the way it needs to be set up. Six figure income earners if they want to level up their business, they don't look for free offers. They look for offers or they look for information that is going to move them to the next level.

Speaker 1:

And let me tell you something I didn't realize this until probably oh I don't know what year in my business, but I can tell you that when I came to the podcasting space, I went to a 90 minute free seminar hosted by none other than one of the Godfathers of podcasting. I don't know if that's his official title, but I'm just I'm just lovingly calling him that Sam Crowley and I remember sitting in that room for 90 minutes, being ever so inspired about the fact that, hey, I can start my podcast, and part of his message was you can start your podcast for free. And yes, you can. As I said, there are free resources out there. Here's what he did, though, at the end of his 90 minute presentation and this will probably be no surprise if you've been to workshops and seminars before right, there's always a sell or an up level at the end of it, and he was selling people into a.

Speaker 1:

I don't know how long the program was, but it was a $500 US investment, and I remember at that time saying I don't have $500 to invest in setting up a podcast. I'm going to do it myself, and I was a little bit brave. And a little bit brazen maybe because I have, as I said, 25 years of broadcast experience. I know how to speak, I know how to have conversations and interviews with people, I have a little bit of knowledge of the editing and the technical things behind the scenes, but I didn't know everything. I didn't know all of the steps and everything it took to set up a podcast, but I did it anyways. However, I can tell you right now my results, and even the results I'm still getting today, would have been way different if I had just invested the $500 or $600 or $700 Canadian, whatever it ended up being with Sam Crowley and took his program to get some insights about the other things regarding hosting sites what platforms do you want to be on? Graphics, designs, all of those kinds of things, marketing, blueprints all of that was part of his offer that I didn't take, and that's where free ended up costing me Because of that.

Speaker 1:

When I launched my podcast, I signed up only on Apple podcasts, which meant I wasn't getting the leverage from the other platforms, and there were so many. There were probably 12 or 14 others at the time. I think there are even more now but Spotify I was not on Spotify, I wasn't on Deezer, I wasn't on Google podcasts or any of those platforms. I was only on Apple podcasts, which meant I was missing out on audiences that were tuning into the other platforms. So, in other words, the only people that I was attracting to my show were people who were either using iPods or iPhones or some type of Apple device. Not everyone has an Apple device, right? That's? The only way I was promoting was through Apple. Well, nobody told me, and I spoke to other people who were launching podcasts and they said well, you need to decide which platform you should be on. You know, when I decided to get on other platforms, it was about two years later and that's when I realized that, oh my goodness, my stats, my success, all of that could have doubled, maybe even tripled, if I'd been on other platforms.

Speaker 1:

All right, so don't make the mistake of thinking that free is free, because free will come at a cost. It'll come at a cost in your time. It'll come at a cost in doing things the right way. I mean, I remember some of the things that I've tried to do for free in my business, even my first set of business cards when I was first doing speaker training and maybe you can relate to this. I remember back when people would create their own business cards and it was when the home printer started to become popular and the quality of printing became more popular and people would buy business card paper from their local stationary store and they would print their own business cards. And the only reason why I would think that they would do this is to save money, right? Because let's face it, going and spending $50 on 500 business cards maybe it's more than that, it's $75, but the bottom line is going and spending that kind of money on printing to hand out a business card.

Speaker 1:

The belief was, for some people that's a lot of money, and I remember thinking the same thing oh my goodness, I would rather just print my own and see where it lands. What happens when you print your own business cards Most of them back in the day, anyways, they had that perforation around the outside of the business card, right, and what would that message be? As you're handing your business card to somebody else saying, hey, my name is Carl Richards, I'm a speaker trainer and I help people on the stage make more sales, I'm handing a handmade business card to someone saying you should spend money with me, even though I just saved a ton of money by printing my own business cards and you can tell I printed them myself because they look that way, but you should trust me as a speaker trainer, right? That was the perception. That was the perception Was that if you don't have the income, if you don't have the money to even get your own business cards printed professionally and your other stationary things too, like I remember I had tri-folds and I had rack cards and other pieces of intellectual property I would put on my trade show tables and things like that. I remember the first couple of years I printed all of that stuff myself and it looked like it. And you know what I received zero sales.

