Money Myth: Don't Ask To See The Money!

There are five reasons as we found out in the last episode why people are gun shy to jump into the podcasting space. These reasons or 'myths' can truly hold people back from being seen as THE go-to expert. Those myths are:

• Money myth 
• Competition myth
• Content myth 
• Tech myth 
• Time myth

In this episode Carl unpacks the first myth, the Money Myth.

Check out one of my favourite podcasts, A Healthier You, Little By Little:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1626916

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Carl Richards

 Carl Richards  00:00

Hey there, it's Carl Richards and I want to tell you about one of the podcasts I listen to on a regular basis. It's called A Healthier You Little by Little by Cindy Little. Cindy has years of experience in the health and wellness industry and her show looks at health issues of today. Everything from stubborn weight loss, lack of energy, lack of sleep, motivation and accountability tips too. So, shape up with A Healthier You Little by Little with Cindy Little, you'll find the link to the podcast in the show notes. 

Welcome to Podcast Solutions Made Simple. It's the podcast that's all about podcasting! I'm your host, Carl Richards. You know, in my 25 plus years in the broadcast and speaking world, I've noticed a lot of overwhelm when it comes to podcasting. And I'm here to tell you, it doesn't have to be that way. If you're a coach, consultant, or other subject matter expert, and the thought of starting a podcast seems too technical, too confusing, too time consuming, or just way out of your reach, then this is the podcast for you. On this show, we give you the tools, tips and techniques to run a kick ass show and share stories from people who have been there, done that and are enjoying massive success with their own shows. Oh, and if you're an existing podcaster this show is also for you. The mics are up. So let's dive into today's episode. 

Thank you and welcome to another edition of the Podcast Solutions Made Simple podcast. We're about simple solutions to not only launch your podcast, but also maintain your podcast, which then in turn allows you to be seen as the go to expert. So when people think of people think of you and your industry, they automatically think of you in your industry, not your competition, they think of you. Last time we talked about why podcasting as a marketing tool for business. And we covered a number of different things on that. If you didn't catch the episode, you can go back and listen to it. There's a lot of great things there that we covered. And I encourage you to go back and give it a listen or even just to review. If there are some reasons there as to you know, some of the things that you needed to know about that were the benefits of having a podcast. 

So today, I want to jump into the first of the five myths that are stopping you from really being the go to expert or the five myths rather that are stopping you from being seen as the go to expert. These are the five reasons why people don't launch podcasts. There are probably more than five reasons why people don't launch podcasts. But we're going to focus on the top five, and they are in no particular order, by the way. So let's get started and talk about the Money Myth. 

Now the Money Myth, quite simply is you don't see the ROI in it, or you don't see the value in having a podcast. I know when I was trying to figure out if I needed a podcast that the Money Myth came up for me. It came up in a different way, though, because what happens when we start talking about the Money Myth, people automatically think about the Money Myth in the sense of "is my podcast going to make me money? And how much is it going to cost me to get this show up and running and maintain it?" So we look at money in a couple of different ways we look at it in the sense of is it going to cost me a lot of money? Or how much is it going to cost me to launch the show? And what's it going to make me? How much money is the podcast going to bring in. And that's where we get into not seeing the value or the ROI in it. 

But let me put it to you in a couple of other different perspectives as well. If we're seeing podcasting as a marketing tool, think of all the other marketing tools that you use on a regular basis that are an investment. I don't like using the term "cost you money". I think that "costs you money" has a very negative connotation to it. So let's think of it as you're launching a podcast, what's the investment to start it? And what's the investment to maintain that show? Now that varies, of course, when we start looking at it in those terms, and we look at other marketing tools that we already use on a regular basis, let's just create a short list here of what some of those other tools are the top one I can think of that people use today. 

And as a matter of fact, most businesses wouldn't function today without this would be what your website. Your website, I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm almost 100% certain your website isn't free. You pay for something or you have an investment that goes along with that website, even if it's just your hosting. Let's say for example, that you are web savvy and you built your own website good for you. It's not something I could do. Just like I wouldn't fix my own car for the same reason. I'm just not tech savvy that way when it comes to doing something like building a website, but let's say that you did at some point you're still paying for hosting. You might even be paying for maintenance. There might be things that you need to do from time to time with that website, which means you have to reach out to a developer, or some type of web support system or service and that will cost you as well. Okay? 

Let's take it a step further though and say, You know what, you're like me, and you didn't create your own website, and somebody created it for you with your content, under your advisement of what you want it to look like, I would venture to say that website was a bit of an investment anywhere from $500, low end, and I'm speaking in Canadian terms, by the way, but even for people who are listening around the world, I think you'll understand these numbers for sure. $500 on the low end, into the $1000s. And I don't think there's really a limit, I know people that have spent 10s of 1000s of dollars on website creation. 

