Building Your Money Machine

Building Legacy & Wealth Through Podcasts with Travis Albritton

• Mel H Abraham, CPA, CVA, ASA • Season 2 • Episode 135

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In the business and content creation world, there's no denying that podcasts are the new rockstars. They're the cool kids on the block, with millions of listeners tuning in to their favorite shows every day. And the best part? Anyone can start a podcast, including you!

In this episode, we've got a podcasting expert in the house, Travis Albritton, founder of Honest Podcasts. We’ll delve into how podcasts can serve as a powerful tool for growing your audience, generating income, and making a real impact. 

Travis will be sharing the tips and techniques he's used to help his clients scale their shows and businesses, giving you an insider's look into the world of successful podcasting. 

So whether you're a seasoned podcaster looking to elevate your show or a newcomer curious about the possibilities of this medium, this episode has something for you. So sit back, relax, and enjoy our conversation!

IN TODAY’S EPISODE, I DISCUSS: 

  • Podcasting vs. Traditional media
  • How to frame your podcast around your business
  • Benefits of podcasting beyond making sales

CONNECT WITH TRAVIS
Visit his website: honestpodcasts.com
Listen to his podcast: honest-marketing-podcast
Contact via email: hello@honestpodcasts.com

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OTHER RESOURCES:
7-Day Money Plan Workshop: https://www.TheMoneyPlanWorkshop.com
Affluent Entrepreneurs Private Facebook Group https://www.melabraham.com/group/

CONNECT WITH ME:
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GET MY BOOK:
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Mel Abraham  0:00  
Welcome to this episode the affluent Entrepreneur Show. This one is a cool because I'm talking about someone that's part of my team. And we're talking about the whole idea of podcast this show. Why is this show important? And more importantly, why a show like this could be important to you when it comes to generating income when it comes to scaling and optimizing your profits when it comes to building wealth when it comes to preserving and creating a legacy, something that will last generations. And in this episode, I get to chat with my guy from honest podcast, Travis from honest podcast is on this show, you're going to enjoy our conversation because we talk about everything about his journey from being an aerospace engineer, to someone that's producing content and doing things making differences in people's lives. So jump in, grab a pad and paper. Enjoy this episode with Travis and I, I'll see in the episode. This is the Affluent Entrepreneur Show for entrepreneurs that want to operate at a high level and achieve financial liberation. I'm your host, Mel Abraham, and I'll be sharing with you what it takes to create success beyond wealth. So you can have a richer, more fulfilling lifestyle. In this show, you'll learn how business and money intersect. So you can scale your business, scale your money, and scale your life while creating a deeper impact and living with complete freedom. Because that's what it really means to be an affluent entrepreneur. Oh my god, Travis, thank you for joining me on the printer show. This is going to be cool, because this is going to be a special one. And everyone's going to hear about it. So welcome aboard.

Travis Albritton  1:45  
Thank you so much for having me, Mel. It's nice being on this side of the camera. Now instead of normally on the other side, taking the recordings and making magic happen.

Mel Abraham  1:52  
Yeah. Well, that's the thing. I mean, for those who will, you'll hear the story a little bit. But for those you don't know that, but Travis is he's the the wizard behind the curtain that's running my show. And, and everything. And we'll talk more about that. But But before we do that, let's just let's just start with who's Travis? How did we get here? Because it certainly wasn't like you woke up and gone. I think I want to do podcasts.

Travis Albritton  2:23  
Sure. Well, and even 10 years ago, who even knew what a podcast was? Right? So it's true, I feel like it my journey will be similar to 10 years from now people talking about how AI has totally transformed their career path. Right?

Well, so my background is in aerospace engineering. That's what I got my degree. And that's what my first career was. But as is often the case, especially being in the millennial generation, so very idealistic, very purpose oriented, impact driven. I could kind of see what my career trajectory looked like, after just a couple of years in that path. And it wasn't something that excited me, it wasn't something that I wanted to get up out of bed in the morning and go and conquer and do something it was, man, I gotta get up on Monday and go back to this job that's paying the bills, but it's really not lighting my fire in any way, shape, or form. And you know that that dissatisfaction led me to, you know, okay, well, what else could I do with my life? How else could I provide for my family? How could I align the work that I do with the things that are important to me. And inevitably, as many people do that that drew me towards an online business format, and I export all kinds of different things. But in the process of trying to start a side hustle and experiment with different ways that that could look, I stumbled into podcasting as a as a content medium in order to grow an audience from scratch. Because I didn't have a reputation for anything. I didn't have any existing audience to bring into this new venture. So I was starting from the ground up. And the thing that I loved about podcasting is that there were no restrictions on the kinds of things you could talk about, of how long you wanted to talk about something. And compared to other mediums that we could talk about this and how podcasting compares. But the kind of connection you have with a podcast listener is so much deeper than YouTube, social media, blogs, any other platform because it's long form content that people are consuming almost all the way through every week. And so so I just fell in love with the medium and the possibility of it. But I was early enough to it's that I had some first some early mover advantages. And I was able to pivot my experience doing podcasting on the side into a career change, where I then went to work for Buzzsprout, which the podcast company and was producing content for them and for their marketing team. And I did that for four years and it was really cool being on the front line of helping podcasters launch grow, to monetize, you know, somebody would come with a problem. And I would figure out an answer and then create content to share the news with other people. So it was a really great cool, pivot for me, super cool, great company. But before you

