A few weeks ago, I had the absolute pleasure of talking with Omar and Nicole – a total dynamic-duo who are intensely passionate about podcasting and delivering practical, actionable lessons to entrepreneurs around the world. These guys are real rockstars and between them have heaps of experience as educators in business building.

They are on a mission to revolutionise business education and you’ve got to say that they’re making some serious in-roads! Their podcast, the $100 MBA show, gets 50,000 downloads a day! And it features real experts giving real advice on how you and your business can succeed!     

I’ve been a huge fan of the $100 MBA show for a while now and have learned so much from these guys, so I was thrilled to chat with them so that they could impart some of their considerable wisdom onto you too!   

“I think if you’re just getting started with your podcast you should do everything yourself. You have to understand the inner workings of every aspect of the podcast.”

Here’s some of the wisdom they shared:

How much help do I need to produce a podcast?

As established podcasters, they’ve got a small team of people around them who help to take care of the finer details – which is no surprise because they produce seven podcast episodes a week! But it wasn’t always like that. In the beginning it was just the two of them – Omar was the host and Nicole was the show’s producer. I was really interested in talking to them about this because it’s an important point for all podcasters to consider: Do you need to hire people to help out and if so when?

Well, as Omar explained to me, it’s so important to figure out how every aspect of the podcast works, so probably important to start off on your own. That means that when you do come to take on help, you properly supervise them and oversee the operation from a better position.  

“We have adjusted the show as we grow. We’ve made some changes, added some content; we’ve changed different themes of the show. We experimented a lot. Sometimes things work and things don’t.”

Can I succeed from a failed podcast?

Things haven’t always been plain-sailing for Omar and Nicole. They had another podcast before the $100 MBA show which wasn’t quite as successful. They were reaching 900 downloads per episode, but the podcast wasn’t growing so they decided to take a step back and rethink. For them, it’s really important to always be moving upward, and you’ve got to be creative when tackling problems like this and finding solutions.  

“Once you have an audience that respects you, that loves and trusts you and is looking forward to the next episode, then you can think about how you want to monetise that.”

How can I monetise my podcast?

So, one of the major questions that prospective podcasters ask is: “How can I make money from this?” Well, of course there’s no easy answer. However, I’ve always believed that making money shouldn’t be the number one priority. And if it is, then you’re probably in the wrong business. Omar, Nicole and I talked about the importance of audience satisfaction. If you’re doing something original and entertaining, and you’re consistent with your content, then you should start to see some results with the number of listeners. And if that number is high and getting higher, then why not think about monetising your show? But you should never forget that the audience is king!

I’d love for you to give this conversation a listen and apply some of these techniques to your own podcast. Ask yourself questions like: Am I getting the number of listeners that I’d like, and if not, why? Remember to always be looking forward and creative when growing your podcast. Be original, entertaining and useful, and the sky truly is the limit!    

THE ONE THING:

Write down a list of 3 practical and actionable steps you could take in improving your podcast’s visibility.