The Truth about Making Money with Your Podcast

Welcome back to the Mindset of podcasting. I'm so happy that you're here today. We are going to dive right in. We are going to talk about the truth about making money with your podcast. Now, I get a lot of people asking, so I want to start a podcast.

How can I get sponsors and how can I make money and do subscriptions and do all the things and I kind of have to put on the breaks with them. That's not why we start a podcast. You do not start a podcast to make money. I mean, it's nice if you can, but it takes a while. You have to grow it just like your business.

You have to grow it in order to make money. So when you start your podcast, it is mostly to lead people to your offers. So whatever you are selling, a product, a service, a course, coaching, whatever you are selling, that is where you're going to be leading them. Because while it would be great to make money from your podcast, the main reasons that we are going to start a podcast and I want you to really think about this. If your main reason to start a podcast is to make money, you probably shouldn't start one podcasts don't rake in tons of dough from sponsors.

I mean, they don't rake in tons of dough from sponsors or affiliate links or things like that. The way they bring money into your business is by people connecting with you on your podcast and then buying your stuff. That is where we're going to focus. So before I get into the actual ways that you can make money with your podcast as it grows, I want to start with what you're doing when you first start your podcast, the three things that you should focus on instead of money when you first start your podcast. So number one is expanding your network.

That is why you're podcasting. You want to expand your network. You do this by having guests on your shows or by being guest on other podcasts. And this is how you will meet a lot of new people and get in front of a lot of people's audiences by being guest on your show and being a guest on their show. So you'll have natural conversations with them.

And this is going to allow you to network, connect more with them. And then when they're talking to maybe one of their clients or somebody they know and they mentioned maybe something that you do they can refer you. This is going to build your network out so that you have more people referring you because you're going to trust somebody more if somebody you know is referring them. So building your network and connecting more with people is a great way to do that and to get in front of more people who hopefully want to buy from you. Number two is you want to showcase your authority in your field.

So you're going to be talking about what you're an expert at. You're going to be giving tons of free value. Give it all away. Give away all the free value that you can. Because here's the thing.

When you're giving amazing free value that is changing people's lives, they're going to start thinking, wow, I wonder what she will give me if I pay her. Because if you're getting that much value for free, wow, when I pay her, it's going to be amazing. So you want to become the authority or the expert in what you're talking about. And you do that by having episodes that give a lot of value. So don't just get on and wing it.

Maybe have a game plan of exactly what you're going to be talking about and how you can give value or an action plan or something tangible that they can take away. And then three, you're going to bring in more leads. So here's the thing. You're going to reach new people who maybe only listen to podcasts. Maybe they're not on social media.

Instagram TikTok is not their thing. But they love listening to podcasts on the way to work while they're doing dishes. I know I do. I learn a lot from podcasts. And I'm actually going to tell you I hired a business coach because I heard her on a podcast.

So it does happen. It does happen. And you're going to be getting in front of new people who never would have heard of you otherwise. And bringing in leads is the main point of your podcast at this point. Bringing in leads, expanding your network and showing how you are in authority.

Those are the three things that you want to focus on with your podcast. Your podcast is essentially another free marketing tool. Think of it like social media. Like this is another way for you to get your message out and to build that know like and trust factor. Because people buy from somebody they know like and trust.

People don't see you once in what you're offering and buy. I mean, maybe once in a while that does happen. But I know from when I'm buying things or thinking about getting a coach, I kind of stalk that person. I want to know more about them. I want to know what they like.

I want to know how they run their business. I want to know all the things. So you can do that on your podcast while you're giving that free value. Also tell stories. Tell stories about who you are, what you love to do, things like that.

Let people get to know you a little bit better. You have kids. Tell a funny story about your kids. You did something stupid in your business. Let people know that you're human and they can relate to you because they want to relate to you.

I cannot stress it enough that your podcast is going to be another way for you to tell your story and to give value, okay? We are not looking at it as a money making machine. That is not what is going to happen. Now if you do grow your podcast tons, which is amazing and exactly what you want to do, it does take a few years. You can then look into sponsors and ads and things like that.