Mel Abraham  5:15  
before you go further, I want to touch on something that you kind of you kind of went over, but I think it's really important for, you know, the viewers and listeners to, to hear is this. You were struggling you, you were not excited about your career. And I think often we look at we seem, we seem to believe that there's this thing you got to do call the job, you know, or a career to earn money, that's to pay the bills, and then you can go enjoy yourself. But for you the angst was Wait a second. And, and this is so core to the affluence blueprint, some of the things we teach and, and the whole idea of, of get your legacy factor is that what happens is, what we're doing is we're putting off the joy of the journey of life. Because we say, we got to go get a job. And as if they can't coexist, but you sat back and said, Wait a second, I got, I gotta find a way to allow this to coexist. And that's kind of where you're going with this thing. So I want I want to put it in context for people to start to realize in in the sense of, too often we think we live in an oral world, I think we live in an world, that they can coexist, you're, you're an example of it. I'm an example of it. Many of the listeners, many of the, the students and clients are examples of itself. We'll get back to your story now. But I think it's important for them to understand that context.

Travis Albritton  6:46  
Well, and once you decide that you put your mind towards something, even if you're not cognizant or aware of it, your brain starts working on in the background, right. So when I first had this thought of like, I'm not happy in my career, but I don't know what to do. I was then aware, for the first time of what other people were doing, and alternative ways that other people are generating income, which was totally not even on my radar before, but it started with that thought and setting an intention towards something, you know, and the punchline, you know, it took me seven years of pursuing this before I was actually able to jump full time into entrepreneurship. So it wasn't an overnight thing, either. But once I set my intention, and my focus, and I knew that where I was, wasn't where I wanted to stay, then it just became a matter of time, until all the pieces fell into place. And I was willing to be patient, I was willing for it to take as long as it needed to take. Because you know, at the end of the day, you have one life you choose that you want to live it. And so I didn't want to live, you know, a third of my life working at a job that I didn't like, that just wasn't going to be this wasn't gonna work for me.

Mel Abraham  7:52  
I totally get it. I mean, because I left the big consulting firm in downtown LA the same, same thing. I mean, it was an o'clock at night. I mean, literally, on a Friday night working lay looking at the skyline of downtown Los Angeles, which is beautiful at night. And I looked at the partner that I was working for and go, Oh, that's my future. I don't feel so good. He was overweight, he was stressed out, he was working seven days a week I go, I don't want to. I mean, I literally walked in that moment and said, I'm out. Now. You had the transition, you took seven years to kind of figure it out all that I just like, threw it all up in the air and quit. And I went to Japan, you know, it's a whole nother story. But I mean, did the knowing that this was temporary, that you are going to find this transition make it easier for you to stay in the position. Because you were searching for this other thing?

Travis Albritton  8:49  
For sure. So once I let go of, in there's this, this idea called the Stockdale paradox. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, where there's this Vietnam War veteran pow, who not only survived, I think it was six or seven years at a POW camp, but was extremely resilient through it. And they did all kinds of studies on him. And he said the thing that separated the prisoners of wars that didn't make it from those that did was if you didn't make it as because you were optimistic, you said, well, we'll be we'll be out by Christmas. And then Christmas would come and go and that is oh, we'll be out by Easter. And then Easter came and went and it was Christmas again. And he said they died of a broken heart. But if instead you said, we're going to make it out. I don't know when it's going to be. But we're going to we're going to figure this out. We're going to get to the other side of this. And it'll be the seminal moment in my life. Those were the those were the prisoners that survived and came back home and actually thrived afterwards. And so I remember that being such a powerful idea for me that if I resolutely intentionally pursue The path and was determined to see it through no matter how long it took, then the only way I could fail is if I stopped by stopped moving forward. And even when failures hit, and we can talk about some of those, here in a minute. It was there was never a moment in time where I thought I should just give this up. Because the why was bigger than any of the obstacles that I had to overcome. So, so yeah, I don't know if that's tying back to your original question or what you're talking about. But for me, that's, that's always been huge. Just because so much of entrepreneurship is mindset. Yeah, just like how you see the opportunities in front of you heard, and how you choose to navigate them.

Mel Abraham  10:39  
You want to be an entrepreneur? It is personal development on steroids is going to test you through and through over and over again.

Travis Albritton  10:49  
I mean, truly, 100% Yeah.

Mel Abraham  10:51  
So So you went down? Buzzsprout. Yeah, and really started to run a lot of their marketing. And, I mean, you were dealing with the podcast platforms, but you were doing a lot of stuff with their, with their clients and everything too. Right.

Travis Albritton  11:05  
Right. And so, you know, when I was still doing the side hustle on the side, I was selling info products. And so that's how I got connected with our mutual friend, Rick mulready. I was in his mastermind for a little bit. But you know, it's, it's one of those things where I was pretty sure that my future looked a certain way. And then a couple of key conversations, totally shifted my perspective, and opened up an opportunity that I hadn't seen before. You know, I was, I was talking to Rick mulready. And I was like, Man, I'm not really sure if the business vehicle that I'm in is really going to take me to where I want to go. And he's like, Well, you have all this expertise, like teaching people how to do podcasts, and you're really good at yourself. Why don't you see if people want to pay you to produce it for them? I was like, I don't know why I haven't thought thought about that before. And, you know, so that I tested it. And sure enough, a company was like, Yeah, you're, of course, we'll pay you to produce our podcast for us, you know, and so it was just, and then once I saw that opportunity, it was, how quickly Am I willing to let go of the sunk costs that I've invested in the previous business venture to pivot into this new opportunity. But once I did, then, you know, that's, within a few months, I was able to scale to the point where I could replace my income and leave my nine to five to really focus on that time.

