Guest expert Ben DeCastro is a Rhode Island native who dropped out of high school to play bass for Ringling Bros. Circus. When the bright lights of the big top dimmed, he became the Media Relations Specialist and Media Buyer for Cardi’s, a local furniture store.  After years of perfecting his craft in social media, he ventured out on his own to create Big Ben Marketing & Consulting. Through this initiative, Ben helps businesses and media personalities take their social media game to the next level.

 

Big Ben’s Facebook Marketing Rules:

● Carve out 2 hours every week to focus on FB marketing.

● Make sure your posts have correct & up-to-date information.

● Do not boost posts without setting target parameters.

● “Like” posts as your professional page.

● Keep it positive, to build credibility organically.

 

Tweet: Social Media IS the way to get quality leads for your business. #RockthePodcast @JessRhodesBiz

 

Facebook knows who their ideal clients are, be like Facebook. Find out who your ideal client is, how to market to them and how to attract them at Dream Business Academy Live in Orlando February 8, 9, and 10.  The event features speakers who excel in marketing, videos, and podcasts. There are a lot of sessions and tactical how-to’s, that inspire you to think like an entrepreneur.  *To get $100 off your ticket, use the coupon code ‘Podcast’ at checkout.

 

Tweet: You can target your Facebook post towards your guest’s fan base. #RockthePodcast @JessRhodesBiz

 

Ben builds his fan base for his video series Carpooling with Ben with a small marketing budget and strategically targeted ads.

 

Make the Most Out of Your Interviews

As a host, you will be investing time and money to get your guest ‘s interview out to the world, so you need to know who their target audience is. If you don’t know who their target audience is, just ask them. Before sending a post, make a draft and forward it to the guest. Tell them you are looking forward to their feedback and if they think your post will get the best possible reaction.

 

Tweet: Your podcast doesn’t have to follow a certain format. If you switch it up don’t announce it just do it. #RockthePodcast @JessRhodesBiz

 

Create content specifically for the social media platform you are using be it Snapchat, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, etc.

 

Be *Shure* to subscribe to The Podcast Producers. S3 starts June 1st!

 

A special thank you to the sponsor of this show Dream Business Academy.  *Remember to get $100 off your ticket to the Orlando Live Event use the coupon code ‘Podcast’ at checkout.

 

Speakers at the Dream Business Academy Live Event:

Bob Burg - The Go-Giver Melanie Benson

Michelle Prince Gary George

Jim Palmer

 

Resources Mentioned:

Dream Business Academy Interview Connections

Ben DeCastro on Facebook Benjamin DeCastro

Wicked Rhody Cardi’s Furniture

Carpooling with Ben School of Podcasting

Beatitudes of Church Social Media Glenn the Geek

 

*The music in today’s episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

Going to, and sponsoring, live events has been a successful lead generator and client acquisition tool for years, for Jessica and Interview Connections. She saw so much value in attending and meeting her clients face-to-face, she now speaks and exhibits at live events. Plus, she’s an extrovert, so she finds the experience dizzyingly delicious.

 

Jess’s Must Attend Conferences and Events in 2017

 

1. Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me — Chase Auditorium in Chicago, IL

a. Along with Corey Coates, her co-host of the successful The Podcast Producers, she will be going where people who listen to podcasts will be gathering. Armed with a new sponsor, Shure mobile microphones, they plan to interview people attending the event.

 

Be *Shure* to subscribe to The Podcast Producers. S3 starts June 1st!

 

2. Dream Business Academy — Orlando, FL February 8, 9 & 10

a. Learn to be successful with the Million Dollar Platform.

b. The event features speakers who can help you become a good speaker, or help you start writing your book.

c. There will be a live Mastermind on Day 3.

d. Jessica takes the stage to educate podcasters and guests!

e. Get $100 off your ticket by using the coupon code ‘Podcast’ at checkout.

 

3. Podfest US — Orlando, FL February 23, 24 &25

a. For podcasters who have a message, and are passionate about podcasting.

b. Interview Connections has sponsored all three previous Podfest events.

c. Jessica will be speaking and running a panel.

d. PodFusion from Elsie and Jessica of She Podcasts.

 

Big Investments Bring Big Returns.

4. Social Media Marketing World — San Diego, CA
March 22, 23 & 24

a. Jessica will be speaking at this huge conference.

 

5. Guys We F@#ked: The Experience — Boston, MA April 13

a. Look for a Podcast Producer Meet-Up.

 

6. Podcast Movement — Anaheim, CA August 23, 24 &25

a. For podcasters, by podcasters.

b. Sponsoring this conference has tripled Jessica’s investment.

 

7. Fincon Expo — Dallas, TX October 25, 26, 27 & 28

a. Jessica got ROI from her sponsorship investment.   

b. The conference is marketing for the Financial Industry.

 

Jessica’s Successful Sponsoring Strategy

Your first exhibit can be daunting. Sponsorships can be $500–$2000, so you need to be sure your investment pays off in clients, through retention or acquisition.

 

Tips for a Successful Live Event

● Show up early in the morning to prepare.

● Dress for success.

● Don’t do it alone.

● Never sit behind your table.

● Ask people what they do first.

● Have mints.

● Offer value-adds if clients sign up during the event.

● Close sales!

 

You can’t replace a face-to-face connection.

 

Thank you to the sponsor of this show Dream Business Academy.  *Remember to get $100 off your ticket to the Orlando Live Event use the coupon code ‘Podcast’ at checkout.

 

Speakers at the Dream Business Academy Live Event:

Bob Burg - The Go-Giver

Melanie Benson

Michelle Prince

Gary George

Jim Palmer

 

Resources Mentioned:

Dream Business Academy

Interview Connections

Ross Jeffries

Fincon

Podcast Producers

Podfly Productions

Shure Microphones

Podfest US

Glenn the Geek

Dave Sanderson

Marty McDonald

Renee Brent

She Podcasts

Social Media Marketing World

Social Media Examiner

John Lee Dumas

Guys We F@#ked

Podcast Movement

 

*The music in today’s episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

The Rhodes to Success podcast is for entrepreneurs, podcasters, and people who leverage the power of content marketing, or use podcast interviews to grow their business. This weekly podcast is an important tool of many listeners who use the content, tips, and real life experiences to add value to their business, and their client’s businesses.

That is why today’s podcast includes a special guest appearance from Nathan, a robot-loving, food-gnawing three-year-old with pink eye.

 

Jessica Rhodes Shares Her Content Schedule:

Jessica is more than a mom, a podcast host and an author. She is a content creator who strategically delegates and outsources many functions of her business so she can consistently provide content for:

● The Rhodes to Success Weekly Podcast

○ Content must be provided one week in advance of publishing so audio editing and show notes can be completed by Podfly Productions.

 

● Interview Connections TV, Weekly Videos

○ Jessica saved three hours a month outsourcing the video editing to Traffic and Leads.

 

● Blog, Ezine and Print Newsletter

○ Fresh, written content is important because Google doesn’t listen to podcasts.

○ Writing a good blog post takes time.

○ Jessica outsources this task to her VA/Ghost Writer Angela.

○ Important information is shared through the walkie-talkie app, Voxer.

 

● Interview Connections: How to Rock the Podcast from Both Sides of the Mic Book

○ Re-purposing the book’s contents is another task which can be outsourced.

 

So, when life gets in the way of an important podcast interview but you still want to maintain your content schedule, don’t complain about how hard life is, adopt a problem-solving mindset and consider the pain points of your clients; then help them solve their problems with your content.

Get clear on who your listeners are, and then create episodes that address their pain points.

One of the great things about the Dream Business Academy Live event is learning about problem-solving through marketing, videos, and podcast episodes. The event also features speakers who can help you become a good speaker, or write a book. There are a lot of sessions and tactical how-to’s, that inspire you to think like an entrepreneur.  *To get $100 off your ticket, use the coupon code ‘Podcast’ at checkout. You will learn how to be identified as an expert and to create a celebrity persona, and build a million dollar platform.

 

Throw in the towel or get creative?

Everyone has challenges. It’s how you deal with the challenges, that makes you the best entrepreneur you can be.

If, like Jessica, you have to cancel a podcast interview or deal with any of life’s other curveballs:

● Be open and authentic about what is going on.

● Be honest about why you canceled.

● Ask for help.

● Know that people will understand.

● People get to know you on a deeper, more personal level.

 

Think about how you can make the experience valuable for yourself and those around you.

 

This is what it is like to create a ton of content, this is how it gets done, and much like Nathan munching into the microphone, it doesn’t always sound pretty.

 

Speakers at the Dream Business Academy Live Event:

Bob Burg - The Go-Giver

Melanie Benson

Michelle Prince

Gary George

Jim Palmer

 

Resources Mentioned:

Dream Business Academy

Interview Connections

Interview Connections: How to Rock the Podcast from Both Sides of the Mic

Fincast

Podfly Productions

Traffic and Leads

Voxer

 

*The music in today’s episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

Do you dream of being on the really big podcasts, to boost your credibility and increase your publicity?

Josh Elledge, Founder of Savings Angel, joins Jessica to reveal how you can become a guest on the top 2% of shows in the field of podcasting.

If a podcast has more than 28K downloads per episodes per month you are in the top 2% on iTunes. ― The Feed

Are You Ready to Perform at That Level?

Everybody knows exposure is everything. But, 99.9% of want-to-be-guests haven’t acquired enough authority to be on the the show they desire to be on. The bigger the podcast, the more protective the producer or host is with their show. They like to work with higher authority guests. It’s what keeps their podcasts at the top.

Josh’s clear step-by-step process to build authority:

1. Have personal stories ready to share.
2. Build your authority online, especially through Twitter and LinkedIn.
3. Become a guest on other podcasts (and do it a lot).
4. Be authentic.
5. Provide value to the show and host.

Top podcasters take their interviews and guest seriously. It’s how they stay on top.

Jessica finds these tips help secure your spot:

1. Build personal relationships, or get a warm introduction.
2. Be able to pass the due diligence and vetting screens.
3. Sometimes you have to pay to play.
4. Consider yourself a peer, if you are not there yet, get there.

Today's episode is brought to you by Dream Business Academy. To get $100 off your ticket, use the coupon code Podcast at checkout. You will learn how to be identified as an expert and to create a celebrity persona, and build a million dollar platform.

 

Never underestimate the value of being on niche podcasts.  Who is your target avatar?

Josh Elledge Related Goodies:

Jessica Rhodes interviews Josh Elledge on How to Get Traditional Media Exposure Podcast

Savings Angel

His Free Twitter Publicity Mastery Course

Other Resources Mentioned:

FinCon

Interview Connections

Entrepreneur on Fire

Mixergy

Social Media Examiner Blog/Social Media Marketing Podcast  

Learning with Leslie

The Feed

The Congressional Dish

*The music in today’s episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

Thank you to today’s sponsor, Dream Business Academy! Dream Business Academy is a 3 day marketing and business building live event where you will learn how to build a million dollar platform for your dream business. The event takes place in Orlando, FL February 8, 9^th and 10^th. To get $100 off your ticket, use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout.

On this episode of Rhodes to Success I answer the question I often get from my clients who are guests on other shows: “Ok, Jessica, I really like being a guest on podcasts and I want to start a podcast! How do I do it?”

This episode is not about how to edit a podcast or use a mixer. This episode is for the entrepreneur or business owner who wants to add podcasting to their marketing platform, and doesn’t want their podcast to take up all their time.

 

Why being a guest is easier:

1. The startup costs for a guest expert are very minimal compared to hosting your own show.

2. You can learn what it’s like to speak behind a mic and get ideas for your future podcast.

3. You have the opportunity to build an audience before you start your own podcast.

4. You can perfect your content as a guest expert, so know what you want to focus on with your own podcast.

 

Part 1: The stuff you do once, before you launch

1. Come up with a name for your podcast
2. Write the show description and get clear on your target listener
3. Get podcast artwork designed
4. Come up with a list of roughly 10 topics that you will address in your show, that way you don’t get stuck on what to talk about or who to interview. Instead of coming up with a list of people you want to interview, come up with topics and find people who can help teach those topics.
5. Audio branding and/or a voice over for the intro and outro. This is not necessary but a lot of podcasters do want this for their podcast.
6. Submit your show to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and iHeart radio.
7. Get an account with a media host like Libsyn.com
8. Hire an editor, like Podfly.net.

 

Part 2: The stuff you do every week.

1. Book guests

If you want to have a successful, well-respected and highly recommended podcast, then you need to make it super easy for your guests to get booked and scheduled! After all, if your guests enjoy their experience not only during the interview but before and after the recording, they’ll become a raving fan and brand ambassador for your podcast.

First, make sure your ask is clear and specific and they have an understanding of what you want to talk to them about during the interview. A confused guest is a frustrated guest!

Next, make the scheduling process super easy. I recommend using a scheduler like Schedule Once. However, sometimes guests will not want to use a software and prefer a more personal touch. Never hesitate to call them and schedule a time manually.

Ask your guest for only what you need, not everything you want. Request the contact info you will need the day of the interview (skype name and back up phone number), a brief bio or preferred intro, headshot, and any preferred suggestions or talking points. Communicate the fact that you ask for talking points so that you can steer to conversation to focus on the topic that will best spotlight them!

If the guest doesn’t schedule within 2 business days, or they don’t send you their info, send a friendly reminder and follow up. Chances are they forgot!

Send a confirmation email before the recording with whatever info they need to be prepared for the interview (your questions, your skype name), and most importantly, connect on social media and start building a relationship.

 

2. Prepare for your interviews

There are two schools of thought with interview prep:

• Going in with no prep and having a completely organic convo
• Or doing a ton of research on the guest so your questions are super unique and tailored

Either way is fine; just avoid having a scripted show flow that doesn’t change from guest to guest

Save to Dropbox

• Your editor and edit and publish it
• Your assistant can write show notes
• Your assistant can create a show graphic and promote it on social for you.

 

3. The last thing you must do is commit and be open to change. Your artwork may change, your audio branding may change, the format may change. That is all okay. Just don’t give up!

The music in today’s episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

This episode of Rhodes to Success I reveal the top ten tools I use to run my online business, stay connected with my team, and work efficiently. I also cover how to use these tools to implement the blueprint for podcast interview success.

 

Key Points:

 

1. Google For Work

 

E-Mail

• This is the business account for Google.
• It’s easy to set up email addresses.
• You use Gmail as your email but there’s no lag time.

 

Google Drive

• This is an easy an inexpensive way to arrange client files.

 

2. Highrise

• This is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management software)
• This is under the Basecamp umbrella.
• Each client has a profile.
• Within a profile you can add tags e.g prospect.
• This can be linked to a Google Drive folder.
• There isn’t as much storage for MP3 or PDFs.
• The user interface is solid.
• $20 month.

 

3. BaseCamp

• Project management software.
• This is used for each client’s podcast.
• The client can have access to their Basecamp project.

 

4. Slack

• Instant messaging for the team.
• Separate and group channels.
• Has phone tool.

 

5. Voxer

• Great for verbal communication.
• Walkie talkie app.
• Sends voice messaging.
• Good for quick notes.
• There is free version and the paid version has broadcast chat.