Okay, so that's an investment. What are some of the other ways that people market their business? Well, one of the easiest ways that I can think of is how many times a year and maybe prior to the pandemic, in 2020, you were doing a lot of networking, in person networking, going to events, even speaking engagements, no doubt, you probably printed off on a regular basis or had printed business cards. Now, that's not a huge investment. But you might be spending, you might have invested $1,000, or a couple of $1,000 a year, depending on how much marketing you were doing and how many business cards you needed. I know people who would print 50,000 at a time, and they'd go through them in a year. So similarly, if you're printing even a few $100, say, $500 with the business cards every year, that's an investment. Are you getting an ROI from every single business card you put out there? I'm guessing, probably not. Your- as a matter of fact, most business cards, I know this, because I have, I still have a deck of them from when I was just doing speaker training of people that I connected with and reached out to and I probably have a stack of about 400. Some of them went on my email list. Some of them didn't. But in that stack of 400, you think of if if each one had had a unit price of 10 cents, or 15 cents, or whatever it is that's a that's a quite a bit. That's quite a bit of money just in business cards just for the ones I've collected, right? 

What are some of the other tools that you possibly have looked at as far as investing? How about, how about this one Facebook ads or LinkedIn ads, Facebook ads or LinkedIn ads. I know people who will spend anywhere from a few $100 a month on Facebook or LinkedIn ads upwards to several $1,000 in the course of a year into the 10s of 1000s of dollars a year for Facebook ads. Does that have an ROI that you can absolutely track? 100%? Well, possibly, let me put it to you this way? Do you control the algorithm? And do you control? The- the model at which the social media platforms and we'll use Facebook and LinkedIn as an example, do you get to control that? Of course you don't you give Facebook for example, you give them X amount of dollars? They say here's what we're going to give you in return. And you hope that it does that Facebook ad does exactly what you want it to do. I have known people that have run Facebook ads and gotten zero return on their investment. 

I remember when I ran Facebook ads, and I'll be honest, I didn't spend a lot of money on them. But let's say it was a few $100 in a year, you would hope if you're spending even as little as a few $100 in a year, you're getting something from that. I didn't. I got zero result from that. A podcast will allow you if positioned properly to do that. So there is ROI from the podcast. Let's not think of it though as ROI as "is the podcast going to make me money?" Because this is one of the misconceptions that people have. It doesn't matter what other- what other marketing tools you're using, really, and whether or not they're bringing in any kind of money for you. Yes, there is a certain level of importance to that. The bigger part here that I want to focus on is are you positioning yourself, are you positioning the podcast in such a way that it doesn't make money as a standalone marketing tool, but it creates revenue, or drives clients to your website to your products and services, which then allows you to build your revenue? Because that's the misconception. 

People will ask, "Will my podcast make money? Or how much money will my podcast make?" We have to think of it in different terms we have to think of not how my podcast is going to make money, but how my podcast is going to generate revenue for my business. Okay, so not "is it going to make me money?" Is it going to bring the prospects that I want? Is it going to put me in front of the prospects that I want? So when you start to see the ROI, when you start to see that it's not about the money, it's not about the money, it's about positioning you as the go to expert. I know people who have spent hundreds if not 1000s of dollars on publishing a book. Sometimes 10s of 1000s of dollars to be a published author. And I can almost guarantee you that that book, unless you're a celebrated author, or celebrated thought leader, like Deepak Chopra, John Assaraf, or somebody with celebrity status, like Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, those individuals, they will most likely make money from being a published author. Most other people will recognize, though, that a book is a marketing tool and positions you as the go to expert because it elevates your credibility. 

Okay, so think of it that way. Think of, I have a podcast or I'm going to launch a podcast, that podcast isn't going to make me money per se. But what it's going to do is allow me to create more touch points for my ideal client, which will then allow them to develop a Know Like and Trust factor and enough of one. So at the right time, within the next calendar year, it's likely they will reach out to me and say, "Yes, I need what you have, let's have a conversation." Here's another way I look at it too. And and I want to leave this thought with you. 

As far as myth one goes being the Money Myth, if that podcast brought you, one client, one client. And again, if you're a coach, and a consultant, or a subject matter expert, you know, the value of one client, whether it's a few $100, it's probably higher than that, I'm assuming it's probably into the several 1000s of dollars, if that podcast brought you one client per year, is that enough of an ROI? And I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that your podcast, if positioned properly and launched effectively, will bring you probably more like 2, 3, 4 clients, maybe even one per month. And maybe even as you grow out that podcast, it might be one prospecting call per week. That's a solid prospect. So there's the ROI. 

So the Money Myth, you're not seeing the ROI. And if you have any questions about this, by the way, or if you're ready to find out more. Let's have a conversation. We have four more myths to go through. By the way, the other four myths the Competition Myth, the Content Myth, the Tech Myth, and the Time Myth. Plus, we're talking to people who have busted through those myths over the next nine episodes Cindy Little will share, in our next episode, how she busted through the Time Myth, make sure you join us to hear Cindy story. 

And thank you for joining us today. Special thanks to our producer Aidan burrows, our production lead Kieran Doherty, our music guru, Nathan Simon and the person who works the arms, all of our arms actually my trusty assistant, Stephanie Gafoor for if you like what you heard today, leave us a comment and a review. And be sure to share it with your friends. If you don't like what you heard, please share it with your enemies. 

Oh, and if you have a suggestion of someone who you think would make an amazing guest on the show, let us know about it. Drop us an email. AskCarl@Carlspeaks.ca. Don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter as well. You'll find all those links in the show notes. And if you're ready to take the plunge and join the over 3 million people who have said yes to podcasting, let's have a conversation. We'll show you the simplest way to get into the podcasting space because after all, we're Podcast Solutions Made Simple. We'll catch you next time!