Mel Abraham  12:21  
So can we can I touch on some another thing that you said? I mean, there's these key things that just hit me, because I think they're things that people may struggle with, including myself. And you mentioned some that once I was want to let go, the sunk cost. We all whether it's a degree process we've gone through, or an investment, like I see people in investments that you see it sliding down the hill, I mean, it's jumping off a cliff, and you said, Well, hold on, folks, it's gonna hurt when you hit the ground either way. So maybe we let go. And, and I get, it seems flippant to say it is hard. It's, it's, it's hard, because there's societal expectations. There's family demands, there's life demands. So I'm not saying to just throw caution to the wind, you did this over years. And you transition you tested you, you walked with a plan and strategy with a willingness and an openness to tie trying to change to look at the opportunities versus saying, No, this is the path. I mean, dogmatically, we can say this is the path. But if we have no flexibility on the path, the outcome might not be ours. And maybe we need to have I think it's more important to have a commitment to the outcome, and a flexibility on the journey. And I think that's what you're demonstrating here.

Travis Albritton  13:47  
Yeah, 100%. And it's so easy to fall in love with the ideal version of what you hope your business becomes. And that becomes the only goal worth attaining. Instead of you know, Mike Tyson, right, everyone has a plan to get punched in the mouth. Yes, yeah, this is the same way. Right? Everyone has a plan about how they're gonna scale to seven, eight figures. And then guess what the marketplace isn't interested in your idea. And they don't want to give you money for it. So all right, back to square one, right. And so but but I think, for me, going back to the why The reason I pursued entrepreneurship was one, I felt like, I would never earn what I was worth working for someone else. There's always going to be a ceiling when you're an employee, even if you're a top level, executive or VP. Yeah, you never have the upside that you do when you own your own business. And you know, and it was really a bet on myself that I could be a top performer in my industry, and I could be the best at what I do. But then it was also the freedom that comes from choosing your own path and dictating the terms of the work and how you do it. You know, so for me, I have I have a wife, I have two young kids, I want to be there for them. I want to be a part of their life. I don't want them to only know Me Saturday and Sunday, I want them, I want to be able to pick them up from school, I want to be able to take them on vacations in the middle the week, I want to have the freedom and the flexibility to get time with people and focus on the things that are important to me. And so building a business around the lifestyle that's meaningful to me, was ultimately the end goal. And, and separating that from the thing I was doing. You know, because I would want the work, certainly, to be something I'm excited about. Because that's, that's how you become excellent at something. But, you know, I was willing to pivot and make that shift, one because I kind of done everything that I could in the previous business to make it successful. And it just wasn't gaining traction. And so I was at a point in time where I was open to considering other possibilities. But seeing that this other business opportunity, as it was presented could still fulfill the promise of really, when I wanted, that certainly helps overcome the disappointment of, of letting go of my previous dream and replacing it with a new one. Yeah.

Mel Abraham  16:03  
And and so you, you started on this journey of helping people with podcasts. And it just curious because you saw podcasts. A lot of you experienced it, too. You saw podcasts is something more than earbuds in an ear, listening to some audio as someone is working out or walking the dog.

Travis Albritton  16:29  
Right. Yeah, so I think the power of podcasting is one, there's no, there's no restrictions that you would traditionally have on long form media. So TV show, you got to keep it to 24 minutes or 48 minutes. So you got room for commercials. If it's a news show, you got like three minutes to make your points, and it's gotta be a soundbite in there, and then they're gonna cut to another segments. But even with blogs, you know, you can write a really, really great blog that hold someone's attention for two to three minutes. But, but in each of those scenarios, you're restricted by the medium itself, you're restricted by the way you can produce and distribute the content. Podcasting has none of those restrictions. And it's one of the only two media connections that I know of where you're actually not fighting an algorithm to your content in front of people. So that would be email newsletters. When somebody opts in, yeah, send an email just in their inbox, whether they read or not, it's up to them. But it's there. Podcasts are the same way. When you follow a show or you subscribe to a show. Every single time a new episode comes out, it shows up on your phone, there is no algorithm deciding whether you know, it's going to show it to you or not, or hold your show hostage your audience hostage in exchange for paying for exposure. And that's always the bargain that you make with social media, even YouTube. Yeah, is how do I get the people that want to hear from me to actually hear from me, there's a middleman that wants a cut of that. And and you're you're renting that space, you're renting that audience with a podcast, it's a connection that you own, you can take your show from one podcast host transferred to another one. And your audience doesn't even know because you own that connection. You have direct access to them. And so I think the fact that you don't have to negotiate with some tech company to reach your audience, and there's no restrictions on what you can talk about how long you talk about it, how many times you want to talk about it. And also the nature of podcasting is very niche. So most people listen to hyper niche specific shows. Because, you know, with radio, you have channels that basically contain themes of kinds of content, right, so you have a country music station, classic rock station, a sports radio station. And when you tune in, you're getting a kind of experience, but you don't get to curate what you listen to right, the podcasts, you can listen exactly to what you want to listen to, when you want to listen to it. And that really serves the niche focus. Because while I'm not a beekeeper, I have my cousin's an avid beekeeper, he listened to like five podcasts on beekeeping. Oh my god, well, who wants to listen to that beekeepers do. And they're not going to find that on the radio, they're going to find that on cable television. Now you're gonna find on Discovery Channel. But you can find podcasts that talk about exactly what you want to talk about. And the power for businesses is then you can connect to the people that want exactly what you have to offer. And you create a platform to serve them before they become customers, as they become customers and into the future. And so I think that's really the power of podcasting is not only are there virtually no restrictions for what you can do and how you connect with people, but then also the nature of it, people will listen to 90 95% of every episode you produce. And so you're 40 minutes of someone's time in 2023. Like that's unheard of. It is unheard of. So So I think that's, that's really what makes podcasting powerful. And then it's just a matter of how do you use it for whatever your goals are