 

6. Meet Edgar

• Self-filing social scheduler.
• This provides constant steams of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
• Excellent for evergreen content.

 

7. DropBox

• Cloud-based storage.
• Means you don’t have to save anything on your computer hard drive.
• Folders are sharable to enable others to have access.
• Accessible anywhere online.

 

8. Zoom

• Video conferencing.
• Has webinar feature.
• Can record calls.
• Multiple people on call via video.
• People can call in and just be on audio not video.

 

9.  Ring Central

• Can set up extensions for team member.
• App allows you to call from it.
• Can record calls.
• Allows for text messages.
• Phone messages are sent through via email on MP3.

 

10. Skype

• Must have for online business and podcast interviews.
• Only the highly trained ear will hear the difference between a double-ender call versus a call recorded on Skype.

 

How to use these tools to implement your blueprint for podcast interview success.

 

Google Spreadsheets

• This is a great way to track interviews.
• Put in the host name, email, mailing address, when the interview is recorded.
• Can be updated in real time.
• More than one person can access the sheet at the same time.

 

Resources Mentioned:

HiRise

Basecamp

Slack

Slack Video (Interview Connections TV)

Voxer

Meet Edgar

DropBox

Zoom

Ring Central

Skype

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

In order to see results from your podcast, you need to have a clear goal and a reason that you are podcasting. If you don’t, you won’t know how to track and measure your results. On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I talk with real-life podcasters about their podcast goals as hosts and featured guests.

 

Key Points:

Goals

• There is a difference between having a ‘goal’ for your podcast and having a ‘reason’ you are podcasting.
• If you don’t have a clear goal, you can feel directionless.
• When you are podcasting for your business, it is important to have specific goals around getting your listeners, as well as the person you are interviewing.

 

S.M.A.R.T Goals

• S: Specific
• M: Measurable
• A: Achievable
• R: Realistic
• T: Time-bound

 

Example Goals

Podcast Hosts

• Grow the audience.
• Make money doing what you love.
• Relationship building.
• Make a deep connection to help someone and offer value.
• Earn a listener’s trust.
• Learn from interviewees.
• Promote your own business.
• Grow your business and establish yourself as an expert. This is focusing on your exposure and level of authority.
• Market research through interviews, stories, anecdotal evidence.
• SEO.
• Empower others through vulnerability.
• Inspire, encourage, and motivate the audience.
• Make resources available.
• Longevity; podcasts exist indefinitely.
• Conversion tool.

Featured Guest

• Provide value.
• Give back and serve in advance.
• Fast track network building activity.
• Exposure for your book or business.
• Expand influence and audience reach.
• Build site authority by getting link-backs.
• Permanent content marketing asset that builds relationship through intimacy of being in people’s ears.

 

 

Goals for Podcast Interviews for A Business Owner

• When you podcast for your business, it is important to have specific goals around getting new listeners, people on your list, and the relationship with the person you are interviewing.
• Contact host for a free session.
• Be informative, put the interviewee at ease, and ask questions.
• Bring value to the listener and enlighten them in some way.
• Promote the business and profession.

 

My Goals

• I don’t have S.M.A.R.T. goals as mine aren’t time-bound.

 

Having a Podcast

• The reason is to provide answers to frequently asked questions from my clients.
• My target market is my clients, so I send specific episodes to individual clients when I think it will be of value to them.
• When clients see success with podcast interviews as a host or a guest, they stay as a client longer.

 

Doing Interviews

• I interview my clients instead of guests on the show.
• The stronger a relationship I have with my clients, the longer they will stay with the business.

 

Going on Shows as a Guest

• I go on other podcasts to build my network and have a low standard of entry.

 

Resources Mentioned:

BoomerIncomeIdeas.com

Betsypake.com

http://magicandsteele.com/

http://steeleempire.com/

http://greatbeeradventure.com/

http://podcastfiend.com/

http://jenteague.com/

http://innovationecosystem.com/

http://www.yourwaytova.com/

http://www.mattcundill.com/podcast

www.AuthoritySellingBook.com

www.MarketingHuddle.com

http://www.emiliocorsetti.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/butterflies-of-wisdom/id1060801905?mt=2

http://www.allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/life-gentleman-fashion-lifestyle/id1116526004?mt=2

http://rockyourretirement.com/

http://www.taramagalski.com/

 

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

How do you make your podcast ‘look’ good? This episode of Rhodes to Success I’m joined by my Podcast Producers co-host Corey Coates. We discuss how to make your podcast look good through audio and show notes.

 

Main Questions Asked

• What makes a good show notes page and why should podcasters do show notes?
• What should be around the player and where should it be on the website?
• What are podcasters doing that make people not want to listen to them?

 

Key Points:

What Makes Your Podcast ‘Look’ Good

• Sound.
• Website.
• Show notes.

 

Audio

• The interview format is still the most popular in podcasting but has the worst sounding audio.
• How can one have he ease of recording a Skype call but have a higher quality sound output?

 

Show Notes

• Show notes provide a higher value to the podcast listener.
• For a lot of podcasters it feels like an extra expense and they don’t know why they spend money on it.
• You need to tell a listener what they are getting themselves into, should they decide to listen to a show.
• Outbound links makes it easier for listeners to go back and find what has been referenced on the show.
• Some podcast players have time stamped key takeaways so listeners can advance to specific sections of the show.
• Show notes should be complimentary to the brand, the voicing, and serve the listener.
• Not everyone wants to listen to a podcast but they still want the content that is taught.
• Show notes shouldn’t just be a teaser, they should relay the content.
• If you change your attitude to show notes you can make them part of your content marketing strategy.

 

Ask the Listener

• Podcasting is an insular industry.
• Podcasters talk to each other frequently but often leaves the listener out of the conversation.
• Ask the listener what they want. Not each other.
• The industry is moving toward putting together surveys and focus groups to ask the listeners what they think and want.
• Podcasters are starting to survey those who don’t listen to podcasts in order to understand how the show notes can better serve them. .

 

Podcast Player

• Never be ‘below the fold’.
• Your player should be on the front page at the top.
• Have a descriptive paragraph and embed the player followed by key takeaways.
• This needs to be highly visible for anyone who listens to podcasts.
• On your webpage add links to all the platforms for people to download and subscribe eg GooglePlay, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and iTunes.

 

Why People Aren’t Listening to You

• In general podcasters think that people are interested in every little aspect of their lives. We aren’t.
• Shows are successful because the host is entertaining and talented.

 

Resources Mentioned:

The Podcast Producers

Podfly Productions 

Trycast

Rogue Amoeba

ATR2100

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

I am going to be recording an episode soon about what your podcast goals are. Please email me an audio recording sharing with me what your goal is for doing interviews! Just email me your audio clip to jessica@interviewconnections.com!

Should you advertise on podcasts? On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I chat with Jessica Kupferman, owner of the JKM Agency. We talk about what podcasting agents do, the costs of advertising, live reads, what stats to ask for, call to action, exclusivity, and when to expect results.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• How do you make sure the podcaster doing the live read is doing your business justice?
• Is it appropriate to ask people for their download numbers when considering advertising on a show?
• How do you ensure the podcaster is doing everything they promised?
• What does an agent do?
• What kind of call to action should the ad read have?
• How long do I have to wait until I see results of advertising on podcasts?
• Should I want to be the only sponsor on a podcast with exclusivity in mind?
• What success stories have you heard?

 

Key Points:

Content Marketing

• Getting interviewed on podcasts is a great way to grow your business.
• Content marketing strategy is where you put out free and actionable content people can use and implement in their business.
• This attracts people, as they want to ‘hang’ with you and can become clients.
• This can include blogging, videos, podcasts, emails, and newsletters.

 

Direct Advertising

• This is advertising your services and products with the goal of getting people to buy.
• As a business owner, start thinking about advertising on podcasts.

 

Advertising on Podcasts

• Who is your audience, and where do they hang out?
• How much can you afford?
• A $500 per month show has 7-10K downloads per month.
• If you don't want to babysit your ad campaign, you need an ad agency.

 

Live Read Podcast Advertising

• The fear is putting your business message in someone else’s hands.
• Provide the host with live read copy points.
• It’s okay to ask someone their download numbers if you are considering advertising on their show.

 

What Stats to Ask For

• Audience.
• Downloads per month.
• Downloads per episode.
• Social media community reach (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Email).

 

Call to Action

• If the purpose is to get more sales, you need to mention the product, price, and coupon code.
• If it is brand awareness, a text call to action is effective.

 

How Long Until I See Results

• 70% of people are not in front of their computer when they are listening to a podcast. 
• The key to results is repetition.
• The advert needs to be played 3-5 in a row. 12 is a good campaign.

 

Exclusivity

• It’s okay to be one of a few, unless what you are offering is the same as the other advertisers on the show.
• At the most, podcasters aim for 4 adverts per show.

 

Resources Mentioned:

JKM Agency

Mobit

Midroll

School of Podcasting Interview

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Where is the best place to source guests for podcast interviews? During this episode of Rhodes to Success, we discuss why you want to have guests on your show and the value that guests bring to your podcast.

 

Key Points:

Dangerous Mindset

• A dangerous mindset is thinking that guests are a route to getting more downloads.
• If you start looking at guests as tools for higher downloads, you will get agitated if they don’t share the show.

 

Guests Bring Value

• Understand the purpose of why you bring guests on your podcast.
• Guests can bring value to your show by helping listeners be more engaged with you and the podcast.
• Guests bring information you can’t provide, or discussion that supports your topic.

 

Where to Find Guests

Your Community

• Who is in your circle of trust?
• If you are just starting out, interviewing people within your circle is an easy way to get practice.

 

Current Clients

• When you interview clients, you build your relationship with them and increase retention.
• This gives you an opportunity to talk to your clients in a space that is not what they are paying you to do.

 

Ideal Clients

• A lot of people want to be speakers at conferences, so a useful strategy is to have a podcast and interview people who run conferences.
• Serve first by interviewing ideal clients. This is a great way to start a relationship.

 

No-Names

• There is huge value in interviewing people regardless of how well-known they are.
• The content is what makes a good podcast, not necessarily a big guest.
• Have guests on your show that listeners can relate to.

 

Recommendations from Guests

• Ask your guests if they have someone they think you should interview.
• Ensure you do your due diligence before asking for an introduction.

 

Ask Your Listeners

• The audience will tell you who they want to hear.

 

Look at Other Podcasts in Your Niche

• People who are interviewed on other shows are more likely to say yes to be interviewed on your show.

 

Amazon

• There are lots of subject matter experts on Amazon.
• Search for authors.
• Use the keyword search, and sort by publish date.

 

Twitter

• Click ‘follow’ on the person you want to approach, and Twitter will show you three other similar people.
• Put a tweet out for people you are looking for.

 

Radio Guest List

• Subscribe to the emails.
• You can also pay $5 per month to be a member.
• This provides shows that need guests.
• You can also pitch yourself as someone who wants to be interviewed.

 

Know Your Why?

• Why are you podcasting?
• Know your goal before you know what guests you want.

 

Take A Step Back

• Think about how to incorporate guests on your show.
• You don’t have to choose a solo show or a guest-based show. It’s not either-or.
• It is okay to change the format of your show.

 

Resources Mentioned:

Together Podcast

School of Podcasting

Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow

Horse Radio Network

Solopreneur Hour

Radio Guest List

Podcast Guests

Biz Chicks

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

How can you evaluate what podcasts are doing for you as a podcast guest? After listening to this episode of Rhodes to Success, you will walk away with a clear blueprint on what you should be doing in order to get value and measurable activity and results as a podcast guest.

 

I’m not sure if and when these podcasts are being released.

• Stay in the loop when interviews are being scheduled.
• Create an internal spreadsheet to track the hosts, recording date, website, mailing address.
• Most hosts should email the guests when the podcast is live.
• If 6-8 weeks have passed and you haven’t heard if an interview has gone live, reach out to the host and ask.
• As soon as the interview ends, ask when the episode is scheduled to be released.

 

I’m not sure if anything of value, measurable activity, is coming out of them [podcasts] for my sales funnel.

• In order to get measurable activity from podcast interviews, you have to give a clear call to action that can result in measurable activity.
• Give one clear and specific call to action.
• Be clear on who should be taking the action. E.g. “If you are…, I invite you to set up a free 15-minute call with me.”

 

John Pollock’s Advice

• Rather than give out the corporate site, give out a funnel, such as LeadPages, and test them.
• If the people from the podcast go into a funnel and it doesn’t work, then you need to change the page.
• Podcasting is marketing. Think of every podcast as a different audience, and you need to share that you are on a podcast.
• Podcasting is a symbiotic relationship. Guests need to promote the podcast too.

 

What makes a landing page convert?

• Be really specific with the headline.
• Headlines are the number one thing you can change out to increase conversions.
• Make sure your images speak to what is going on with your landing page.
• Ensure the form has a huge call to action button.
• The call to action button should not simply be ‘submit.’
• Landing pages shouldn’t have menu items. There should be one specific goal.   
• Spend time on copywriting. This will convince someone to take action on your page.

 

Promoting Your Episode

• Doing the interview is only one part; there is a lot more you have to do in order to leverage the interviews.
• To get results from podcast listeners, you can’t just rely on the host to do all the marketing to your audience.
• The strategy is to use a multimedia approach using images, videos, and podcasts.
• Use Meet Edgar to republish old content and cycle in new images.
• Add your podcast interviews on a media page so they are in one place.
• Always tag the host when you post on platforms.

 

Resources:

John Pollock

One-Click Lindsey

Angelagreaser@gmail.com

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

Everyone wants to be a guest but how can you be a great guest? This episode on Rhodes to Success I share my top tips for being an in demand guest and make the experience the best for both you and the host.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

1. Be easy to work with and help the host prepare.

• Make the host’s job as easy as possible. 
• When the host feels you are being helpful they will be more excited to interview you.
• Be easy to schedule.
• Have your SkypeID, headshot, bio and potential interview questions ready.

2. Confirm the date/time with the host, show up on time and don’t reschedule.

• Respect the hosts time.

3. Use a good microphone and headphones and record in a quiet space.

• ATR2100: Audio Technica 2100 is a good microphone.
• Always wear headphones so the hosts voice doesn’t come out of the speakers and go back into the recording.

4. Send the host a copy of your book ahead of time.

• This is sending a gift as well as information to help them prepare for the interview.
• Offer to send a hard copy rather than an e-book.

5. Listen to the show before your interview so you know what the host’s style is and read the host’s bio so you can connect with them better 

• Listen to at least one episode or part of a few episodes.
• Get to know the hosts show flow.
• If you listen to the show it gives you an opportunity to give them a review on iTunes.

6. Thank you!! You can’t say it enough.

7. Ask the host who their target audience and ask how you can make the interview a home run.

• Most hosts will be surprised by this approach.
• This demonstrates to the host you care about their show and not just promoting your own agenda.
• Tailor your interview to the audience based on the host’s answer.

8. Use the host’s name throughout conversation 

• Using the hosts name wraps them into the interview and spotlights them to their audience.
• If you spotlight the host, you will be spotlighted in return. This is the power of reciprocity.

9. Tailor your answers to them and their audience. Help make them look good. Compliment them 

• Make the host look good.

