But What if You Pick the Wrong Goal

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If you are a premium subscriber, you got to read about my bike ride where I said, "Changing my goal gave me more energy."

Serve First

This week I ran into something that makes me think you have to be careful what goal you pick. I was working with a client who has been podcasting for four years, so I am now trying to help them with their show. I asked them why they started it, and like many podcasters, they are doing it to "pay it forward." Often I hear things like, "If I can help one person, it's worth it," and that's a beautiful thing because at the heart of every good podcaster is a servant.

You Can Make Money With a Podcast?

So what was the problem now? This particular podcaster had just found out that you can make money with your podcast. After podcasting for the love of helping people for four years, she changed her goal to wanting to make money. The problem was that for many years, she had not built an audience that she could monetize.

As I always say, "You don't monetize a podcast, you monetize an audience." Because they weren’t making any money with their podcast, even though a few months ago they were happy doing the show, now that they weren’t making any money, they were ready to hang it up.

Where previously I said, "By choosing a different goal, it gave me energy," if your goal is monetization in podcasting, that may actually suck the life out of you. It's not that you can't make money with your podcast. I know plenty of people that make enough money to pay for their media hosting and maybe a little extra.

Making a Living With Your Podcast

The problem is when you want to make a living with your podcast, that is a completely different picture, and most people don't even factor in the fact that you have to pay taxes. So 30% of that income is going to go to Uncle Sam.

Money or Babies?

I often joke that babies are the arch nemesis of podcasters. They're so needy. Everything is about them: feed me, wipe my butt, etc. I wonder sometimes if the second greatest enemy of podcasters is monetization, because I watched it suck the life out of someone who loved serving their audience.

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Podpage June Town Hall
Lots of new features are here, and more or coming

Every month I ask my audience a question for the School of Podcasting. Here is this month’s question:

This may be the question that I get no response as it takes some thought. I’m going to leave it open (rather than “lead the witness”).

How do you measure your podcast success that is not downloads. I need your answer by June 26th. Don’t forget to tell us a little bit about your show.

So it might be “This is (your name) from (name of show) at (website url) where we (tagline of show). The measurement I use that is not downloads is _______ and why...

Ready to Answer? Click Here

Elsie Escobar Thinks Video Isn’t the White Knight of Podcasting

People brought this up last week on Ask the Podcast Coach. Hall of Famer (and friend) Elsie Escobar post a piece about how the rush to video may be the same as the rush to audiograms. Which at one point was a way to grow your show - until it wasn’t.

Read it here.

I Am Torn. I Love Her Opinions But I Really Tune in For…

So apparently the YouTube algo thinks I like boobs. Most men do. How did we get people to go to the moon? We told them there were boobs up there.

Anyway, Snarkyjay is a YouTuber who spews opinions on the entertainment industry. They are great thoughts that make me think “hmmmmmm.”

But the host must have a designer make all of her outfits as they all expertly spotlight her boobs (I know this makes me sound like a creep, but I’m stating the obvious).

So as I’m staring at her cleavage (think Elvira of YouTube) my brain is scolding myself, “Hey Dave her eyes are up there.” But I also know that she knows that men will do anything (including subscribe to a YouTube channel) for Boobs.

So I kind of think, “Aw, she is sinking to men’s lowest common denominator…” and on the other side, I think she knows that and laughs all the way to the bank.

Flightcast

I can’t remember if I told you but I got a demo/interview with Rox Codes of Flightcast podcasting’s first video first hosting company.

Is Podcasting Cooked?

I’m putting this here to show two things:
1. I respect Justin Jackson and Jeremy Enns

2. Word of mouth works (as I’ve had a few people mention this talk to me).

This is a talk from the Podcast Show in London. I wll be watching this as soon as I press send on this newsletter.

What’s Coming In The Future

I’m reading the book “Save the cat: The last book you will ever need on screenwriting” and it has some great points about storytelling and one is simply asking, “What makes your movie different?” so I’m turning that on podcasters.

Need Help With Your Podcast?

Whether you’re just starting or a seasoned podcaster, the School of Podcasting can help. Helping podcasters is what I do, and I’ve been doing it since 2005

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