Mel Abraham  19:52  
in and we'll we'll get to that a second. I think it I think what's important to understand for those either listening is really well We talk about scaling or optimizing our income, one of the pillars of the affluence blueprint. One of the keys is to make sure that you're having conversations, intimate conversations with the people that matter the people you want to serve the people in your, in your, your arena, and one of the best, most controlled environments. Is is this platform is is a podcast is to do that, because you like you said you're not beholden to to other folks. The other side of it, I think, is important is this one of the other pillars in in the Atlas movement is this idea of accumulate, how do you create from your income assets? Well, this becomes an asset. Because if all of a sudden you have you know, 10s of 1000s of downloads on this controlled platform, there are things that I know, we're going to go into how this can be powerful, but there are things that you can do that someone who doesn't have a show, just can't do that, to leverage your knowledge to leverage your audience to, to serve at a greater level, there are some things that we can do. And so I want you to what I'm hoping that you do is you take this conversation with Travis and I and start looking at it through the eyes of entrepreneurship through the eyes of a messenger with a message that wants to take it to a demographic us a group, a community, a society, and be able to have real conversations with them. That can move a mission can move a movement and can move your bank account to while you're at it, and, and your heart and soul because that's kind of what you see what's happening with Travis and how he ended up here. So So let's keep going on this this journey of the platform and how important it can be. And I'm going to ask a question, I think I already know the answer. But who is podcasting for in the sense of not not the listener, because we know what the listener but on the other side of that the table on the other side of the microphone, who should be thinking about creating a show.

Travis Albritton  22:20  
So if you think about the internet in the way that attention works, it's content driven now. It's really about who's creating the content, who's producing the content for what audiences. And so if you're trying to cultivate and build an online audience, of people in a particular niche, or a certain set of interests or demographics, and you have a point of view that's valuable for those people, then that's where a podcast makes sense. And are there other mediums you could use to do that same thing to accomplish that same goal for sure, you can use tick tock to do that. But the dynamic nature of podcasting, I think sets it apart from all those other mediums for things we've already talked about, as far as direct connection with your audience, the length of time people listen to podcast, the connection, the depth of the connection that they have. And so you're able to have a greater connection with that audience, and be able to influence them in a way that benefits them. And you if it's a win win scenario, that you won't find anywhere else on the internet. And so the scalability of having an online platform at that depth of connection, if you have a message that you're passionate about sharing about whether you have a nonprofit or you know, a ministry focus or, you know, something like that, or you're in a more of a legacy season of your business, and you're thinking about how do I give back all the knowledge and the expertise that you've gained over the years, then having a podcast can be a great vehicle to do that. I think another reason somebody might consider a podcast is that it's really the new the new best strategy that I've seen for b2b networking. So if you are in a bit of b2b space, and you make sales and you earn money, by getting FaceTime, with decision makers, at other companies, inviting them to be a guest on a podcast, is the easiest way to get that FaceTime. Right? So it's not cold calling, it's not emailing the VA or the Secretary and hoping you can get through. It's not direct messaging on LinkedIn, it's, I would love to have a one hour conversation with you to talk about what you do best what you know, best. And oh, by the way, I think our companies could actually benefit each other. And now that you know, like, and trust me, who are you going to choose me and my company or a competitor, it's like a no brainer at that point. So I think there's really there's a lot of power there. But then also just building a platform where you can then take one piece of content and distribute it and reshape it and resize it and cut it up into micro pieces and distributed on every platform that you want to have a presence on. Starting with a podcast is the most efficient way to do that. So think about like, Okay, you want to post an Instagram reel every single day of the week. It's like you want to record seven different pieces. content, it's like cool, well, then if you want to go to a different platform, you need new content for that. But if you start with a podcast episode, you can find those clips, you can format them correctly, and distributed on all those platforms. And so if you're also looking for an efficient way, for you, or your business, to create content at scale, then starting with a podcast, and being able to cut that up into into repurpose it, I think is really powerful. So those are just some some things off the top of my head, anything that I missed?