10. Give a ton of value. This is not an advertisement for your business. 

• Podcasts aren’t about talking about your services but rather about providing value to the audience.

11. Give a clear call to action for what you want listeners to do and it’s all about how you position your free gift. Make it special and make it valuable. 

• Only give one call to action.
• Position your offer so the listener feels that only they are receiving it.
• More than 50% of podcast listeners hear podcasts via the phone. So a text based call to action is a solid approach.

12. Follow up with the host and thank them again.

• Find a way to help the host reach their goals.

13. Share the show and help their audience grow. 

14. 20% of the work is the interview, 80% of the work is you promoting and marketing it.

• Don’t just share the show once when it goes live. Put it in your social media rotation.

15. Decide to commit.

• This strategy does not always produce immediate results.
• Sometimes the kind of show you think you want to be on is not putting you in front of the people who most resonate with your message. 
• Be prepared to tweak the content.
• Know you might not see a return on investment immediately.

 

Resources:

Mobit 

Traffic and Leads

  

Live Webinar: 

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Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

In today’s episode I’m sharing with you a list of my favorite podcasts that I subscribe to and listen to every week. In episode 103, I talked about discovering new podcasts and focused on how to discover new podcasts in iTunes but most people listen to new podcasts because their friends recommended it to them.

I want to share with you all the podcasts I listen to so you can get to know me better and so I can share the big lessons learned from these shows. All of the podcasts are linked to their iTunes page so click through, listen and let me know which of these podcasts you start listening to!

 

1.  RED - The Marketing Podcast for influencers

• The number one lesson I get from this podcast is consistency.
• David Hooper is the host and when the podcast started (he’s over 200 episodes in now) he had a co-host, Laurel Staples, his now wife.
• She started focuses more on other business ventures but that wasn’t the end of the show. David kind of refocused the show and kept it going mostly as a solo show with some interviews.
• This podcast teaches me a couple lessons:
• • Number 1- David grabs your attention with the topic of the episode before the intro song starts
  • Number 2- He KNOWS his target audience and he tells you who the podcast is for every single episode.
  • Number 3- His is BIG on actionable content and big lessons but I believe places entertainment value over that. In one series he talked all about the IRS phone scam and even though he didn’t see a clear business lesson come out of the first episode in that series, he continued. I subscribed because I was so entertained.

2.  LadyGang

• This is a guilty pleasure show for me. It’s hosted by 3 women in Hollywood: Becca Tobin, actress most known for her role on Glee, Jac Vanak, CEO of clothing line Jac Vanak and Keltie Knight, an entertainment news reporter
• Each week they interview a female celebrity in Hollywood about what it’s really like to be in ‘the business’
• They have total girl talk on air and are NOT lady like at all; they are snacking while they’re recording and they share super embarrassing moments like having an itchy butt after a wax or pooping your pants (I think those were both from actress, Becca Tobin).
• I am in their private facebook group for fans of the show and the biggest thing I learn fro this podcast is how they also know exactly who their listeners are and their listeners are HUGE FANS. Their listeners can’t WAIT for Tuesday; they end each episode with “See you next Tuesday”.
• Most importantly, they have fun recording. You can tell the three co-hosts look forward to their time together each week and listeners do too.

3.  Congressional Dish

• In my last episode of Rhodes to Success, I interviewed the host of Congressional Dish, Jennifer Briney so you’ll hear in that episode exactly why I like this show so much!
• The biggest lesson you can take away from this podcast and from Jennifer is: She did almost no marketing for several years and has over 10,000 listeners an episode.
• How much time do you spend promoting and marketing your show vs. creating a quality episode?
• As a guest, I agree with Jason Swenk, who I interviewed for a client feature video. Jason said 80% of the work is promotion, 20% is the interview. If you are the HOST, I believe 80% of the work is creating a high quality show, 20% is the interview.
• The more time you spend on creating a high quality show, THE MOST people will share it organically! And that is what happened with Jen. Listen and learn!

4.  Sounds of the Trail

• A podcast about the ups, downs and switchbacks of trail life. This podcast is an audio journal of lots of people who hike trails for long periods of time. Host, Gizmo (that’s her trail name) runs the podcast, but she has correspondents, listeners of the show who now take part by recording their story while they are hiking and send it to Gizmo to use in the podcast.
• Have you ever considered having correspondents on your podcast? What a creative way to include your listeners and create more content.

5.  Respectful Parenting

• Oh what would I do without my virtual parenting coach, Janet Lansbury!
• Each week Janet answers a listener question about a parenting struggle for those with babies, toddlers and 3-4 year olds.
• The episodes are short and to the point but because they’re actual questions from real parents, you can relate to them.
• The marketing lesson: without fail, at the beginning and end of every show, Janet reminds you that both her books are available on audible.com, apple.com and Amazon. It’s smart that she’s only telling you about the audio books because as podcast listeners we are MOST likely to want an audio book; we are auditory learners!

6.  The Biz Chix podcast

• Natalie has allowed her podcast to change and evolve over the years as her business has grown and evolved.
• She didn’t get locked into a format or consistency that didn’t work for her and because of her focus on her target audience her downloads have grown dramatically.

 

Below are the podcasts I recommend you check out, but not podcasts that I talked about in detail on today’s episode:

The Messengers

Reply All

Science Vs.

The Way I Heard It

The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast

Homeschooling IRL

On Air With Ella

She Podcasts

Mostly Mom with Tia Mowry

Profit Boss Radio

School of Podcasting

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Serial

Podcast Movement Sessions

Start Up Podcast

The Walking Dead ‘Cast

The Ask Gary Vee Show

ParentCast

Glambition Radio with Ali Brown

Slate’s Working

Slate’s Mom and Dad are Fighting 

 

My other podcasts:

The Parenting Rhodes

The Podcast Producers

 

Join me for my live webinar!

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

The music in today’s episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

Jen Briney is a trailblazer in crowdfunding podcast journalism. During this episode, we talk about what actually goes into producing an episode of Congressional Dish, and discuss downloads, listener-based financial models, what it’s like to get bad reviews, and how you can grow a big audience by focusing on creating solid content.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• When did you introduce the Listener Contribution Model?
• Talk about the behind the scenes production work on Congressional Dish.
• Do you mingle with the other podcasters in your category on iTunes, or just focus on your own thing?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Congressional Dish Podcast

• The first episode released in Sept 2012.
• Congressional Dish involves reading and outlining a bill. It is entertaining, educational, and has opinion.
• The show has two episodes per month, and Jen does all her interviews in one week. 
• The research alone takes a solid week.
• The show is high in the Government category on iTunes, but Jen doesn’t feel as though she is in the political clique.
• Jen will fire at certain people for job-related scandals but not personal scandals.

 

The Funding Model

• The show is an advertising-free space and makes money from listener contribution.

 

Show Notes & Outsourcing

• The show notes are the most valuable part of the show, as there are links to actual provisions.
• Jen hired an audio engineer to edit the show, which saves her a day of work.

 

Download Stats

• After 30 days, if your episode has 165 downloads, you are doing better than 50% of the podcasts on iTunes.
• Congressional Dish garners 10,000 downloads per episode.

 

Marketing

• It’s good to market your podcast from the beginning, but don’t let it replace quality content.

 

Point of Difference

• So many podcasts are using the same ‘recipe’ and same questions. Be different.

 

Journalism & Journalists

• There are a lot of people who call themselves journalists but are actually pundits.
• The question is, ‘Are you delivering information or opinion?’
• Congressional Dish also has opinion and slant, but the information is always backed up rather than made up.

 

Resources:

Congressional Dish

Electoral College Episode

Horse Radio Network

Walking Deadcast

Heather Havenwood: The Win

The Ladygang

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

My biggest FAQ is “How do I do it all?” During this episode, I pull back the curtain and reveal my top 5 secrets on how I do it. 

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Secret #1: Decide That You Want To Do It

• At some point you have to decide you want to create a weekly podcast, blogs, and videos.
• You have to want it enough to do the work it takes to get there.
• Hire and manage a team.
• Hiring your first team member is putting the cart before the horse, as you are hiring them before you truly know if it will lead to more clients and greater revenue.
• Wealth rewards risk.
• Wealth rewards speed.
• Every time you bring in a new team member, delegate, or create a new system, you are taking a risk.
• Delegate.

 

Secret #2: Hire A Coach 

• Invest in coaching.
• Mastermind from an early stage.

 

Secret #3: Mindset

• Embrace solutions, not excuses.
• Live abundantly.
• Make a conscious decision to have a solution-oriented mindset.
• The common denominator of failure is excuses.
• When you own your failure, you won’t like it, but only then can you own your success.

 

Secret #4: Million Dollar Platform

1. Video Marketing.
2. Podcasting.
3. Speaking and getting interviewed as a guest.
4. Become a celebrity expert (embrace your authority as a celebrity in your niche).
5. Social Media Marketing.
6. Client Retention.
7. Become an Author.
8. Masterminding.
9. Content Marketing.
10. Email and E-Zine.

 

Secret #5: Attend Conferences

• Go to the conferences where your potential customers and clients will be.
• Ask questions at the end of sessions (make sure to clearly say your name and business before asking your question).
• Network and start to build relationships.
• The retention aspect of attending conferences is taking existing clients out to dinner.
• Invest in attending a conference, and promote it before you apply to be a speaker.
• Invite the conference founder on to your podcast.

 

Resources:

Podcast Mid-Atlantic 

The Messengers Doc

Natalie Eckdahl

Jim Palmer

Melanie Benson

Million Dollar Platform (Graphic)

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

This episode of Rhodes to Success we cover how to grow your podcast audience. If you implement all the ideas in this episode, and don’t give up after a few months, you will definitely see your audience grow. During this episode, we discuss online and offline marketing, as well as networking. 

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Online Marketing

 

Good Website

• Your website must have podcast show notes and links.
• If your website is bad, people won’t stick around.
• A fancy website and iTunes reviews can make your show look bigger than it is.

 

Social Media

• Be consistently marketing your show on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.

 

Meet Edgar

• This is a social media scheduling tool that is $50 per month.
• Upload your content and set how often you want your posts shared on social media.
• Other options are Buffer and Hootsuite.
• Know that posts you create manually will get more views.

 

Graphic Design Tools

• Canva
• Pic Monkey
• Relay That
• Unsplash (stock photos)

 

Virtual Assistant

• VAs can be used to do the following busy work:
• • Write your tweets, posts, blog posts
  • Create graphics
  • Upload to the scheduling platform
  • Monitor engagement

 

Facebook Groups

• Create one for your podcast.
• Interact and engage in groups as a member.
• When you join a new group, it’s important to read the rules.
• The She Podcasts group is good for female podcasters.

 

Promote to Your Email List

• This is an action people often forget.
• Test and experiment with your email list.
• Regardless of how often you email, you must stay consistent.
• Email open rates are typically 5-10%.

 

Destinations

• iTunes
• Stitcher Radio
• Google Play
• I Heart Radio
• YouTube
• Sound Cloud

 

Networking & Relationships

 

Go on Other Podcasts

• Choose podcasts in your niche as a guest.

 

Interview your listeners, clients, and peers.

• Celebrities on your podcast is not the secret to success.

 

Be Bold

• Be vulnerable and say things people aren’t saying.
• People share shows that move them and stand out.

 

Resources:

Meet Edgar

Hoot Suite

Buffer

Canva

Relay That

Unsplash stock photos

Biz Women Rock

Course on Facebook Groups

Biz Chix

Podcast Junkies

The Coaching Jungle

She Podcasts

The Lady Gang

Profit Boss Radio

The Traffic and Leads Podcast

Dear Mattie Show

Get booked on other podcasts as a guest

 

Live Webinar: 

Text ‘rock’ 72000

Jessicarhodes.biz/webinar

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Want to know how to become a marketing machine? This episode of Rhodes to Success we talk about the benefits of starting out in podcasting as a guest expert, marketing your business on multiple platforms, and the top 3 reasons you should start a podcast.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Start as a Guest

• Being a guest expert is an excellent first step to getting into podcasting.
• There’s not pressure to produce and launch an entire podcast.
• Build your network.
• Every time you are interviewed you are expanding your business relationships.
• Leverage the power of being a guest.

 

Market Your Business on Multiple Platforms

• It’s important to create content on different platforms as audiences learn in different ways.
• This includes audio and visual such as podcasts, videos, blogs, in person events, online and hardcopy newsletter.

 

Reasons to Start a Podcast

Powerful Way to Market Your Business

• Having your own show is an amazing marketing tool for your business.
• Provide content that is valuable and relevant to your audience.
• When you provide content for your current and potential clients need they will stick to you.
• Everything you do with your marketing is like adding another layer of glue to the relationship with your customers.
• Interviewing guests make you as the host a peer rather than a fan.

Position Yourself as an Authority

• Podcasting positions yourself as an authority in your niche, listeners, and within the community.
• If you have a podcast centered around your topic, be a guest on other podcasts and create video you set yourself apart as the authority.
• Every time you create a piece of content it comes up in Google search results.
• Being the best at what you do isn’t enough. You have to be an authority figure who is creating content and attracting people to you via that content.

Provides Content to Share When People Ask Questions

• Instead of crafting a long response in forums and Facebook groups. Leave a link to your podcast.   

 

Use Your Platform to Highlight Your Clients and Listeners

• You have a platform and space where you can bring exposure to your community and clients.
• Interviewing clients and listeners on your podcast is a great way to deepen your relationship with them.

 

Resources:

Gene Hammett Leaders in the Trenches

Brad Baldridge Taming the High Cost of College

Dave Jackson School of Podcasting

Jim Palmer Stick Like Glue

 

Webinar:  Text ‘rock’ 72000

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Joe Pardo joins us for a fireside chat on this episode of Rhodes to Success. We talk about video content, podcasting and the iTunes algorithm, how to rock the podcast from both sides of the mic, and The Parenting Rhodes podcast.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Video

• Not everyone listens to podcasts. (Even people who love to podcast!)
• The tips and topics are the ones most obvious to you but not everyone knows. 

 

iTunes

• The search algorithm within iTunes isn’t the best, even for basic keywords that are exact matches.
• Ensure you fix your descriptions, and work on your episode titles.

 

 

Rock the Podcast from Both Sides of the Mic

 

Getting Booked as a Guest Expert

• Getting booked on podcasts is so popular, as it is easier for people to get into podcasting by starting out as a guest.
• Being a guest means there is a smaller barrier to entry and you don’t have to worry about recording, editing, producing, or launching. 
• Learn how to write a pitch that is good and that podcasters will actually read and like.

 

Rocking Your Show as a Host

• Have a good interview that the guest actually wants to share. If you aren’t a good interviewer, they won’t share.
• If your guest is on multiple shows per week, yours might not make it into their promotion.
• Big celebrity guests are mindful and strategic in what they put out to their community.
• Guests are not going to email their list about an interview on another podcast.
• Having guests on your show is not the key to growing a large audience. Listeners are there for you, not the guest. 

 

Online Presence

• Whether you are a guest or a host, your online presence is crucial.
• Having an amateur headshot has kept people from being booked as a guest.

 

Why Podcasting?