Now, reaching out to sponsors and ads is not my specialty. I'm going to tell you that right now. I do have some clients who do have sponsors and ads, but they actually have an ads team that takes care of that stuff. So not my specialty. I don't know prices, I don't know how to reach out to them or anything.

It's not something I say that I'm an expert in. That's not what this podcast is about. I am not an expert in that. So I would refer you to somebody else if somebody came to me. And that's another thing.

While we're on that topic of with your podcast, if somebody asks you something and you're not an expert, refer them to somebody who is, especially if you're building your network and meeting new people like guests and stuff. Or you can refer them to that podcast episode with the guest who is an expert. That's another great thing to do. If somebody asks a question, you can answer it, but also be like, I dive more into this in episode 37 of my podcast. Go listen to it.

So you can refer people to your podcast when they ask you a question. So if you are just starting out, here are a few ways that you can make a little extra cash with your podcast. It's not going to be a ton of money, okay? So one, besides leading them to your offers, products, courses, coaching, whatever it is, that's definitely number one. Number one, lead them to your stuff.

Number two, use your affiliate links if you use a program that is associated with what you talk about on your podcast. Like if you don't talk about flowers, having an affiliate link for a flower shop is a little weird. So make it things that are actually related to what your listeners would need. Like, my podcast is about podcasting. So I have ads for my programs.

I have ads for my affiliate links like Descript, which is a video editing process, wave, which is audiogram creation tool. Like things that people who are podcasts would actually use. And with these affiliate links, like I just said, I have ads for them. I create ads. I say them, I scripted it out and say it, and then I put my affiliate link in the show notes so that you can make an affiliate link money from it.

And this is a great way for people to hear about your affiliate links. And you can put these ads in the beginning of your podcast or the middle. I don't suggest the end. People usually stop once they hear music at the end. But create ads yourself and put them in there.

You don't have to have ads from sponsors and stuff. Use your affiliate link ads. Create ads for your own programs and stuff and put them in your episode. Another way to make some money is doing a subscription service. So this is where you give extra content every month and people pay a price from it, which it can range anywhere from a dollar to, I don't know, whatever you want to be.

But usually people start off small with $5 a month. And maybe you get episodes without ads. Maybe you get extra content like you do an extra episode for them every month, like just something extra that they can get more value from. You got to make it worth them paying the $5 a month. What are they going to get extra from you that makes it worth it?

And these are on things like Patreon does this, there is Apple subscription, and I know Anchor does this now too. You can create a subscription or membership site on Anchor also, so maybe you have time to do an extra episode a month and you can put that in there. Maybe you have merchandise or you sell a product and maybe you can give them something extra if they sign up every month. The sky is the limit on these subscription services, so it's whatever you feel like doing, but that's a little way to make a little extra money each month. I had a client who actually asked their friends to record ads for their products and services that aligned with the podcast and she just had them pay like twenty five dollars to fifty dollars to run the ads for a month, something that doesn't cost that much.

Maybe a friend of yours who is also an entrepreneur is willing to run an ad in your podcast. You can ask them to do that. But I'm going to reiterate very much right now. It is to get people to know like and trust you. Do not focus so much on the making the money.

Focus on giving value and then having a clear call to action where they can go to find out more about you, your course, your program, or whatever it is you are selling. If you aren't in this to make money, like, it's going to take a while. It takes a while. It took a while to build up your social media. It took a while to build up your business.

It takes a while. And I'm not saying you can't make money from your podcast. I am definitely not saying that before. I'm mostly talking about when you're first starting out, when you're first starting your podcast. But yeah, you can definitely make money from your podcast if you stick with it, if you continue to give value and you stay consistent.

So that's my little spiel for today about making money with your podcast. I just wanted to be really honest and crystal clear about when you're first starting out, that it's not just going to happen overnight. It's just not. So I just want to let you know that. Thank you for listening to this episode.

I am keeping this one really short because I'm on a time crunch today and I'm trying to batch record and get them all done. That is another great tip. Batch record your episodes. Batch record them so you can get them all done. I'm doing all of mine for February today.

It is January 24 and I will have all of February's done by the end of today. And I'm really happy about that. So if you want to keep up with your podcast, batch record, get them all done in one day so you don't have to worry about them. That's my other little tip. Thank you so much for listening and I will talk with you next week.