Mel Abraham  25:29  
Well, I think, let's just call a spade a spade, I guess, you know, back before, what I was doing, just in my old business, is alright, I'm gonna have a show. Actually, I had a show and I shut it down. Just full disclosure, I had a show, it was the way I formatted. That made it hard for me. Because I was creating pages, I was doing all kinds of stuff that I didn't need to do. So I stopped that show. And so then what I was doing was he, what you were saying is, I'd wake up in the morning, go, I got to do 12 pieces of social media content, I got to do this, and I got to do that. And I like, it was tiring. And it was draining. And it was taxing on the brain and, and all that stuff. And then I, you know, when we decided to do the show, I said, Alright, we're going to do the show. And then you know, you and I have, you know, you know, talked and chatted and so now are now my show is that, that central hub that we're creating all the other content off of to allow us to magnify it and leverage it. And so created once to distribute it multiple places.

Travis Albritton  26:43  
Yeah, if your time is valuable to you, but you still want to have a presence everywhere that's meaningful. Starting with the podcasts is probably the best way to do it, record the video, record the audio, and then repurpose it everywhere that you care about having a presence. I mean, I think the only person that shouldn't have a podcast if you don't like talking. Because you're gonna be doing a lot of it right, you're gonna be talking, but if you have an expertise, and you have a perspective, and something to say, then that I think a podcast can be really powerful.

Mel Abraham  27:12  
Cool. Let's, let's see if we can make it tactical for them if we can.

Travis Albritton  27:17  
Absolutely.

Mel Abraham  27:19  
Someone, someone who does have an expertise, someone who has a business, whether it's b2b, b2c, but they don't have a show and they thought about it. But everything just seems so wrong. And what what are maybe the first couple steps that they can do to, to do it in a simple way, but an effective way?

Travis Albritton  27:39  
Sure. And what we'll do is I'll walk through the same framework that I do whenever I hop on a strategy call with somebody, because there's a certain ranking of priorities, right? So I think I want a podcast. The first question is always why, like, what's, what's the end goal? What purpose? Does the podcast serve? Is this I want to increase sales? Or is it I want Brand Lift and awareness where I want to be recognized as the expert in my industry. And podcasting is the new book writing. And so rather than having a book on Amazon, you have a podcast with your name attached to it. And that's how you get that expert status, new niche. And so first and foremost, identifying like, what is the actual goal podcast? How will you know, it's successful, outside of the number of downloads that you're getting, which is really a secondary metric, when you're first starting out, especially. And then once you identify like, this is actually the end goal. So let's say it's a business that they want to diversify their marketing, and then when to start adding contents, they don't want to just do pay per click, they don't want to just do Facebook ads, they want to start focus on content generation, and become their own media company. So they can then build a platform to cultivate customers. So then, the subject of the podcast revolves completely around what are all the things holding people back from doing business with you? So when people are in the info gathering stage of a problem, they're like, I have a problem. I'm sure there's a solution out there. I don't know what it is. And they're searching for things online. are you answering those kinds of questions? When people interact with a company like yours? What are the common obstacles that you have to overcome in that sales conversation? Well, how do you overcome them by providing information, educating people so that they feel like they're making an educated buying decision, and they trust you because you've been the guide in that process to help them get to where they can solve that problem by doing business with you, or becoming a customer or clients. And so that really frames what you call the podcast. It frames who it's for, what kind of format you go with, how long the episodes are the things that you talk about, it all comes back to what ultimately is the best perfect end result we can imagine? And then how do we create a podcast that is perfect for the person that is that needs to do business with you in order to make their life better. Because you don't want to just create a podcast that talks about stuff you want to, you want to curate because everyone is choosing the podcast is perfect for them, you want to create the perfect podcast for your ideal customer. And then once you do that, and use the podcasts as a platform to meet them where they are, and take them on the journey of working through this problem until they're ready to sign up for a solution, they're going to sign up for yours, because you've been the one that's built that trust with them, to help get them to a place where they feel like okay, I finally have the interest in the information that I need to make a confident decision. I'm gonna go with this company, because they've been helping me even before I give them money. And so when you, when you show up to serve, you make more, because people want to do business with companies that they like they feel have their best interests in mind, not their own. If you show up with your hand out immediately on the first date, can be really hard to get a lot of people to be excited about continuing that relationship moving forward.

Mel Abraham  31:01  
Yeah, yeah. I love this, that you started with the why and then coming at it from problem solving for the audience. Because that's how they won, you gain credibility, gain traction, but you gain trust. And I think that's the big thing is, is trust, especially in our in our market today. You know,

Travis Albritton  31:24  
yeah, because people are looking, you know, authenticity is the buzzword I love when businesses ask how can I be more authentic? It's like, you mean, how can you really ask is, How do I transform into the version of me that you would like? The opposite of authenticity, right? Instead of saying, Okay, who are we best positioned to show up and serve in a powerful way? And how do we connect with them on a deep level, without any kind of expectation that money is going to be exchanged, right, when you when you can show up with that mindset. And that attitude, that's going to naturally attract people to you, because they sense that they can sense that you're in it, to help them first and foremost, and you're coming from a position of authority and expertise, because you knew we were talking about, but you're not, it's not a bait and switch. And so I think that's the powerful thing about podcasting is you have this platform that you can serve people with, and then in their own time, they're able to progress in that relationship with you, as it makes sense. Yeah.