• Marketing strategy.
• Way to get your voice ‘out there.’
• Connect with people.

 

Resources:

The Parenting Rhodes

The Mid Atlantic Podcast Conference 

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

When it comes to podcasting a lot of people wonder if people are listening and if it’s worth their time. This episode of Rhodes to Success we discuss what really matters when it comes to audience size, what’s the truth behind audience stats, how to get your ducks in row, and what it means to be a great guest.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Who Is Listening to Podcasts

• Even though 60% of Americans listen to podcasts, this doesn’t matter.
• What matters is how many people are actually listening to the podcast you might appear on.
• Not a lot of people are listening to the podcast you will realistically be interviewed on as a guest expert. This isn’t a bad thing!

 

The Real Audience Stats

• If you publish a podcast episode and a week later you have 150-170 downloads you have more listeners than more than 50% of the podcasts on iTunes.
• Download stats are not public so you never truly know what audience size a podcast has.

 

Niche Audiences

• The audiences and listeners you speak to are incredibly targeted and niche.
• Focus on whether or not the content is relevant and if the target audience of the podcast your target audience as well.

 

Get Your Ducks in a Row

• If you want to see results you have to have all the pieces lined up before you do your podcast interview. 
• Ensure your content is relevant to the audience.
• Have a call to action that motivates listeners to go to your website.
• The website needs to be good enough so when people go there they hang out and stay connected.

 

Being a Great Guest

• Don’t be concerned with ‘what’ instead look at the ‘who’.
• Focus on relationships with the host before, during and after the interview.
• Over-deliver on value and make the host look good.
• Tailor your answers to the audience.
• Podcasting is a great way to have a conversation with a potential client whether that be the host or the audience.
• Enact the ‘serve first’ strategy.

 

Resources:

Text ‘Rock’ to 72000 to register for webinar

It’s Time to Sell

Libysn

Podcast Producers

Dream Biz Academy

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic

Are you a guest who wants to find shows that are in your target market? This episode of Rhodes to Success we discuss podcast discoverability. We teach you the basics of your show being searchable iTunes and discuss why you should have good artwork, an appropriate podcast title, solid episode descriptions. During the show we also cover why you should dive right into the content and have solid sound quality but not obsess over having an amazing microphone.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

iTunes Store

• Go to the iTunes store and search your keywords e.g “living on a boat.”
• Start with a broad category and shop through all the shows and sort from there.

 

Categories

• There are about 15 different categories of podcasts.
• Within each category there are sub categories. E.g the arts category has 6 sub-categories.

 

Sub Collections

• These are in the sub-categories iTunes:    
• New and Noteworthy
• What’s Hot
• Top Podcasts
• Top Episodes
• All Podcasts 

 

Podcast Artwork

• When you are thinking about a new listener finding your show you must consider the artwork.
• The artwork needs to grab the attention of the ideal listener and be relatively descriptive of what the show is about.
• If a brand new listener finds it they need to know exactly what they are going to get.

 

Podcast Title

• The title of the show and overall presence on iTunes needs to be attractive to the audience.

 

Show Description

• Don’t just stuff the description full of keywords and try to game the iTunes search system.
• If a potential listener found your podcast and read the description would it tell them the following:
• What the show is about.
• The goal of the podcast   
• Who is listening (the target audience and ideal listener)

 

List of Episodes

• Episode titles are key and need to describe what the podcast is about.
• The tile needs to be relatively descriptive about what the person would get out of listening to that episode.
• If the title is the name of the guest that works for big celebrities but not much else.
• There are differing opinions on whether or not to include the episode number in the title.
• There is a limited space in iTunes for the episode title

 

Once A Podcast is Found

• You have 3 minutes to get the audiences interest.
• It often takes podcasters way to long to get to the point of their podcast episode so people click stop and never go back to the episode or show.
• When you open the show and only speak to veteran listeners you isolate the audience members who are brand new.

 

Content

• Focus on valuable entertaining content your audience will care about.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Podcasters are being pitched by potential guests more than ever before! Some podcasters love it and a lot of podcasters hate it. If you want to be booked as a guest, you need to know how to pitch a podcaster the right way. In this episode, I'll teach you the 5 skills I learned going door to door for a non profit, and how you can apply those skills to pitching podcasters

Are podcasters reporters, journalists, entertainers, or teachers? On this episode of Rhodes to Success, we investigate just that and discuss how to make your podcast compelling and worth sharing.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Get More Subscribers

• Brilliant copywriting starts with a question.
• People want actionable content but also want to be entertained.
• What story arc can you produce to get listeners to subscribe.

 

Shareability

• You need a podcast that is worth sharing.
• It needs to be intriguing and entertaining so people can’t wait to share it.
• When you view yourself as not just a podcaster but as a reporter, entertainer, or journalist, your show becomes better.

 

Get Inspired

• Listen to the procasters, not just as a fan but as a student.
• Listen to what is created when there is a huge production team behind it.
• Get ideas of what to do with your show and what to avoid.

 

How to Make Your Podcast Compelling and Worth Sharing

 

1. Add Depth to Your Show

• Use audio clips, music, conversations, and listener voicemails.
• Ensure you have rights to use the music you’ve chosen.
• Use your iPhone voice memo app to get listener feedback on the go.

 

2. Record Audio In-Person

• Lots of podcasts are recorded either solo or via Skype. However, in-person interviews can offer a lot more chemistry.

 

3. Record Out in ‘The Wild’

• Sometimes having background noise is cool and adds depth to the show.
• Ensure you describe your surroundings when you are recording on location. 

 

4. Get Vulnerable

• Get real and share personal things about your life.
• Don’t try to be perfect.
• People will feel as though they are more connected with you and really know you on a personal level.
• Your podcast is a safe space where your listeners love you and genuinely want to get to know you.

 

5. Be a Teacher

• If you have an interview show and are interviewing guest experts, try a solo episode and monitor the engagement.

 

6. Epic Rants and Monologues

• When you get on your soapbox and have an epic rant, it brings a loud voice to a topic that people are thinking about but not talking about.

 

Resources Mentioned:

• RED Podcast (David Hooper)
• The Parenting Rhodes
• She Podcasts – Ep #105 Letting People Down and Giving People Cash Biz Chix – Ep #226 Business and Babies
• School of Podcasting – Are Review Swaps Hurting Podcasting?

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success we celebrate episode 100! I talk video marketing and reveal why it took me more than a year to record my first podcast. I also share my personal tips on how to get to 100 episodes, the top 5 most downloaded episodes, and the ultimate resource list for podcasters. 

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Video Marketing

• Your first few episodes are going to suck, so accept it, just move through it, and get better.
• For the majority of the videos, a Canon HD is used, and more recently an iPhone 6 without a lapel microphone.
• Use music as your audio branding.
• Get clear on your message.
• Practice getting right to the point.
• Evolve with what works for you and the audience.
• It’s okay to not know the tagline and hashtag on Day One.

 

Tips to Get to 100 Episodes

• Stay committed and keep doing it.   
• Start your podcast with a clear focus on the show.
• Remember, you are doing your show for your listeners but also for yourself.
• If you change the show or branding, let it evolve and just keep going.
• Put yourself out there more and take your marketing seriously.
• Don’t obsess over your stats!
• Not every show needs to have a huge audience. Mine has 200 downloads within the week of release.
• Remember, your listeners are listening for you not your guests. They should like them, but they don’t show up for them.
• If you are bored, seek out someone who is doing a show you like and mastermind with them.

 

The Top 5 Most Downloaded Episodes of Rhodes to Success

1. How to Make a Career Following your Passion (Maura Sweeny) - 745 downloads

2. Video Marketing Made Easy (Mimika Cooney) - 452 downloads

3. How to Work with Millennials (Lee Caraher)

4. Virtual Assistant Support (Lyndsay Philips) - 394 downloads

5. Build Your Business by Appearing as a Guest (Tom Schwab) - 392 downloads

 

Stats

• Stats will tell you what people are coming to your podcast for.
• Look at your download stats and analyze them rather than getting sad, frustrated, or happy for the wrong reasons.

 

Who to Work With in Podcasting

• Nathaniel Boyle
• Chris Ruppert
• Caye Howe
• Podfly
• Podcast Promo Graphics
• Jim Palmer
• BizChix

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I speak on how to reach out to podcast hosts to present yourself and get booked as a guest expert.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Why Podcast Interviews?

• You are speaking to a targeted and engaged audience who is there to learn.
• People will feel like they know you.
• It allows you to create relationships with partners in your industry.
• People spend more time with a podcast than they do with a blog.

 

Are You Ready for the Spotlight?

• Podcasters want guests on the show that have content to share.
• Start creating content on your own platform before going out and getting it on everyone else’s platform.
• The ideal scenario is to do a trade. Be on someone’s show and have them on your show. 
• Personal branding is important. Make sure to position yourself as a celebrity and have a strong social media presence. 
• Have a product or service that people actually want.

 

Pitch the Right Shows

• Be clear on who your target audience is and reverse engineer it by finding podcasts they would be listening to.
• What are the pain points of your target audience?
• Source shows from iTunes, Stitcher, and Google.
• Don’t just aim to be on ‘big shows.’

 

Write a Solid Pitch Letter

• Do your due diligence.
• Figure out who the target audience is and what the goal of the podcast is.
• Listen to the podcast and get to know the host so you can mirror the humor.
• Articulate who you are, what your content is, and how that content will be valuable to the listeners.
• The podcasters’ goal is to bring valuable content to their audience.

 

Contact and Follow Up

• A phone conversation is the most effective way to pitch a podcaster.
• Social media is a great way to get in touch as a first point of call.
• Ask to pitch. It seems counter intuitive, but it builds ‘yeses.’
• When you can get the host to say yes multiple times, they are more likely to say yes.
• Follow up on pitches.

 

Interview Prep

• Make the host’s job as easy as possible.
• Give them everything they need and be a great communicator.
• Include the guest bio in third person, headshot and Skype ID, and your interview talking points or questions.
• Schedule the interview promptly.
• Make sure you have a decent microphone. An ATR2100 is about $50.
• Listen to the podcast before you appear on the show.

 

Deliver Amazing Content

Remember, you are there to add value not pitch.

• You will attract people to you through your free knowledge.
• Thank the host for having you on the show.
• Tailor content to match the audience.
• Use the host’s; name they will like you more and promote you more.
• Incorporate stories into your interview.
• Stories position you as being credible and have experience rather than spouting facts and scenario.
• Don’t hold back; give a lot of value.
• Podcasts are pitch-free zones, so plant seeds instead of sell.
• Compliment and promote the host’s business. Figure out what they are trying to promote.

 

Have a Call to Action

• The goal is to drive targeted traffic to your site and collect emails.
• The best way to do this is deliver an interview with personality and compelling content.
• Ensure your call to action is clear, specific, and easy to remember.
• Have one call to action rather than give too much.
• Ideas include a video series, free call or consultation, webinar, book, and PDFs.
• The call to action must be related to what you were interviewed on.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Thinkific

Radio Guest List

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, we cover the 5 reasons podcasters will not book you. These tips come from my personal experience booking guests as part of the thousands of bookings completed by the Interview Connections team.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

1. Bad Headshot

• When you are a guest on a show, you become a brand ambassador of that podcast. If you have a bad headshot, it reflects poorly on the host and the show by association.
• You need to look professional.
• It’s nice to have a professional photoshoot, but smart phones such as the iPhone 6 do an amazing job.
• The type of photo you choose is a branding decision. It says a lot about you as a person and signals how you conduct business.
• Make sure your headshot matches your brand.
• When your headshot doesn’t look like you actually look in real life, it builds a level of distrust.

 

2. One Sheet 

• There needs to be an established online presence, which includes social media and a website that confirms your experience and accomplishments.
• The purpose of a one sheet is to provide podcast hosts with all the information they need in one place.
• The one sheet should be designed and branded as an extension of your business.
• Ensure your bio is on your one sheet. This must read in third person so the guest can use it as your introduction.
• Include interview topics and questions on the one sheet as a sample for the host.
• Also have your contact information, socials, and Skype ID on the sheet so the host has all your details in one place.

 

3.Bio

• If your bio is too short, the host won’t have enough information about you to decide if you are credible and a good fit for the podcast.
• If the bio is too long, the host may not read it.
• The best length is 3-5 sentences and written in third person.
• Highlight the best part of your professional life that showcases you as a great guest for the podcast you are pitching.

 

4. How You Communicate Over Email

• If the guest doesn’t reply to emails promptly, hosts will question if the guest is actually interested in being on the show.
• Are you showing gratitude in your email communication?
• Are you being a giver and asking, “What else do you need?”
• Are you showing ‘diva-like’ tendencies and not trying to make the show a success?
• Tone is lost in text, so communicating in email can be lost in text. Be careful with how you communicate with show hosts over email.

 

5. Content

• Having content that is not valuable or relevant to the host’s audience will mean you get rejected.
• Each email you send should be customized to the show you are pitching.
• Spotlight the relevant part of your personality, expertise, or interest according to the show.
• It is not the host’s job to read your bio and figure out how you would fit into their show.
• It is your job to show the host how your content is valuable and relevant to their audience.
• If a show is weekly, then you need to convince the host that you are one of the top 52 people in your industry.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

 

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

The Nice Guys on Business Podcast

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Julie Waller, who has been a strategic coach since 1997. She is passionate about the Unique Ability discovery and works with hundreds of entrepreneurs and team members in one-on-one sessions, helping them identify and create a life around their unique ability. During the show, we discuss top 5 strengths, discovering your unique abilities, the four characteristics, and the naming and activity paths.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What is Unique Ability?
• Do people use Unique Ability in their personal life, work life, or both?
• What are the four characteristics?
• What are the naming and activity paths?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Jessica’s Top 5

1. Communication

2. Futuristic

3. Achiever

4. Activator

5. Maximizer

 

Unique Ability

• This is what you are naturally good at and passionate about.
• Your Unique Ability shows up in the activities you do every day.
• When you look at your activities, you can assess where the underlying talents are.
• Your Unique Abilities are who you are when at your best.
• Self discovery helps you find the type of work that you do best.
• It often helps looking at your Unique Ability through your business lens before your personal lens. 

 

The Four Characteristics

1. Superior Skill

• When you do an activity in your work or life, assess if you are really good at it.
• Ask yourself and others what your skill level is.
• Superior skills are things that you are naturally good at, and are not necessarily learned.

2. Passion

• This is something you are driven and motivated by and want to do more.

3. Energy

• Your Unique Ability gives other people energy when you are doing it.

4. Never Ending Improvement

• This is when you are already good at something and you want to keep getting better.

 

The Activities Path

• List all the activities you do every day starting with what you do for work.
• Once the activities are listed, ask if each activity meets the four criteria.

 

Excellent Activities:

• You don’t have passion for these activities, but still have a superior skill.

 

Competent Activities:

• You can do this, but are average at it and a lot of people could do it better than you.

 

Incompetent Activities:

• You aren’t good, and experience failure.

• Once you have broken your activities into categories, delegate a percentage to each.
• Figure out how to free yourself up from the energy draining activities.
• Exponential results will come from focusing on the stuff you are really good at.

