In the past month or so, I’ve been experimenting with something that grew my podcast downloads by 21% and it wasn’t paid ads. See, the best way to grow your podcast is to get in front of other podcast audiences. With that in mind, I decided to try some Podcast Swaps, and they’ve been working…
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I had the pleasure of talking about Podcast Liftoff and why I help podcasters over on the Go Solo blog. Check it out!
Starting a business has never been easier. We can now sign up for a free ConvertKit account, get a nice-looking landing page, and even start selling products in mere minutes. Because of that, it can be tempting to jump into “making” the business without thinking about why your business exists. According to Cara Chace, that is a recipe for disaster. Listen on to learn why. Plus, in Build Something More, Cara tells us about her previous career as a special agent.
Top Takeaways
You need to define why you’re doing what you’re doing. This will be the guide for your decision-making. And here’s an important tip: define success in a metric other than money. When you feel like you’re in the “messy middle” and don’t know what to do, create a brain dump of everything you’re doing in your business. Keep what you need and eliminate the rest. It helps to ask, “Would the CEO of my company be doing that 10 years from now?” Don’t rely on someone else’s playbook for your own business because they usually have a WOW factor that you don’t have yet.
Show Notes:
Cara Chase Cara on Instagram Cara on Pinterest How You Can Do $10,000/Hr Work Join the Creator Crew Sponsored by: Nexcess | TextExpander | LearnDash
They say it’s easier to sell to current customers than to get new ones. It makes sense, right? Those customers have entered into a relationship with you, have shown they trust you, and have proved their open to giving you money. The same thing can be said of sponsors. Many people forget that sponsorship is…
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I want you to think about when you first started your career. Maybe you’re there right now. What you need as far as living arrangements go isn’t a big house with a lot of maintenance. You’re just starting your career. Maybe you’re focused on work; you’re not spending a lot of time at your living place because you’re going out with coworkers and friends and partners. You need an apartment. This serves as a place for you to keep your stuff, make some meals, and rest your head.
A house is for when you have more people living with you — a family — and a home office. It’s when your career is in full swing and you have time to do those home maintenance projects, or at least the money to pay for somebody to replace that $10,000 HVAC (yes this happened to me recently).
The hosted versus self-hosted being renting an apartment vs. owning a home analogy has been done to death. But it’s the perfect framing for creators. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Most creators are at the proverbial beginning of their careers; they’re probably not making all of their money from being a creator. Maybe they don’t have the technical know-how to own a house. What they need is a simple place to sell their creations. This is why renting an apartment that is using some hosted SaaS tool is better than owning a house that is using a self-hosted solution like WordPress.
“Get a real job.” “If you’re going to start a business, you need to grow.” “Hustle.” If you’re starting a business, you’ve probably heard this “advice.” You’ve also probably heard that you need to do exactly what someone else did. But all of that is poison to our creator businesses. And Dr. Shante Cofield has the antidote: Moar You. If you want to know the importance of values-based marketing, how to be vulnerable enough to grow, and the seasonality of life, this episode is for you. My conversation with Shante is real — and it’s important for anyone who works for themselves to hear.
Top Takeaways:
On imposter syndrome: We need to get objective and trust the data. It’s easy to get down on yourself, not want to brag and feel like you’re not the real deal. But you need to listen to what people are telling you. If you help them, you are helpful. It’s easy to want to talk implementation of your new business or content because that’s concrete. But you need to define your values first. Without values, you are directionless. On values: value-based marketing is not shouting your opinion on Twitter. Values are verbs. They are things you do, vs. the things they say. They are how you build your best life, and they need to be at the core of your business.
Show Notes:
Shante Cofield Shante on Instagram The Bridge Framework by Chris Lema Join the Creator Crew Sponsored by: Nexcess | LearnDash
As you start to pursue sponsors, especially those you don’t have a personal relationship with, you will surely be asked for more information. A great way to convey that information, as well a look professional, organized, and ready to accept sponsors, is a pitch deck (or a sponsor deck). Today, let’s look at what a…
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My latest piece for The Podcast Host is up and in it, I explore using the iPhone as a native Webcam further. I also dive into what this could mean for podcasters, as video podcasting becomes increasingly popular.
If you create content that will eventually move to a video-forward platform, having a good camera is important. For most people, their iPhone is their best camera.
In fact, Apple first introduced 4K video in their iPhone 6 line, all the way back in 2015!
As a podcaster, you can start integrating good videos into your recording process without having to spend a ton of money on a fancy 4K camera.
Today’s episode is a little bit different: I have a guest, Kim Coleman, and we’re going to build a WordPress Membership site. But instead of just picking plugins, we’re doing to do it as a draft. That means we each take turns selecting a plugin or tool, and we cannot choose anything previously selected. It should be a lot of fun!
You can see all of the selections and get links at https://wp-review.castos.com/membership-draft
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Now that iOS 16 is out, and macOS Ventura is right around the corner, I decided to install the macOS Beta and take the new Continuity Camera features for a spin.
If you’re curious about using your iPhone as a webcam without 3rd party apps, check out this video.
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