Mel Abraham  32:26  
Here's, here's the song, I'm gonna throw it out there anyways, because the name of your company is on his podcast. That's right. And I think that, will I now understand that I understood the name. But now I understand why you've chosen the name. Because what you're really looking to try and do is bring this out with, with a soul with a with it with with that with the whole intent is all this is it, you're not coming at it with the idea of this is a marketing mechanism that I'm going to use to get my customers and build my business. Yes. But that needs to be the byproduct of building the trust, being honest, serving, creating the relationships. And I think that's really, if we summarize where you're going with this, I think that's really what we're dealing with.

Travis Albritton  33:18  
Well, and if you think about the power of a podcast, it's not in the transaction of the relationship, it's in building the longevity in the authentic connection. Right? You know, because everyone is trying to create the money tree, right? What's the easiest way for me to make your money, my money? And then what's the thing in the middle that we make in order to facilitate that transaction? You know, regardless of whether it's in your best interest long term or not, right, it's in my best interest to have more money than I did yesterday. If it's got to come from you, so be it. That's one version of Internet Marketing. And so I think what we're seeing is this correction, away from that kind of direct response over reliance, you know, in optimizing websites to get a 1% increase in performance, at the expense of the person on the other end of it back towards old school business. Yeah. Where people did business with you because they knew you, and they trusted you. It's like, Why do I go to Sharon to get my hair cut? Because I know, Sharon, she's gonna do a good job because somebody else cut my hair too. Yeah. But why would I go to anyone else? Like, this is the person that I trust. And I think people have started to awaken to the tactics and the strategies and the clickbait and all that stuff. And they want to do business with companies that they feel are doing it for the right place. Yeah. And so it's not it's not a gimmick. It's not a tactic or a strategy to be authentic and to serve people. But it's also not eager to know that that's what is working right now. Yeah. In online marketing.

Mel Abraham  34:54  
So here's the other thing. I think that's important for people to understand. It's a commitment So if it's a tactic that you're using, staying, committed to the consistency it takes to produce the content to do the work, you're not going to do it, it's got there has to be, I think there has to be a level of passion for the purpose behind it. Which is really the same thing for any business, there has to be a level of passion for the purpose behind the business. You know, money isn't is a result. It's not a purpose, there has to be the purpose to do that. And I think sometimes we lose sight, what's the most effective way to? To make money? Why and what's the quickest path to cash? Mal? You know, I get that question all the time. Well, wait a second, I can give you maybe the quickest path to cash, you might be miserable. You know, is that is that really worthwhile? And it's the same reason why you left your job and found another another pursuit because you said, Wait a second, I gotta make some good money, I'm going to do okay. But oh, hey, every day. And I think that there is a commitment to doing this, I know that we're moving our show to a two episode a week show, which takes a bit more of a commitment, you know, and, and trying to schedule and do all of that. But if you were talking to someone that's starting, you know, and they came to you, what would you say is, is, what should they be prepared for? And what should they be prepared to commit to?

Travis Albritton  36:37  
Sure. So I think it all goes back to the why, like, what are you hoping to accomplish? And then you can always map the strategy to the end goal. So like, I have some clients like you, that are in it for long term legacy play, building a sustainable audience that grows over time that you can leverage in any number of ways in the future. Right. So it's not necessarily the podcast is serving you just for March of 2023. Right, according, it's an asset that will continue to pay dividends into the future. And you're making those small investments over time to build that up. But then I have some clients that the best play for them is we're going to create a 10 part educational series that you can use in your email marketing, to help educate your, your prospects and turn them into customers. And so the commitment there is 10 episodes, because that's really all that you need to accomplish the goal that you have, right? The answer is not always do a weekly show, or do interviews. So I think it's cool do a podcast and you can make it whatever you want it to be. And so, so I would start with, you know, what is the goal that you have. And then what's the most effective way to get to that goal, if it is committing to weekly content, there are efficient and inefficient ways of doing that batch producing your episodes is a great way, you know, you sit down for an afternoon, now account for episode, you're done for a month, right. And that could be a strategy that you use, or you could just take it 10 episodes at a time. So I have one client, we're about to launch a season two of their show, and it's gonna be 10 episodes. And they're not sure when they're going to do the next season, whenever they have the resources that may want to commit to it. But they do want these touch points and to build momentum. Knowing you can always pivot you can go from weekly to we're just gonna do a season every once in a while or vice versa. For my own show, it used to be every single week, I put out an episode on my podcast, and then I backed it down to every other week, just because I was at a season of my business where I needed to focus more on my clients and less on myself. And so the commitment level is whatever you want to put into it. But be intentional. Be intentional, right? So it's like all things right? The answer is nuanced. There isn't one answer to it is the commitment level, it depends on what your goals are, it depends on how fast you want it to grow. So whether you focus just an organic Can you put more money in it to pour gasoline on the fire once you start all of those things or person to person business to business decisions. But ultimately, as long as you're really clear on the goal of why you're doing it, then the motivation to commit at the level you need to usually follows.

Mel Abraham  39:14  
Cool so I've even heard of people they're doing these short series private podcasts. And they're putting they're putting an opt in before it and pushing and putting people into it which is actually turns into a training and and a launch in and of itself and everything. So I mean, it becomes this this acid this tool, this mechanism to communicate to teach to create legacy, like you said, everything can can we talk maybe a bit about the monetization of it, because I think this is something that eludes a lot of people they think I'm just going to talk I'm just going to talk where is So where can we are just a couple of things that they can do to see that there is also an ROI on it down down down the road here.