 

Jessica’s Personal Case Study

• Create your activity inventory.
• Put each of your tasks into the four categories.

 

Jessica’s Primary Tasks

• Bookkeeping.
• Checking emails.
• Checking Slack.
• Client calls.
• Podcast.
• Proofing the blog.
• Training calls.
• Guest booking.
• Get coaching.
• Producing weekly videos.

 

Coaching Tips

• Tell the truth about your skill level.
• If others would agree, you have a superior skill.
• Check your passion level and mark it as your Unique Ability or excellent.
• Keep your feelings about the activities separate, and focus on the skill level.

 

Jessica’s Unique Ability

• Cold calls.
• Podcasting.
• Client training.

 

Jessica’s Excellent Activities

• Slack.
• Pitching and booking interviews.
• Video marketing.

 

Competent Activities

• Emails.
• Blog, editing, and posting.

 

Incompetent Activities

• Bookkeeping. 

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Unique Ability

Strategic Coach

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Stephen Christopher about his show The Business Revolution podcast. This is another in the case study series where we peel back the curtain and look at the real-life mechanics of what it takes to launch and produce a podcast. We discuss target audience, format, facing fear, why guest interviews are a better way to grow a podcast, how podcasting fits into a weekly schedule, marketing, and email lists.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What inspired you to start a podcast?
• How did you get over your fear of podcasting?
• Tell us about the format and frequency. Has it changed?
• How do you see guest interviews as a better way to grow the podcast?
• What were your expectations on how podcasting would fit into your schedule?
• Tell us about how you have been marketing the show.
• What marketing tactics are effective with regards to downloads?
• What is working for you in terms of emailing your list?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Target Audience 

• The show is for business owners who are running a business and are moderately happy with it, but are working too much and can’t figure out how to get to the next level.
• Figure out who your ideal audience is and how to get in front of them.

 

Format

• Before launching, Stephen thought the episodes would be between 12-15 minutes.
• Originally, Stephen planned for the shows to just be him, thinking that no one would want to be a guest on his show. He is now moving toward more interviews.
• Episodes now run between 20 to 70 minutes.

 

Guest Interviews

• This is a way to grow the podcast, as you have access to your guest’s audience.
• A lot of times interviewees have their own podcast and you are invited to be a guest on their show. 
• Guest interviews are a great way to build professional relationships.

 

Scheduling & Time Management

• Stephen records a lot of the solo shows on the weekend and does the interviews during the week.
• Stephen has an executive assistant and someone who produces the show.
• To run a podcast, you need to be able to delegate or have money to pay people to do the behind the scenes work.

 

Podcast Marketing

• You have to find ways to stand out in front of your ideal client or audience.
• Even the people who are subscribed to your podcast and you think are listening need weekly reminders.

 

Email List

• Email filters are increasingly getting difficult to get past.
• Follow the people who are making a good living doing it do.
• Stephen is taking all his email titles and reducing it to one or two word titles.
• The emails are aimed at entrepreneurs, so it is sent out early on Tuesday in order to catch them before they go to work.
• Keep yourself out of spam filters by not putting too many links in the email.
• The Business Revolution podcast has a separate email from Stephen’s business.

 

Progress

• The show you start with isn’t always the show you end up with.
• Sometimes it’s not about download numbers but more about trending up.
• It can take 6 months to find your groove and to be sure you are getting the right guests, have the right format, and are targeting the right audience.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Seequs Digital

Business Revolution Podcast

Stephen@seequs.com

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, we continue our case study series where I ask guests how they use their podcasts to market and grow their businesses. Philip ‘PT’ Taylor is the founder of FinCon and host of The Money and Media Podcast. He joins me on the podcast and discusses starting, marketing, and executing a niche conference, as well as how his podcast is an additional platform for the conference.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Tell us about FinCon and when you started it.
• Was marketing and content marketing missing from the personal finance and investing world?
• What were you thinking when you decided to put on a conference?
• How did you market the conference and get people to attend before you launched your podcast?
• How was the podcast introduced to the mix?
• When did you introduce the podcasting track to FinCon?
• Talk about having a podcast co-host.
• How has the podcast helped marketing, and what have been the results with FinCon attendance?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

 

FinCon

• This was founded in 2011, and is a national conference where money and media meets.
• FinCon took the three pillars of finance, social media, and affiliate marketing and combined them into one conference.

 

Starting A Conference

• It was PT’s love for the community that was the catalyst for starting FinCon.
• When starting a conference, ensure the people you want to get together already want to get together badly.
• Open source the conference and let the community tell you what they want, and help build it with regards to locations and sessions. This helps the community having investment and ownership with the conference.

 

Marketing the Conference

• Prior to the podcast, there was a blog, social media channels, email list, social proof that other people from the community were coming to the event. 
• Use the authority of attendees to leverage ticket sales.
• PT developed a print magazine that circulated leading up to the conference, and featured the agenda and list of speakers.

 

Podcasting

• The podcasting track at FinCon was introduced in the forth year of the conference.
• Live podcasting was allowed at the event since the second year.
• PT started The Money and Media Podcast on his own and brought in Joe Saul-Sehy as a co-host.
• The podcast hasn’t increased conference registrations. However, it provides the opportunity to celebrate conference speakers.

 

The Money and Media Podcast Downloads

• The podcast download stats are in the hundreds and isn’t taking off beyond the existing community, which is around 1,500.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Money and Media Podcast

FinCon

On this episode of Rhodes to Success I interview Frank Sardella who uses his podcast Will Work 4 Patience a way to market his chiropractic business. This episode is another in the case study series as Frank and I discuss how important your backstory is in positioning yourself as an expert, the importance of the niche, whether or not to create a pilot episode, predictability and evolution, and monetization.

 

Main Questions Asked

• What is your business and how do you make money?
• Who are your clients and when did you start your business?
• What was the turning point of getting into podcasting?
• What were your expectations going in and how did your perspective change the longer you podcasted?
• Why did you create a pilot episode and do you think it's a good idea?
• Do you see as podcast sponsors as distracting the audience from what you do?

 

Key Lessons Learned

Getting Into Chiropractics

• Frank got started in chiropractics after a chiropractor saved his live more than 20 years ago.
• Within 3 months of taking a job at the chiropractor chain he was promoted to the role of director of marketing and learned the ropes of the industry.
• Frank decided to help thousands of chiropractor help their patience in order to have a bigger impact and help millions of people.
• He connected his art, advocacy and public speaking and expanded to modern wellness professionals.
• Frank has a system of face-to-face marketing and e-marketing, which is the model of his business on how he generated revenue.
• In 2011 Frank discovered online conferencing, which revolutionized the business and enabled him to work with people globally.

 

Backstory and Creditability

• When you use a podcast as a marketing tool you need to position yourself as an expert and let people know what you do.
• When people consider working with you they want to know who you are as a host, your backstory and if you are credible.
• In order to have credibility you need to put some of yourself into your show and demonstrate passion and purpose to the listener.

 

Your Niche

• Its not enough to say you just want to do a podcast you have to have something to give.
• You have to have a niche and avoid being general.

 

Podcasting

• In radio you do a live broadcast and it’s gone forever. With a podcast, you do an episode and it’s there forever.
• Many podcasters use elements from different media in each show.
• It took Frank 2-3 years of recording 20-30 episodes to just get the show well and truly rolling.
• The podcast isn’t about getting coaching clients first, its about getting listeners and readers of the blog.
• Podcasting is about providing so much value that it brings people into your community.

 

Expectations, Patience and Pilot Episodes

• From the time you start to when you see the results could be an obscenely amount of time.
• Pilot episodes help create the platform and enable you to figure out where you want to go from there. 
• Glean format from other podcast rather than content.

 

Format: Predictability & Evolution

• After about 5 episodes you need to get into a rhythm and be consistent with the format.
• Every episode should be predictable. 
• It’s important to evolve and let the show go where it will go.
• The biggest evolution should be due to feedback.
• You have to be okay with testing something and it not being a good idea.

 

Monetization & Affiliate Marketing

• Frank had the idea of affiliate marketing before he had the idea of the podcast.
• The types of affiliate relationships you want to build are those that come through you but build the relationship you already have.
• If the client wins then you win.
• Can you expand on your niche and make it valuable to the sponsors?

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Chiropractic Marketing Advice (Podcast)

Ready Fire Aim (Book)

Still struggling getting your podcast off the ground? 

Join us for an afternoon of pure business building content and strategies you can use and implement immediately in your podcast!

Visit: ThePodcastProducers.com/mastermind

 

In this ‘pitch free’ interactive seminar you will learn:

• How to improve your setup, create better production workflows, and podcast like a professional
• How to take your show past the first year and elevate the production quality, content and audience engagement of your podcast
• The keys to building quality relationships with co-hosts, guests, listeners and your production team

 

Bonus: As an added bonus, you will leave The Podcast Producers Mastermind armed with an A-Z blueprint of how you can create a journalistic and narrative style podcast that sets you apart from every other podcast in your niche.

 

Agenda for the most powerful 5 hours of your trip to Chicago!

❏      Introduction: Who are Corey and Jess and attendee intros

❏      Behind the Scenes! Corey and Jess will reveal how they created Season 1 of The Podcast Producers, the ten episode audio series selected by Apple as a Hot to Podcast show in iTunes.

❏      The killer strategies of how Jess and Corey were able to book 28 amazing guests pre-launch!

❏      You’ll get their two month production schedule and successful launch strategy

❏      How the show was recorded and edited together

❏      Why Corey and Jess approach each season of The Podcast Producers as its own unique show

❏      Hot Seats! Jess, Corey and fellow podcasters will provide laser focused advice to some of the attendees on how to take their podcast to the next level.

❏      Round table interview recording for a future episode of The Podcast Producers

 

Who The Podcast Producers Mastermind is NOT for:

• You don’t know what a microphone is
• Your dream of a successful podcast is just that, a dream.

 

Who The Podcast Producers Mastermind is for:

• You already know the basics of podcasting and are ready to uplevel your game
• You care more about creating a high quality show more than a quick flash in the pan

 

By design, the Podcast Producers Mastermind event an intimate experience and seating is extremely limited. With this small group every attendee is guaranteed some focused attention and feedback on their podcast.

 

WARNING! The board room holds only 12 people! If you are the 13th person to try and register, you will be locked out. Do not miss this amazing event – register now.

 

Click here to secure your seat for $500

On this episode of Rhodes to Success I interview James Kevin O’Connor in a new mini-series of case studies on podcasting. James has a niche podcast in the music category called The Dharmic Evolution podcast, which focuses on original music. During the show we discuss connecting to your passion, using four touch points, monetization, how to get your show live, audience size and stats.   

 

Main Questions Asked

• Tell us the story of when you had the first idea to start the Dharmic Evolution podcast.
• When you started, was there a business around it or was the podcast first and later built out revenue streams around the show?
• What were the first steps to getting your show live on iTunes and Stitcher?
• How many episodes did you lach unch with on iTunes and what is the frequency of your release schedule?
• When did you know it was the right time to invest in a virtual assistant to help you find guests?
• Talk about your download numbers and expectations.
• What has happened in your life and business as a result of the podcast?
• What things do you do with your podcast that make it high quality?

 

Key Lessons Learned

• Do your due diligence before you offer an interview to ensure it will be a good interview rather than find out it’s not a good fit while you are recording.
• Most people aren’t connected to their passion and some can’t even find it.
• Podcasting leads to all kinds of opportunities that you may not be aware of  or predict when you go through the process.

 

The Dharmic Evolution Podcast

• The year before he started his podcast, John decided to educate himself online.
• Four songs by the guest artist are included in the podcast episode, which gives the audience four chances to connect with the artists work.
• Most musical people have found their passion, so this podcast is a great way for people to listen in and follow the trail of how others got connected.
• John’s guests aren’t big stars but rather are on the cusp of getting to the next level and have been producing records and touring.

 

Monetization

• James didn’t have a monetization strategy when he started the podcast.
• Revenue streams include life transition and podcast launch coaching for individuals and small business.
• The common thought for podcasters is to get a high amount of downloads and be able to sell advertising time to advertisers.
• Podcast audiences can turn into a community and clients that can be monetized. Podcasting monetization doesn’t just have to be about ad revenue.

 

Going Live

• Nothing has changed with broadcasting except technology. It’s still a microphone, audience and intimate conversation back-and-forth.
• James released three shows when the show went live and had at least 30 shows recorded. He likes to be 6-8 weeks ahead of schedule.
• Then plan was to go to two shows per week after 6 months and now does 8-10 shows per month.
• As you learn you will get better guests, become a better

 

Show Stats

• The podcast is just under 4,000 lifetime downloads in one year.

 

Sound

• The way you sound is out there in perpetuity so spend at least $50 on a quality microphone.
• Send .WAV files rather than.mp3 when sending files to hosts.
• Start on a higher platform and the output will sound much better on  compressed generations.

 

Guest Relations

• Every podcast guest has a dedicated blog post on the website, which includes their bio and links.    
• Tweetable links of guest quotes are sent out in order to encourage them to send to their mailing lists and promote to their audience.
• James gives each guest an autographed CD with a thank you note.
• There are at least 5 different follow-ups after the guest is on the show.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Dharmic Evolution Podcast 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success I interview Mike Saunders who helps position his clients as an authority in their niche. Mike is the host of the Business Innovators Radio Show, holds an MBA and is an adjunct professor. He says if you give him 60 minutes and 60 days he’ll get your book done and you will be an Amazon bestseller!  During the show we discuss positioning yourself as an authority, why you should considering writing a book for Amazon, and how to publish and interview-style book.

   

Main Questions Asked

• What has your MBA brought you that other entrepreneurs who didn’t go to business school?
• Why is it important for entrepreneurs to position themselves as an authority?

 

Key Lessons Learned

Positioning

• This is one of the 4 P’s of marketing and how you are perceived in the mind of your target audience.
• Most people don’t proactively position themselves; however, if you create the positioning you win the battle.

 

Positioning Yourself As an Authority

• You need to systematically and rapidly positioning yourself as a celebrity to your clientele and target market.
• Get the media talking about you, this can be via local media or podcasting and doesn’t necessarily have to be national.
• Post your ‘humble brag’ on social media.
• By appearing on shows you are providing yourself with authority positioning.
• The ultimate focus is to be an educator and advocate for your prospect and clients’ success. 

 

Create your Authority Position

• Google indexes content that is reputable.
• 87% of the time a prospect will Google instead of calling.
• You don’t have to make a video to put it on YouTube you an convert an MP3 to an MP4.  It can be a YouTube video of the audio.
• The more backlinks you have the more your site will rank on Google.
• A lot of podcasters do show notes, which is where the guest link back lives on the site.
• Just because you have done one guest post or podcast interview doesn’t mean you have completed the task and can check it off the list. It has to be consistent.

 

Self-Publishing on Amazon

• Getting your content into written word offers another level of authority that podcasting, videos and blogs don’t.
• The benefits of being an author include being invited to speak at conferences events.
• Experts close three times as many deals as sales people.
• Sales people have brochures and experts have books.
• You won’t get paid for writing the book but because you wrote the book.
• Think of one problem and one solution for your target audience.
• People throw away business cards and brochures but not books as they have significant shelf life.
• Amazon allows you to self publish your own book and buy small numbers at a time. The cost of self-publishing can be $3-4 each so is affordable to hand out to potential clients.