Speaker 1:

I also wasn't a six-figure income earner then, but now that I am a six-figure income earner, and even I am leveling up to that seven figures here's the thing I know that I need to invest, and I'm not going to go and do something for free. I'm not going to do it on the cheap. I'm going to invest with the people who know how to make me look and sound good, and that's what you should be thinking about as you decide whether or not you should start your podcast and what your investment level should be. Now there are various programs out there that will allow you to get your podcast going on a budget, and that's totally understandable. If you want to do that, use what you can do for free, though. That will help yourself.

Speaker 1:

Listen to podcasts. The best way to find about podcasting is to listen to other podcasts. Listen to podcasts that are in your field. So, in other words, if you're a speaker trainer, for example, like I was, listen to a bunch of speaking podcasts, speaker training podcasts, even listen to some of the Toastmaster podcasts or even some of the TEDx podcasts, if you want Listen to podcasts that are related to speaking specifically speaker training or whatever your industry is. The other thing you can do that's free is book a call with my team, all right, and we will walk you through some of what we do and you can then decide whether or not it's worth taking the next step forward, and that next step might be we're going to work one on one together and help you launch your podcast and maybe you'll take over from there, or maybe you'll let us keep working alongside you month to month, making sure that your show is put out there and it's reaching the masses and you are being seen rather as the go-to expert.

Speaker 1:

The other thing that you can do this isn't free, but it is a minimal investment and that's jump into one of my bootcamps, because in one of my bootcamps we give you a lot of information that gets you started. We walk you through what your podcast is going to be about, the different formats that your podcast could take. Are you going to interview guests? Are you going to do a solo podcast? We also give you the templates and tools for your first five episodes, we give you a basic launch strategy and a basic marketing strategy as well. So is that worth the 300 or $400? I'm not sure what it is right now, but we'll put the link in the show notes and you can check that out.

Speaker 1:

But is it worth it if it's going to help you level up your business, your brand and your credibility? I would say yes. And that's the first step, after listening to podcasts and booking a call with my team, and then you can decide from there where you go with it. Do you start working with my team or do you just keep doing it on your own? But it's a start and it's going to get you the information that you need and, by the way, my information that I share in my bootcamps it's based on experience, but it's also based on the experience of other very seasoned professionals who are in the industry, and some of them I will even invite to those training sessions. I'll invite them to come on camera or come on stage. If it's an in-person one, I'll invite them to share their insights and their knowledge. You cannot get that for free from Google. You cannot get that for free from jumping into a webinar being delivered by an individual who doesn't have the insights and the knowledge. All right, so I hope this has been helpful today.

Speaker 1:

If you have questions about this, we're going to continue the discussion in the next episode, and I think in the next episode we're going to talk about quality, and when we talk about quality, we start talking about equipment and all kinds of different things. But if you have a question after today podcastsolutionsmadesimplecom you can go over there or just send me a direct email. Ask Carl at carlspeaksca, and thank you for joining us today. Special thanks to our producer, aiden Burrows, our production lead, kieran Doherty, our music guru, nathan Simon, and the person who works the arms all of our arms, actually my trusty assistant, stephanie Gefort.

Speaker 1:

If you like what you heard today, leave us a comment and a review and be sure to share it with your friends. If you don't like what you heard, please share it with your enemies. Oh, and if you have a suggestion of someone who you think would make an amazing guest on the show, let us know about it. Drop us an email, askcarl at carlspeaksca. Don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter as well. You'll find all those links in the show notes and if you're ready to take the plunge and join the over 3 million people who have said yes to podcasting. Let's have a conversation. We'll show you the simplest way to get into the podcasting space because, after all, we're podcast solutions made simple. We'll catch you next time.