Travis Albritton  40:10  
Right. And again, I mean, I'm gonna sound like a broken record, it all comes back to your goal, right? So, so monetization for some people is I just wanted to break even, I wanted to cover my production costs. So it's not a negative line item in our budget every month. And that could be a goal. But then different monetization strategies makes sense for different shows. So if you are making a mass market, podcast talk show on a topic that a lot of people care about, let's say you're starting an NFL podcast, was your audience, potentially all NFL fans. But in order for that to be successful in the traditional monetization sets, you're going to need 50,000 100,000 downloads an episode, in order to break even. That's a lot of people. Like can you imagine filling a football stadium every single week are people listening to you talk, that's a lot of people, people try and get into a room every single week to listen, you talk about NFL football. Because when most people think about monetization, they think about sponsors to think about reading ads and talking about Casper mattress and BetterHelp and Squarespace and, you know, Nord VPN, and that you're going to be this really eloquent speaker that everyone loves to hear just pontificate endlessly on whatever. And Nord VPN is going to write you a check to say, hey, you should go and sign up for this thing. Just on a really practical level, most of those sponsorships are negotiated on what's called a CPM cost per mil, on the web, and mixed English and Latin mill stands for 1000. So they're basically saying for every 1000 downloads that you get on an episode with an ad will pay you a certain amount. And usually, that's around $25. And so let's say that you have 10,000 downloads per episode, which will put you in the top half percent of all podcasts in the world. And somebody's willing to pay you $25 For an ad read. And let's say you do two ads per show, you will now make a grand total of $500, in episode for having a show that's in the top half percent in the world. Yeah. So 2000 downloads, $2,000 a month, and you got to pay for production, you got to pay for editing, pay for your time, right. And so that monetization model typically only works once you're in the hundreds of 1000s, or millions of downloads. And but that's not going to be most people. Yep, for the most part, what you want to do is use the podcast as a way of building an audience of people that know like and trust you. And then creating companion products and services that serve them. So I'll use myself as an example. And we can actually talk about you as an example, as well. So for my show on his marketing, it's about connecting with business owners that want to fully lean into ethical marketing in their business. But the results still matter, right? It's not, you're not a nonprofit, you're not a charity, you're a business. But you want to go to sleep, feeling really good about how you conducted yourself that day, and how you do business with your customers. So then the way that that makes money, is by interviewing business owners that are doing something right in their marketing, that don't have a podcast yet. That's how that show pays for itself. Well, there'll be people that listen to it eventually purchased my services. Sure. But that's not the primary way that it's being monetized, or the way that it's marketing my business. Because for me, you know, the lifetime value of a client is measured in the five or six figures, right? If you think about how many months or years they stick with me. So I'm not going to trade that for reading a Squarespace ad for $25 for every 1000 downloads, right? Just the magnitude of the difference is it's not even a question. So so the best way to monetize is to create companion products and services that serve the people that are interested in your show. Yeah. And so if you're smart about how you do the podcast, your business is the thing that monetizes your podcast by livecast is another way to build a platform to drive more people to the way that you're already making money. But do so in a way that service oriented. Yeah.

Mel Abraham  44:13  
I like that. Philosophically, you know, I'm not I, we don't run ads on our, on our show. I don't know that. I don't know if we ever will other than related to the things that my audience that that I might be, and it may be just simply, you know, if you're looking for a tool or something, check this out type of thing. Because I, I see my show, as a place to serve that, you know, especially when we talk about the money topics, and the idea of legacy and the idea of creating that life. Some of it is hard for people to talk about and some of it is, is you know, there's there's obstacles there So I want I want it to be a safe environment where they can come they can submit questions, they can ask questions, and I have no bias to sell them an investment or sell them an insurance product or a real estate product or any now I have a bias to sell them on their dreams and the possibility that that financial freedom is their birthright and how do we reclaim it? How do we do that? And I think that for me, philosophically, the only way to do that, as you make the show clean, in the sense of I don't ever want to impugn or impair the perception. To my audience. It's the same reason that you, I've heard some things about people paying to be on other people's podcasts, then I'm gonna bring people on my podcasts that I believe it. No one can pay me. I mean, you can pay me but I, you know, but the bottom line is, you can't buy a slot on my show. Because now I feel like it. It tosses the the integrity of who we're bringing on the show, kind of in into a questionable situation. They still may be on the show, even if they didn't pay. But I think that when you start to create a, something like that it can it might skew the perception, and maybe not the reality, but the perception becomes the reality in the market sighs.

Travis Albritton  46:39  
Well, perception is totally reality, it doesn't matter. It ultimately doesn't matter what's real, it's what people think is real about you. Right? That's what a reputation is. It's yeah, what do people say about you, and you're not in the room to defend yourself. And it's very hard to build a good reputation, it's very easy to lose it. And so you know, and as your business, you know, I don't care what strategy you're using word of mouth is probably still the number one driver of growth that you have. Yeah, to the people that are currently doing business with you to other people, they should do business with you. Yeah. And your reputation and your brand is at the center of that.