 

Interview Style Book

• The audio from an interview is transcribed and edited to create an interview-style book.
• Mike says if you give him 60 minutes and 60 days he’ll get your book done and you will be an Amazon bestseller. 
• Once you publish the book you have to build the business behind it

 

Positioning Yourself as an Expert

• Make sure you know the FAQ as well as the ‘should ask’ questions.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Business Innovators Radio Show

Rev

Marketing Huddle

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Frank Klesitz, who is an entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of Vyral Marketing. The video marketing firm helps entrepreneurial professionals in all industries increase client generation and retention with education-based video marketing. Viral marketing helps hundreds of professional clients worldwide publish over 800 client videos a month and 4 million client emails per year. Frank’s methods are directly responsible for generating more than $10M of additional client revenue, commission, and billable hours since 2009. During the show, we discuss the 33 Touch Concept, balancing new clients and client retention, weekly client phone calls and getting people to sign up, and setting clear expectations.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about your wealth expertise.
• How do record via webcam and help people with lighting?
• How did you take your business from zero to 60 employees?
• How do you balance brining in new clients with client retention?
• How are you getting people to sign up to your service?
• How do you handle setting clear expectations?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Reconnect with Your Database by Using Content

• The 33 touch concept is touching your database 33 times per year with something of value, which works out to be every 10 days.
• It’s important to be the marketer of what you do and not just the doer of what you do.

 

Vyral Videos

• Vyral Skypes clients and does interviews on a webcam in order to create two videos per month.
• The video quality you get on a webcam looks pretty great. The only issue is the audio, but it can be fixed with an external microphone.
• Vyral is able to see the client by doing a Join Me session so they can see the screen.
• The best topics are 2-3 minutes and are Q&A’s based on the most common questions people have been asking you.

 

Growing the Vyral Business

• The concept of custom work is difficult to scale, so Frank created one system and one plan with a one-time, up-front fee and ongoing monthly fee.
• Retaining a client is more profitable than bringing in new clients.

 

New Clients

• New client generation is your retention. 
• This needs to be number one on your list as a business owner.
• You can’t control what clients are supposed to do, such as if they pay on time or want to continue the service.
• You can never take your eye off the ball when it comes to searching for new clients.

 

Client Retention

• The number one thing you can do for client retention is to make sure your clients get a phone call every single week.
• If you focus on weekly communication, it tends to fix most problems from a retention standpoint.
• When you start getting things done through others, you have to start leveraging yourself.

 

Meetings

• The only way to ensure the quality of the communication is by training and meeting with your people to go over the issues of communication on what you are dealing with.
• Fonality allows Frank to listen to any live calls.

 

Getting People to Sign Up

• Frank attends top conferences, and finds the people in the profession who are being put on stage and marketed as the most successful people in the profession.
• The goal is to get the influencers of the profession as clients by doing whatever it takes.
• Once they have the influencer on board, they market it back to everyone in the profession.
• In order to get creditability, you have to get clients that people want to become.

 

Setting Clear Expectations

• The most important call is the ‘expectations call.’
• There are 40-50 things that are said in this call, which is a step-by-step recorded call.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Vyral Maarketing

The Rockefeller Habits

Fonality

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview John Dwyer, who is an expert in direct response marketing. John is the host of Sales for Profit, which shows people how to use direct response marketing in advertising to ensure everything is measurable. His WOW Attraction Formula has been responsible for attracting more than $15B in sales, and the strategy has been deployed across 27,000 businesses. During the show, we discuss direct response marketing, 5 components of the client attraction system, wow factor, and the secret behind repetitive trade.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What is direct response marketing?
• What is a wow factor?
• How would you recommend an online business enact repetitive trade?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

• Businesses often do what they believe is brand-building, but doesn’t actually put money in the bank.
• Direct response marketing doesn't have to be looked upon to be the poor cousin of advertising.

 

Stop Using Price to Attract Customers

• Don’t sell on price; sell on value.
• Constantly having sales and half-price specials is unsustainable.
• You need to attract customers who spend more and stay longer.

 

5 Components of the Client Attraction System

1. Identify your most profitable target audience.

• Be specific: A woman, 25-34, with 2 children, working a white-collar job, and living in an upper-class suburb.

 

2. Create a wow factor to take people’s eyes off the price.

 

3. Problem solution advertising.

• Provide them with a problem, aggravate the problem, and offer the solution.
• People will pay to get rid of pain in place of getting pleasure.

 

4. Fix your website.

• How to be different online and have all the website components on your homepage that your competitors don't.
• Go to a marketing expert to get your site designed.
• On the homepage, have a big headline that is a problem solution headline.
• Include a welcome video and tell people what you will do for them.
• Offer a free download and have an opt-in to collect data.
• Have video testimonials of people telling other people how good you are.

 

5. Repetitive Trade.

• This is about getting clients to return over and over again and become raving fans.
• Pull people into a loyalty program or reward scheme so people will come back and frequent your business online or offline on a more regular basis.

 

The Wow Factor

• This comes down to the theater of the offer.
• This is something your clients want that would motivate them to want to stay with you.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Sales for Profit

Wow My Business

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Brian Church, who is a bestselling author, public speaker, radio show host, serial entrepreneur, and an expert in mergers and acquisitions. Brian is the CEO of Idea Shares, which is a company that helps entrepreneurs take their ideas from the drawing on the paper napkin to a profitable business venture. During the show, we discuss the future of entrepreneurship, ideation and testing your ideas, and beginning with the end in mind.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What is it about your personality that makes you want to be in so many ventures and not just one business?
• Talk about IdeaShares.com and how you are helping your clients.
• Are you mostly working with people who have an idea for a product or professional services?
• How early in the process should you be thinking about your business as being something that can be sold one day?
• What are your thoughts on service-based businesses?
• What is an example of a company who is doing everything right?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Future of Entrepreneurship

• We are going to lose 45 million jobs in the next 10-15 years due to technology.
• What we used to think of as a ‘job’ will be very different.
• If you aren’t thinking entrepreneurially today, you will have to, as it will be necessary to ‘side gig.’

 

Solving Problems

• You don’t have anything that can create commerce if you don’t solve a problem.
• The current model of business incubators is actually more along the lines of accelerators.
• There is a gap between the early stages of ideation to execution and no one who is helping compress the time, cost, and overall risk associated with ideation.

 

Ideation

• Ideation is the time between when you get the idea, the catalytic action to move on the idea, and getting to minimally viable product, or proof of concept.
• The process for ideas is the same regardless of whether it is a product or service, as there needs to be a prototype for both.
• For proof of concept to gain traction in order to get funding outside of friends and family, you have to have a prototype.

 

Begin with the End in Mind

• When people buy businesses, they buy enterprise value, intellectual property, or both.
• Enterprise value is not a dependent business but rather an independent business someone can take on to the next level.
• Multiples are usually based off the enterprise value that, if the owner walked away, it’s a viable business model.
• A lot of businesses aren’t built to be sold. Some will be licensed, as they are more process-driven.
• Most people burn out because the business is dependent on them.
• The businesses that get the best valuations are the ones that are built in a way that they can run with the entire team being replaced.

 

Service-Based Businesses

• Service-based businesses need to have processes that are simple, repeatable, and measurable. 

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Idea Shares

Brian@ideashares.com

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Yann Illunga, who is a podcaster and podcast strategist who helps entrepreneurs, business owners, and creatives leverage the power of podcasting to build authority, network with influencers, generate more leads, and acquire new customers. Yann is the host of the 360 Entrepreneur podcast and the Podcast Success Summit, and is the founder of the Podcast Success Academy. During the show, we discuss podcasting as an art form, making yourself accessible as a host, auditing your website, getting listeners to engage with you, Facebook groups, managing communities, and bringing listeners onto the show.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What are your thoughts on looking at podcasting as an art form, as well as something that generates leads?
• Talk about the power of having a Facebook group for your podcast.
• What do you think about bringing listeners onto the show?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Podcasting as an Art Form

• Even if you host an interview-based podcast, you as the host are the common denominator.
• People show up to connect with you as the host as the starting point, so it’s important to add your personality.
• It’s more difficult to build a human connection through text, whereas audio is the basis of storytelling.

 

Make Yourself Accessible

• This could be as simple as sharing your email address during the podcast or managing a Facebook group.
• Let people know you are there to serve them and that they shouldn’t be afraid to contact you as the host.
• Starting out as a small podcast means you are able to interact with your audience one-on-one more than someone with a larger audience.
• Rather than chasing new fans, focus on the ones you already have.

 

Audit Your Website

• How easy is it to find and contact the host?
• How easy is it for listeners to engage with you?
• Check your site as a ‘secret shopper’ or get a friend to assess.

 

Facebook Groups for your Podcast

• The barrier of entry for starting a Facebook group is low.
• People come for the content but stay for the community.
• There will be people who are ‘lurkers’ and will get value out of it, but won’t be active.
• Come up with a weekly structure so it doesn’t become the ‘wild wild west’ and people-spam without adding value.
• Structure also manages expectations of how the group works.
• Think about organizing the group in terms of how you can get user-generated content and become ‘core creators,’ and push the group toward the best possible functioning.

 

Developing Communities

• Remember that it is risky to develop on someone else’s platform, as the rules may change with regards to engagement and payment.
• Slack is an alternative to help start a community for your podcast.
• Come up with ways for people to sign up for your newsletter as a way to get members from the Facebook platform to your own list.
• Empower the community by giving them a platform to be recognized as a super fan.

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Yann Illunga

Giveaway

360 Entrepreneur podcast

Podcast Success Summit

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Vernon Foster, who is a podcast educator, speaker, and coach. He oversees a small army of audio engineers, graphic designers, and transcriptionists under the Pod Parrot brand. Vernon continually seeks out new ways to innovate and strategically leverage podcasting as a viable platform for small business professionals, startups, speakers, and coaches. During the show, we discuss event planning, podcasting as a tool, how Pod Parrot shifted focus, and how the industry as a whole is changing.   

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What are the biggest skills that go into event planning?
• What were your biggest skillsets in podcasting that you thought you could use to launch a business?
• What was the need you were filling, and how are you different from your competitors?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Event Planning

• When it comes to event planning, it’s all about ‘butts in seats.’
• You need to start planning 6-12 months before an event.

 

Podcasting

• This is an opportunity to interview potential customers and get real-time feedback.
• If you are going to create a product and service, and you don’t even know if it’s something people want, then you are spinning your wheels.
• Podcasting is the cheapest research and development you can do.
• Some people will say focus on the production, while others will say to create compelling content.
• Really great content is more important than having the best microphone.

 

Podcasting as a Tool

• Podcasting is not your business; it’s a tool for your business.
• When podcasting is used properly, it can be a massive generator of business by connecting you with like-minded people.
• Podcasting brings you closer to your audience, and it lets you interview some of the people you might not normally have access to.
• If you don’t treat podcasting like a business, then it will just be a hobby.

 

Pod Parrot

• Pod Parrot has moved from the role of service provider into the role of educator and evangelist.
• Vernon worked with clients one-on-one before he started the brand.
• The challenge to overcome is people flooding the marketplace.
• The market is shifting and becoming commoditized because people don’t want to pay a lot of money.
• There’s a lot of people who don’t understand the podcasting business.
  

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Pod Parrot

Mic Science Podcast

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview John Maddox, who has been a serial entrepreneur and has had a few successful exits, most recently with Nashville-based interactive agency 10 Fast Feet. During this episode, John and I discuss circumventing the gatekeeper, overcoming ‘podfade,’ entrepreneurship, and looking long-term.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about being on Entrepreneur On Fire.
• What was your thought process around what podcasting would do?
• What have been the pain points you have overcome that have allowed you to continue podcasting?
• Talk about your entry into entrepreneurship and what it’s been like.
• Tell us about the last company you sold.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Circumvent the Gatekeeper

• John started podcasting as a networking tool in order to reach people and ‘circumvent the gatekeeper.’
• Podcasting is a way to build relationships with people of significant influence.
• Big name guests want to share their knowledge and help other people; however, you won’t always get the people, and they won’t always respond.
• Direct messaging and tweeting is a handy way to reach people directly, as a lot of people manage their own social media.

 

Overcoming Pain Points

• If there isn’t a direct revenue stream coming from the podcast, it is easy to lose focus on the relationship building.

 

Entrepreneurship

• Don’t view what you are doing as big or small, but rather view it as giving you control over your life.
• As an entrepreneur, you are still relying on other people to write you checks.
• If you are the owner, you are the last to get fired, so if the business goes down, you don’t get laid off.
• The more you grow your business, you have to balance your cash flow with the client generation.

 

Looking Long-Term

• A lot of people in the entrepreneurial world are very short-term focused instead of looking at mechanisms to leverage the ultimate goal.
• As a society, we have become conditioned to look a quarter or two ahead.
• Look outside the box on how you are going to circumvent your opponents. 

 

Shifting Focus

• John wanted to shift away from the work for-hire-model to the work for equity and focus on the big picture of return on investment.

 

Investment Legal Changes

• On May 16, 2016, new laws go into effect under the jobs act that allow non-accredited investors to be equity investors in new companies.
• For the last 82 years, the only people who were allowed to invest outside of friends and family have been accredited investors.
• We will all now have the opportunity to be investors in companies.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Serious Startups

John Maddox

Let’s Talk Serious Startups (podcast)

Idea Shares

The Crowdfunding Pitch Show

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Brandy Butler, an online business coach and strategist who is passionate about the power of spreading positive messages. She helps her clients magnify their message and gain momentum in their business. During the show, we discuss having an online business and working with local clients, consistency, the power of podcasting, targeted adverts, live events, how to get local news coverage, and what it takes to write a book.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about having a business where your clients are local.
• How are people following you?
• What difference did your live events have on your coaching business?
• How do you pitch your events to the news?
• Tell us about your book, Girl Just Quit. How long did it take you to write it?
• How did you leverage your podcast to write your book?
• What are the first steps for someone who wants to start a business?

 

Key Lessons Learned: 

Brandy’s Butlers Business

• Brandy helps her clients gain credibility, visibility, and profitability.
• She focuses on women entrepreneurs who want to create influential brands.
• 10% of Brandy’s clients are local, and 90% are online.
• When having her own local events, Brandy is diligent about using targeted Facebook adverts.

 

Consistency

• Even if you take a break from podcasting, the good news is that episodes are evergreen content and still searchable on iTunes.

 

Meeting People at Live Events

• You can’t beat in-person meetings. The human factor of hearing and meeting you is about resonating and connecting.
• The best way to close sales with coaching clients is to get them in a room with you.
• Live events increase the brand equity, as the people online also get a chance to see the ‘real’ you.
• You don’t have to host your own live event, the in-person meetings can also be via other people’s conferences.
• If you meet current clients in person, it makes them want to work with you longer.

 

Brandy’s Live Events

• Brandy is based out of St Louis and has the intimate masterminds of 20 people.
• Collaborations are about bringing together like-minded people. You might not be able to answer the question, but someone else might.
• Last year, Brandy had more than 100 people at her third annual vision board event.
• Make the event fit in with local news cycle in order to get additional media coverage.