Mel Abraham  47:13  
It truly, it truly is. I mean, one of the first things I do when I'm looking for, what, how did we get connected? Because I asked someone, and someone referred me. And so it wasn't like a when we first talked, it wasn't like a first date, like, tell me what your sign is, you know, type of a thing. But I had I had a context. And in and I think that the podcast can provide a context that's deeper than just a cold connection. If there's such, so you either you're connected, or you're not at all, that there's such a cold connection.

Travis Albritton  47:54  
And I think everyone's vetting nowadays, right? So they discover your company, where they're going to do they're gonna go to your Instagram, go to your LinkedIn, look at your website, see what you're producing? You know, can this person can this company do what they say that they can do? Read the Amazon reviews, all of that. So podcast becomes the way that you can cut through the noise and start a conversation. And they can develop that trust to where they're like, Alright, I'm willing to go steady now. We were casually dating. Now I'm ready to commit to a relationship with you over another business, for whatever it is, right? But people want to feel good about that. They don't want to make a purchase decision and then instantly regret it or, you know, think twice about it or reconsider how did I really make the right choice? Did I not? Use the number of considered purchases you have when you have a podcast goes up exponentially? Yeah. Because people discover that No, you really do know what you're talking about. And they're really confident once they do make that purchase. They made the right decision. They're with the right person.

Mel Abraham  48:55  
So good, so good. Travis, we could I could talk for days with you about about some of this stuff and everything. But I think that it's safe to say that that I'm hoping that the listeners and the viewers are watching and saying to themselves, how can I take this integrated not only into my business but my life and there's another side of it, I think that it doesn't need to be some big prod podcasts that you're trying to develop. I look at it and I and I also sit back because I'm brand new granddad for the second time and I think about it and go this is actually something where my great great gang grandkids might be able to hear their great great granddad dad's voice, the philosophies, his perspective that they wouldn't otherwise how and I think that he'll my whole tagline at the end of all my shows is that to strive to, to live a life that outlives you and I think when we serve when you do things with the integrity and the thing that the things that you are about at an honest podcast. And when we show up in the marketplace like that, no one loses. Everyone wins. And it's a lasting win. Because lives are better, and lives are different because of it. And I think that's, that's the beauty of it all.

Travis Albritton  50:24  
I mean, is there ever been another time in history where you can literally create a living time capsule of your life, your priorities, your perspective on the world, to share with people that you will never meet? No. And with family members that you'll never meet? Like, I think about the fact that my kids, when they're 3040 years old, are going to be able to watch videos of me on YouTube, the same age that they are as they're watching it. Yeah. Like, how crazy is that? And how cool would it be? You know, if my great grandfather and my great grandfather, you know, who emigrated over had a podcast talking about why they left Europe to come to the United States? Yeah, like, that would be so cool. But we, when you start thinking beyond just how can this make more sales, you think about lifetime impacts, like, like a podcast just become such an incredible good,

Mel Abraham  51:15  
you can't tell you. You know, I lost lost my dad, he, this past this past Sunday would have been his 90/94 birthday. But we lost him about 12 years ago. And I can't tell you how many times I just wish I could hear his voice one more time. And I think that you create a sense of permanency in your voice and your philosophies and your perspectives. By using this, this platform, this medium that's been made available to us that, you know, if we ever wanted a radio spot, it used to cost billions now doesn't have to cost that. And we can create something that's meaningful, that serves that is impactful that can also help you build your business, help you scale, your revenues helps you optimize your profits, to build an asset that gives you the financial freedom you want. I think it's I think it's a wonderful place to be. So here's what I'd love to do is, is make sure that those of you out there that are thinking about it. Where can they find on his podcast, and you Travis and connect with you? So we make sure that they have access to you and maybe have in question if they have questions to to see how this can fit for them and how they can use it to fulfill the why that might also help them fulfill their bank accounts to

Travis Albritton  52:44  
Oh, absolutely. So the best way to get in touch with me is email. So hello at honest podcast.com goes directly to me. So if you have any questions as you're listening to this episode, or, Hey, I'm thinking about a podcast or we've had a podcast that it didn't go great. Maybe you can help us figure out why. Totally open book, you know, there's nothing hidden behind a paywall. I'm happy to serve in any way that I can. And then honest podcast.com is where you can see what I do, what kind of things I offer services that I offer to businesses that want to have a partner to come alongside them and help produce their podcasts at a high level. And, you know, sometimes I get on a strategy call and it's like, Listen, you don't need to pay me like you can do X, Y and Z, execute it yourself. And then when you're at a level when you want to take it to the next level, then let's talk again, right so it's not it's not a sales call, but just an opportunity for us to sit down and look at your business and what you're trying to do and see if a podcast can can really help you get to where you want to go.

Mel Abraham  53:44  
So good. So the Travis thank you so much for not only what you for being here on the show, but for what you do for me, you're you're helping me get my message to the world, you're helping me to create the legacy you're helping me to serve the people that I want to serve to, to give them a pathway to something maybe they didn't think they could have in their life and, and I don't take that lightly. And so I appreciate you being on this journey. And with me and supporting the mission that we have and I look forward to supporting the mission that you've got.

Travis Albritton  54:17  
Thanks, Mel. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

Mel Abraham  54:19  
So good to have you. Thank you, buddy. Talk soon. Thank you for listening to the affluent entrepreneur show with me your host Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the affluent entrepreneur Facebook group now by going to melabraham.com/group and I'll see you there.


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