 

Pitching Events to Media

• Pitch your story on the news and media websites, and make sure to have a great magazine-style headline.
• Use newsworthy and relevancy factors to hook your event and story.
• Brandy got her vision board event on the news, as she was able to pitch it in the framework of new year’s resolutions.
• Having a book will help you gain creditability and makes it easier to pitch media outlets for coverage.
• Brandy used the local media coverage to sell out her vision board event.

 

Writing Girl Just Quit

• The book is for women entrepreneurs and those searching for their purpose.
• Appreciate your job as an investor, and make smart and strategic moves while you are working so you can be in a better position to quit your job.
• Brandy leveraged her podcast to write her book. Some of it is transcribed from the podcast, webinars, and other parts from blog articles. 
• Writing a book doesn’t have to be a from-scratch New York Times bestseller; it’s perfectly fine to repurpose your content from existing content.

 

First Steps

• Think about what you really want to do, and don’t focus on the money.
• Focus on what you are good at and comes naturally.
• What you should be doing might feel too grand at first, but follow the trail.
• If you focus on what’s trendy and making money, you will become bored and unfulfilled.
• If you can speed up the process of believing in yourself, you will save a lot of time.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Brandy Butler

The Girl Just Quit (podcast)

The Package, Podcast and Profit Show 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Adrion Porter, who is a brand builder, podcaster, speaker, and consultant, and has a background working for Cartoon Network, HBO, Cinemax, and Citi Group. Adrion’s podcast, Gen X Amplified, focuses on empowering Gen X to be stronger leaders in the new media marketplace, define their story, and lead millennials. During the show, we discuss getting big name guests on your podcast early on, networking at live events, and the value of non-celebrity guests.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• How did you connect with big name guests and get them on your podcasts early on?
• Talk about the value that non-celebrity guests bring to your show.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Multi-Platform Approach

• Get yourself known in a number of ways such blogging, video, podcasts, social media, conferences.
• The multi-platform approach for content makes you recognizable and more approachable.

 

Gen X Amplified Podcast

• The show focuses on the Gen X generation.
• Gen X is the generation between the baby boomers and millennials, and are aged mid 30s-50s.
• The goal of the show is to redefine the narrative and brand and empower Gen X.
• Before Adrion launched the podcast, he went to Social Media Marketing World to test out the how idea amongst attendees.

 

Getting Great Guests

• When you are pre-launch, it’s hard to get well known guests to be on your podcast.
• Get great guests though hustle, determination, a strong purpose, brand, and vision.
• Create a list of people you have in mind for your show.
• You need to have a consistent clear message, purpose and target audience, and be able to articulate it.
• Stick with it and don’t change your show strategy.
• Be consistent in making connections, and find common pieces in conversations and optimize it.
• 6 degrees of separation is a real thing. Take advantage and work your connections.

 

Attending Live Events

• Meeting prospective guests at live events in person is the most effective way.   
• Develop a relationship before asking your potential guest to be on your podcast.
• Events such as Social Media Marketing World can be pricey. The way to look at this is that each attendee also made the investment, which brings instant respect.

 

Guests By Referencing

• If one of your guests mentions someone in their interview, use the opportunity to reach out to that person and leverage it. 
• This namedropping method shows you aren’t a fan and have already been spotlighted on your show.

 

5 Things to Articulate

• When pitching potential podcast guests, you need be clear on the following:

1. Message

2. Branding

3. Audience and target market

4. Show’s purpose

5. Staying consistent

• If you are able to articulate the above, you will be more likely to get great guests regardless of whether the show is pre-launch or established.

 

Celebrity Guests

• Regardless of what people say, celebrities will not make or break your podcast.
• Every guest will bring tremendous value for someone.
• Your listeners download your show because they like you, not because they like the guest.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Gen X Amplified

Adrion Porter

Lee Caraher Episode

 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Melissa Bowler, who is the Executive Director of a non-profit organization called P.I.G., aka the Providence Improv Guild. P.I.G. is an organization dedicated to building a community of improvisers and providing affordable improv workshops to a wide audience. During this episode, we cover how entrepreneurs, business leaders, speakers, and podcasters can use improv training to better themselves and communication.

Main Questions Asked:

• What is the definition of improv?
• How can people use improv into their business?
• How can business owners with a virtual team engage you in improv training?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

What is Improvisation?

• Improv (improvisation) is the art of making things up on the spot.
• Live improv shows are essentially sketch comedy that is written, directed, staged, and executed in the moment based on audience suggestions.
• When it comes to improv, there is a beauty in not knowing what is going to happen.
• When you do improv, you go on stage completely blank and let things happen.
• The human ability to improvise is innate and is something we knew how to do at one point in our lives. 
• Improvisation is about uncovering the idea of play that is in all of us.

 

Podcasters and Improv

• Some questions don’t apply to all guests.
• You have to go where if feels right to go and not just on the run sheet.
• Podcasting allows you to do improv during the recording but edit things out.

 

Improv & Business Communication

• Hire an expert to teach a class. The most effective is in-person.
• Take a class and pass on what you learn.
• Incorporate the spirit into your work.
• Having a sense of humor and the ability to connect with others gets you so much further in life than knowing all the intricate business rules.
• The business climate and world is changing, which allows for a connection on a more human level.

 

‘Yes, and…’

• The key rule of improv is to never say ‘no.’ 
• You always have to accept an offer and use the ‘Yes, and…’ approach.
• This means accepting and building.
• ‘Yes, and…’ allows you to discover a lot of bad ideas and explore them.
• Focus on what you want to do with ‘Yes, and….’
• In every bad idea there is a grain of a good idea within it. You have to say, ‘Yes, and…’ to get to the good idea.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

P.I.G

Melissa Bowler

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Stephen Woessner, who is a digital marketing authority, entrepreneur, speaker, educator, podcast host, and bestselling author of two books. During the show, we discuss how Stephen used his business fail to level up, how failure in business affects family, unpaid interns, daily kick start calls, and mentorship.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Share your story of attending VaynerMedia.
• Tell me about what your event was.
• How did the event failure affect your personal life and family?
• How did you get out of the stressful time and get back on your feet?
• Did you get to a point where you had to declare bankruptcy, or did you have to rebuild what you already had?
• What are the pros and cons to having unpaid interns?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Predictive ROI Live Event 

• This was the challenging time and situation that could have ruined or devastated Stephen’s business.
• The event had been in planning from 2012-2014, and was budgeted at $2M, including speakers and the Ritz Carlton Orlando contract.
• The value proposition of the event question was never answered.
• When the event opened for registration, 3 seats out of 350 were sold.
• The event was scaled back and speaker contracts were cancelled, but they still lost $200K, of which $100K went to the Ritz Carlton for rooms that were never slept in.

 

Reasons Why The Event Was Cancelled

• The Predictive ROI Live event was cancelled due the following: 
• Misunderstanding of the avatar.
• Lack of a marketing strategy.
• No clear value proposition.

 

Mentorship

• It’s hard to be a good mentee without being defensive.
• A good mentor will hold your feet to the fire and tell you what you don’t want to hear.

 

Next Level After Failure

• Stephen was on a plateau and used it to jump to the next level.
• Once Stephen worked through the depression and mourning period, he and his team got back to selling.
• Failure also hits team members hard, so this needs to be considered too.
• The effect on family and relationships after a huge failure is also significant.
• Nothing cures the ills in a business or depression more than wins and successes.

 

Unpaid Interns

• Predictive ROI has 2-4 unpaid interns per semester, as well as ‘super interns’ who are paid $600 per week for 30 hours.
• So far, there have been 22 unpaid interns through Predictive ROI.
• At one point Stephen had an unpaid intern managing six unpaid interns. She is now the multimedia producer.
• The company is fully transparent about who is an intern, but doesn’t micromanage.

 

Daily Intern Kick Start Calls

• Work is managed via Zoom video call at 8:45am, where each person reviews the following:
• 3-4 priorities.
• What they didn’t get done the previous day.
• What they need help on.
• If they have spare time.

 

Slack

• Everyone can instant message all team members.
• There are channels for discussion threads.
• This takes a lot of communication off email and into the tool.
• There is an app for phones and computers.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Onward Nation

Predictive ROI

Stephen@predicitveroi.com

Jessica’s Interview

Unpaid Interns Episode 137

The Small Business Owners Handbook

Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking

On this episode of Rhodes to Success I interview Donna Cravotta who is the CEO of Social Sage PR, which is a boutique media consultancy and home of the Total Social PR system. The unique social strategy is based on listening and engagement. Donna will share effective techniques to help you connect with your perfect audience online, build relationships and possibilities into business opportunity. During this episode Jessica and Donna discuss social media as a listening tool, outsourcing to a social media manager, engaging as an entrepreneur, and know your truth and who your future team is.

Main Questions Asked

• What do you do with your clients and Social Sage PR?
• Talk about outsourcing to a social media manager?
• Do you see people have someone internal doing social media marketing or have an expert take over?
• How do you help entrepreneurs engage in social media but not let it take over their lives?

 

Key Lessons Learned

Social Media As a Listening Tool

• Social media isn’t just about broadcasting it’s also about listening and connecting to people.
• When you learn how to listen you can connect to any audience you want such as potential and past clients, journalists, podcasters, strategic partners, and vendors.
• When you zero in and grow your community you can then branch out.

 

Social Media Manager

• There is no magic pill as social media isn’t about hacks. It takes time and work.
• Even though you outsource you still need to be there for the engagement.
• There is a lot of value in hiring someone who is already familiar with you and your brand.
• Be prepared to spend time and money.
• As you get more successful you spend more money so you have more time.

 

Engaging As an Entrepreneur

• Be selective with who you are listening too when it comes to taking advise.
• Be yourself online and not a sales machine.
• People want to know who they are doing business with and want to like you.
• Authenticity is key.
• Always present your social media in your voice even if a social media manager is pumping out the content.

 

Know Your Future Team

• When you start out as an entrepreneur you will probably have to fill all the roles.
• Know what roles you need to fill and what tasks the people in those roles need to do so when it comes time to hire you know who you are hiring and for what.
• When the pieces don’t fit you have an incongruent business.

 

Know Your Truth

• Write your truth on a post it note so when you start to get the head trash you read it.
• Jessica’s truth is: “If everything is running smoothly you aren’t growing fast enough.”

 

Do What Works

• Every audience is different so do more of what works and less of what doesn’t
• Forget the tech piece and how many times to tweet a day and just make sure to show you as yourself.
• Don’t get dragged down by the tactics. Do what works and ask yourself, “What is the fastest way to get there?”

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Social Sage PR

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Mimika Cooney, who is known as the Go-to Video Marketing Expert. She is a TV host, interviewer, published author, and videographer. Mimika is an international award-winning photographer, public speaker, and online marketing strategist. She has worked as a television broadcaster, and now hosts her own web TV show and helps entrepreneurs and experts harness the power of video marketing to build business brands through her online course. During the show, we discuss video and authenticity, how to make your videos look good, video platforms, and creating content.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Video & Authenticity

• Video is the next best thing to meeting someone in person.
• You can’t fake it on video. Communication is mostly non-verbal.
• People will relate to you more if you aren’t always super perfect and put together.
• People can’t last in business and life pretending to be someone they aren’t.
• You can mess up, and it makes you endearing.

 

Video

• 78% of website traffic is now video related.
• People aren’t necessarily interested in what you look like, but are more interested in the content.
• Don’t get stuck in your head and kill the idea before you have time to birth it.
• Video is cheap, so start where you are and improve as you go.
• Test a few platforms and see what is best for you.

 

Periscope

• This can be done live on your iPhone.
• At most, you need a tripod and microphone.
• This is live TV with audience interaction.
• This is connected to your Twitter account.

 

Blab

• This is like Google Hangouts and Periscope.
• Live to air, but viewable post-broadcast.
• This can be consistent and a weekly appointment.
• Production quality is low.
• Uploadable to YouTube and WordPress.

 

Making Your Videos Look Good

Sound

• Ensure the sound is good. This can even trump the video quality.
• Buy a lavalier microphone on Amazon for around $18 that can attach to your shirt.

 

Lighting

• Uneven light in videos crates distrust with the audience.
• Test if your lighting is good, and monitor whether you can see the color of your eyes.
• Face the light and make sure you have even light.
• Avoid backlighting.

 

Camera

• The camera quality on the iPhone 6S is equivalent to a 4K.
• 4K is 4,000 pixels. A lot of movies are recorded on 4K cameras.
• Pixels are the tiny dots on a screen, and the more dots you have the clearer the image.

 

Creating content

• Don’t just upload to YouTube and link on Facebook, as your reach will be low.
• Upload directly to Facebook, and use the native feature on your business page.
• Short videos of 2-3 minutes get more engagement and are seen more than longer videos.
• People don’t care about you and your story; they care about what’s in it for them.
• Get the best content out in the beginning in order to hook the viewer.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Mimika Cooney

Video Creators Hub

 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Kim Ades, who is the founder and president of Frame of Mind Coaching and Journal Engine Software. Kim is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, and mother of five. She is one of North America’s foremost experts on performance through thought mastery and mental focus. Kim uses her unique process of integrating online journaling into her coaching. During the show, we discuss the importance of journaling, overcoming barriers, examining thought, thinking differently, emotional resilience, and why balance is overrated.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about journaling and how you use it in your coaching.
• Is there a barrier to be overcome when it comes to journaling?
• Talk about the separation of a journal for personal life and business.
• How do you help people think differently?
• What is emotional resilience?
• Talk about leadership and how you train people to be leaders.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

• Your thinking determines what you achieve.

 

Kim’s Clients

• Kim coaches highly driven individuals who have three things in common:
• Big goals.
• Make a difference in the world.
• Spirited people who want to live an extraordinary life.

 

Journaling

• This helps get to the source of beliefs, values, behaviors, and patterns.
• If you are not working with a coach, then journaling is a vehicle for personal awareness and insight.

 

Barriers to Overcome

• The contents of the journal are an entry point to starting a dialogue and going deeper.
• Even if what is presented is a rosy version and not quite the truth, it is able to be drilled down to get to the heart of the matter.

 

Personal Versus Business

• There is no separation.
• The way you think in one area of your life will affect how you think in another area.
• Journaling looks at how your thinking impacts your outcomes.
• When your thinking aligns with your goals, your behavior follows.

 

Examining Thought

• This is less about managing behavior and more about shifting thought.
• If you always think what you always thought, you will always get what you always got.
• The belief lays the foundation.

 

Thinking Differently

• Are your beliefs leading you toward your goals?
• Beliefs are inherited from our parents, environment, friends, peers, and the media.
• With gradual shifts and beliefs, people can experience extraordinary outcomes.

 

Emotional Resilience

• This is the ability to bounce back from adversity with great speed and agility.
• This is about leveraging adversity and doing something positive with a negative experience.
• People with a higher degree of emotional resilience will be more likely to succeed at anything they do.

 

Leadership

• Leaders need to understand the role they play in the organization and that their thinking impacts their team more than any other factor.
• Reinforce leaders with coaching skills.
• Leaders are adept at punishing when there is a problem and promoting when there is a success. This creates inequity.
• It’s important to coach your team and not manage it.
• The way a leader sees their team is how they will show up.
• Leaders tell stories about those who are around them. Don’t bring your story into the dynamic of the team.
• There is a correlation to how someone was parented to how they lead.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Frame of Mind Coaching

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Shawn Casemore, who is the author of Operational Empowerment. Shawn is an internationally recognized speaker and writer. He is also the Principal of Management Consultancy at Casemore and Company Inc. After a 17-year corporate career in operation and sales roles, Shawn launched his company in 2008 with the intention of helping CEOs, executives, and business leaders to enable individuals and teams to be more productive, engaged, and participate to accelerate the growth of the organization. During this show, we discuss workplace communication, empowering employees, how to deal with new employees, and the entrepreneurial lifestyle movement. 

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What made you leave the corporate world and become an entrepreneur?
• What do you mean by ‘empowering employees?’
• How will empowering employees increase your competitive advantage?
• How do you have a structure where there’s no manager, but make sure new employees have a direct superior, to have someone to go to?
• Is there a movement toward entrepreneurial lifestyle and independent contracting jobs?
• Why did you decide to write a book that slams operational excellence and leadership as we know it?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

• Your employees are most important, as they are the ones operating your company.
• If you can’t get your employees engaged, then you will never be able to grow your business profitably.
• We have a 1 in 3 million chance we will run into an employee, boss, customer, and supplier that thinks and behaves the same way we do. This explains why there is so much conflict and poor communication in the workplace.

 

Empowering Employees

• The empowerment of employees is all about autonomy.
• The management hierarchy that most businesses are built on was derived from the military, and is now out of date.
• Today’s employees are the most highly educated that have ever been in the workforce throughout history.
• Employees today don’t like being delegated down to, and are smart enough to not have to be.
• Zappos is an example of a company that has changed the structure so there are no managers.

 

Achieving Empowerment

• Put people in cross-functional teams. This helps improve their experience, morale, and communication.
• Get rid of formal management and have team leaders who are self-selected by the teams.
• Create a community of people on the front line, and create the tools to get the communication from those teams to the people that matter.

 

Operational Empowerment

• Every business has a series of operations such as the sales process and marketing systems.
• Empowering people is the key to a competitive advantage because it is the best way to service your customers.

 

New Team Members

• Integrate team members into the interviewing process.
• Skills can be learned, but you can’t train people to ‘fit’ and force people to have the right dynamic.
• Hire for ‘fit’ relative to the community and culture of the team.
• Building a team of people who work well together matters more than them working well with the boss.

 

Entrepreneurial Lifestyle Movement

• The entrepreneurial lifestyle is more attractive to employees, as there is more independence.
• This movement allows people to have multiple streams of income.
• The millennials want the autonomy and variety that is offered by this lifestyle.
• Millennials are resistant to fit inside a mold.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Casemore & Co

Free Chapter

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Michele Summers Colon, who is a physician, surgeon, yoga health coach, author, and overall health expert. Michele is known as the Holistic Podiatrist, and combines the best of Eastern and Western medicine to treat the whole patient and create individualized treatment plans, yoga sequences, and meal plans for her clients and patients. Michele is the creator of the Body Wisdom Coaching Program and believes food is medicine and that yoga, Ayurveda, and mediation are the keys to perfect health. During this episode, we discuss entrepreneur cycles, natural rhythms, breaking the cycle, setting your daily intentions, and how to get healthy again.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• At what point did you decide to expand your entrepreneurial ventures to include health and yoga coaching?
• How does being a holistic podiatrist set you apart from other podiatrists?
• Are you seeing entrepreneurs trying to fuel their bodies with unnatural treatments?
• What are the natural rhythms of the world?
• Talk about the ideal breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• What is your recommendation for turning your mind off at night so you can sleep?
• Talk about yoga and Ayurveda.
• What is the Body Wisdom Coaching Program?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Entrepreneur Cycles

• Entrepreneurs often get into cycles where they need to use one drug to balance another, such as caffeine to wake up and other drugs to fall asleep.
• There is a shift in medicine where patients know what they want with regards to natural treatments.

 

Natural Rhythms

• People in general stay up far too late and need to get back to the natural rhythms of the world.
• The natural rhythms involve the light, darkness, and eating at the right times of the day.
• People often eat too late, which means they stay up later and can’t sleep well due to their bodies still trying to digest food rater than spending time rejuvenating in order to have energy for the following day.
• If you eat at the right time, you will go to bed at the right time, and in turn wake up at the right time.

 

Breaking the Cycle

• Breakfast should provide energy, but not be too heavy.
• Lunch should be the biggest meal of the day and eaten between 12pm-2pm, when digestion is at its strongest.
• Dinner should be lighter and not include greasy foods, and be eaten before the sun goes down, or 7pm.

 

Set Your Daily Intention   

• As soon as you wake up, take a couple of minutes to set your intention for the day.
• Keep your eyes closed and practice deep breathing.
• “Today my intention for the day is to_________.”
• Get a mental picture of how your day will run, and see it happen smoothly.

 

Go To Bed Earlier

• 10pm is the optimum time to go to sleep.
• Turn off all electronics and mind stimulus 1 hour before bed.
• In the last hour, set up a routine. E.g. Having a cup of hot tea, take a bath, or talk to your partner.

 

Getting Healthy Again

• For the majority of us, we were born healthy and knew when to go to sleep and eat.
• We need to get back to being healthy again.

 

Yoga and Ayurveda

• When starting yoga, it is all about breathing properly not necessarily about the complicated poses.
• Going to a class is best, but if you don’t have that option, check out a YouTube video.

 

The Body Wisdom Coaching Program

• This is for women entrepreneurs whose health has been put on the backburner.
• The program is for anyone who doesn’t have enough energy and isn’t feeling the best and is stuck in a rut.
• This is a 10-week program that goes through the process of changing one habit per week.
• The same 10 habits are for everyone, but each person starts in a different place.
• The first habit is “earlier, lighter dinner.”

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Dr. Michele

 

 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Glenn the Geek, who is known as America’s Horse Husband. Glenn is a full time podcaster and the founder of the Horse Radio Network. During the show, we discuss starting a podcasting network, sponsorship, challenges, consistency, show length, and pitching sponsors.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about your journey from zero listeners to landing big sponsors.
• How long did it to make your first sponsorship dollar in podcasting?
• At what point should someone approach sponsors?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Sponsorship

• The first sponsor came in about 3-6 months after the first podcast.
• When selling sponsorships, you aren’t selling download ‘numbers;’ you are selling the 20% of people who are actively engaged in a niche topic.
• Podcast sponsorship is not a quick fix, but rather about building a brand over time.
• The audience still needs to hear a product or service being spoken about multiple times before they engage.
• In order to get a sponsor, you have to be consistent and never miss an episode.

 

Challenges

• ‘Horse people’ are 2-3 years behind people in technology.
• It took 3 years before Glenn was able to quit his job and podcast full time.
• Podcasting isn’t the best way to grow your list or get effective sales, but if you do it right, you will build your brand and increase your creditability.
• The biggest misconception about people who work for themselves is that they are able to work less. Glenn puts in 60-80 hours per week.

 

Consistency

• The only reason listeners continue to listen to your show is because they like you. If they don’t like the host, they won’t listen.
• When you start a show, there is an unwritten contract between you and your listener.
• If you miss episodes, you have broken the contract you made with the listener in the first episode.
• Listeners feel personally violated when you break the consistency contract.

 

Show Length

• You are also contracting with the listener for the length of time your show is going to be.
• If your show is good enough, people will allot the time for it.

 

Approaching Sponsors

• Glenn doesn't sell based on CPM but rather a flat rate per episode.
• When going after a sponsor, it should be the mid-size and smaller companies who need your help to grow.
• Include the sponsors as part of the content in your show, and offer them an interview, regular segments, or a way to provide tips.
• Tradeshows in your niche are a great way to approach sponsors.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Horse Radio Network

Stable Scoop Radio Show

The 2010 Radio Show  

Horse Tip Daily

Tack and Habit 

PodFest

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview David Ralph, who is a financial trainer-turned-full time podcaster. During the show, David and I discuss podcasting philosophy and freestyling, the art of the interview, releasing average shows, self-editing, new and noteworthy hype, and longevity in podcasting.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about your podcasting philosophy and why you like ‘freestyle.’
• Do you have any ‘I don’t know what to ask next’ moments?
• What are your tips for staying inspired and keeping up with the podcasting workload?
• Talk about the concept of the ‘Avatar.’
• Talk about how you introduce your podcast guests and how that affects the show.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

Conversational Podcasts

• Conversation develops into relationships, and then into business and sales.
• The true value of a podcast comes not just from talking but building relationship bridges.
• As a podcaster, you should treat interviewing as an art.
• To have a conversational interview, you have to really listen.

 

Taking Control

• As an interviewer, it is not just about asking questions but also taking control of the interview.
• Consider making a lengthy introduction in order to tell your guest’s story before they get to it.
• Guests often tell stories that they have told hundreds of times before. If you tell the story for them, then they have nothing to ‘hide behind’ and are forced to provide new content.

 

Releasing Average Shows

• Releasing an episode you aren’t happy with shows the journey.
• The end product of a show is different for every listener.
• Listeners will still find value in every episode, even if it isn’t a home run.

 

Self-Edit & Improve

• It is possible to train yourself to speak in a fluent and engaging manner instead of taking the ‘ums and ahs’ out in post-production.
• Fine-tuning your super-talent will separate you from the masses.
• David listens to each of his shows twice in order to improve his presentation.
• If you want to get better at your own podcast, you need to listen back to your own shows and pick out the faults.
• If you’re happy with your first podcast episode, you probably waited too long to launch.

 

New and Noteworthy

• This is overhyped in iTunes and often gives new shows a false boost.
• A successful podcaster is someone who continues to podcast past the first 8 weeks.

 

The Avatar

• There’s a lot of work in finding your avatar, but not a lot in understanding yourself.
• The key failing is that people are trained to go for the ‘avatar’ character.
• A lot of podcasters don’t look at themselves, and instead create content for others, which leads to them being bored as a host or without subject breadth.

 

Introducing the Guests                                                                                   

• Introducing the guest sets the tone for the entire interview and shows that the host is in control.
• The last two words of an introduction should be the guest’s name.
• Take the bio and replace with ‘he’ or ‘she,’ and make it exciting.
• Think about how the professional late night talk show hosts introduce their guests.

 

Common Problems

• Podcasters sounding bored and formulaic.
• Podcasters seem to base their presentation on new media rather than old media.

 

David’s Tips

• Make your show as generic as possible so it doesn’t date. Can it be listened to in 5 years and still be relevant?
• You have to gain the skills of becoming a host before you gain the skills of becoming a guest.
• Hosts lead the conversation. Guests leave gaps the host can step into.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Join Up Dots

Podcasters Mastery (Advanced) 

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Jeffrey Goodman, who has a long history of business successes including life as a fashion advertising photographer and developing a private practice in energy medicine. During this episode, we discuss the four communication styles and the four seasons of business.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What are the four communication styles?
• Talk about the four seasons of businesses and the psychology.
• Why does more money and success happen in the fall season?
• Talk about businesses as ‘living beings.’

 

Key Lessons Learned:

The 4 Communication Styles

1. Visual
2. Audio
3. Kinesthetic
4. Read/Write

 

Communication

• In seeking to understand, we need to know how a person best likes to communicate.
• People have a natural tendency toward a primary and secondary communication type.

 

Communication and Business

• Often, employer/employee misunderstandings are due to different communication styles.
• Figure out how people communicate and how people learn.
• Just because a certain type of communication isn’t your natural way of doing something doesn’t mean you leave it out; it just means you need better tools or to outsource assistance.

 

The 4 Seasons of Business

• The seasons in business don’t match with the season of the year. This is philosophical rather than literal.
• Knowing the seasons help you leverage based on what season you are in.
  
  

Spring

• This is the period of getting a business started and planting the seeds.

 

Summer

• This is when you see the results of planting the seeds in spring.

Fall

• This is the harvest season, when business becomes successful.
• This is when all the money and success comes in.
• Just because it’s fall for your business doesn’t mean it’s fall in someone else’s business.

 

Winter

• The last thing to do when you’re on snow and ice is to have your foot on the pedal.
• Business is slow, so there is more time to relax and trust in your business and that you have done enough work to carry you through.
• Take time off from harvesting to take stock of the last three seasons.
• Leverage the quiet times to rebuild.
• This is a great time to give your website an annual makeover.

 

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Career Hearted

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview professional clairvoyant, Katy Bray, whose direct and loving approach has been game-changing for those seeking to achieve the next level of success, greater confidence, and authenticity. As a clairvoyant, Katy is exceptionally well-versed in transformative techniques for accessing information and fast-forwarding growth for her clients. During this episode, Katy and I discuss being a Vedic Master, clairvoyance, Kundalini Reiki, integrative nutrition, how intuition increases sales, and why some people stop at a certain level of success.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• What is a Vedic Master?
• Explain what it means to be clairvoyant.
• What is Reiki?
• Talk about being an integrative nutrition practitioner.
• How does intuition increase sales?
• Why do some people stop at a certain level of success?
• Talk about your business and how you work with clients.

 

Key Lessons Learned:

• A Vedic Master is someone who is certified in Ayurveda (science of life), yoga, and meditation.
• Some of the events we go through are not solely so that we overcome them but so that we can have deep compassion for others.

 

Clairvoyance

• Clairvoyant means ‘clear seeing.’ Katy’s ability is to see in the sixth sensory world.
• When working with a client, Katy is able to see things in the past that hold them back, as well as see predictions.

 

Reiki

• This is the energy of unconditional love that uses a healing modality.
• Kundalini Reiki comes from the earth.

 

Integrative Nutrition  

• This is not a clinical study of nutrition but rather the study of a variety of diets and ways people eat.
• Integrative nutrition is also the study of different bodies in comparison to each other with regards to diets.
• This is about seeing yourself as a whole person and intuitively listening to your body.
• Our bodies are wise, but we spend a lot of time shutting off the signals instead of listening.

 

How Intuition Increases Sales

• This is a ‘knowing’ you have on some level such as a ‘gut feeling.’
• Sales is about building relationships so when you can intuit where a person is on the following positions:

1.Feeling like an expert.

2. Having a level playing field.
3. Dumbing it down.

• Once you figure out what position a customer takes, you can engage in the appropriate way.
• Intuition shortens the listen-learn-love process and speeds it up.

 

Stopping at a Certain Level of Success

• A lot of people feel guilty about achieving a certain level of success.
• Many people have a mindset of ‘tribal energy’ such as family of origin in your family’s money DNA.
• Our unconscious brain tells us that if we move outside the accepted level of success you can start to feel like an outcast in the ‘tribe.’
• Beyond the mindset is where the set point starts, and unravel it from the whole body’s energy system.

 

Katy’s Business Model

• Most clients are one-on-one via Skype, as well as corporate coaching.
• Katy does everything from psychic strategy to assisting in the hiring process.

 

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The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Katy Bray

Lead With the Lights On

Listen, Learn, Love (book)