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Embark on a journey to success with the Startup Founder Roadmap, your go-to guide for navigating the challenging yet rewarding world of startups. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just launching your first venture, this podcast is your compass for building, growing, and leading a thriving startup company.
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0:00:00 - Speaker 0
Have you ever had something fail and just completely fall apart? But you know, it's only because of a lack of execution. That's how I feel about my first software platform, podcentral. I think my perspective on the platform was just way off from what it should have been. I was so focused on trying to make this unicorn product that made a billion dollars that I kind of forgot why I started in the first place. I really created this tool so I can help podcasters manage their show. That's it. That's all it's about. But my head was so in the clouds on it. I kept thinking this was wrong and I got to add this feature and I got to change this and change that, and this is not really necessary. So today I want to give you kind of a behind the scenes of how I'm relaunching PodCentral and getting this back into the hands of podcasters. Before we get started, let me know what you are building in the comments below. If you're a founder out there, you're bootstrapping. If you're a venture back, whatever it is, let me know what you got going in the comments below.
Okay, so the first thing I'm doing is getting back to my weekly training sessions. Now these are essentially training sessions where I do free coaching that's it like on these is virtual, I do it on zoom and I like to allow podcasters to just come in a room and ask questions. Now I do have a topic that I focus on usually, but I find that when I'm covering that topic people always have some deeper questions and it can lead to something else. So I kind of open it up a little bit. After you know, I cover it kind of like the first 20 minutes is like a monologue where I'm just teaching, like on the whiteboard and all of that stuff. Once that part is done, I just answer questions and the big goal of the strategy here is to make sure that any of my prospects that want to work with me can get the result that they want.
Now I know you're thinking why would you teach people for free if you want them to? Again, I'm not selling information. I think when you're selling information you kind of put yourself in a hole because you can't teach people, because that's your product. Your main product is teaching, whether it's a course or consulting or whatever. If you teach people, you give that away. You give away your product. If you don't teach them, you don't really build that trust, because I myself have talked to so many people in my industry of podcasting who have never had a show, who have never done interviews, who don't even own a microphone they don't even have a microphone right and they're trying to teach people how to do podcast stuff. It's just, it's absurd, and I don't want to be seen as one of those people. You know what I'm saying. I know that sharing my experience, my expertise, my skillset all of these things build trust with my prospects.
So this strategy of teaching people every week works because I'm giving away that information, because, at the end of the day, I want them to use my software. That's the goal. I want them to pay me to use the software monthly to do the thing I'm teaching them how to do right. That's why I love software so much. Like you can teach people how to do something and then give them the tool to continuously get that job done and they pay you for it. It's just no better business model and, again, I've done this strategy before so I know that it works. It works very, very well.
But I think part of the problem here is you can't be too focused on trying to get the high numbers and all of that stuff. You got to be comfortable with six people, eight people, 12 people. That's usually what it is, especially in the beginning, right? So if you're gonna try this strategy, this is just something to keep in mind. I love having smaller audiences myself because then I can get really, really detailed and specific to that person. That's there, right. And another step behind this this kind of goes into my next strategy. But record the calls.
With this strategy, I'm learning that having a more intimate group audience cohort, whatever you want to call it is actually really good for your brand, because when you're working with a handful of people, you can get that handful of people incredible result, amazing. And then those people go and promote you to somebody else. I would argue that that's probably the best way to start is to have three, five, eight people and get those people the best possible result, because then those people are gonna go and promote you to everybody else that they know. All right now you don't even have to market your business because they marketing it for you. That right there. That's the goal, okay. So that's strategy one.
But before I get strategy two, if you are enjoying this so far, obviously like the video, but also join the newsletters link down below. It's completely free and this is where I share different strategies. I'm doing like this, different results I have, and I talk about some trending topics here and there too. You know different things happening in the software startup world. I don't get too techy, I don't get too deep on it, but I love to share my opinion and my perspective on these things and I'm bringing in some experts in the coming weeks, so be on the lookout for that. Join that newsletter now. All right.
So strategy two is actually my resource library method. This is something that I've been doing for a long time, like on my computer. I had to clean it up a couple of weeks ago. I have hours and hours and hours and training after training, masterclass course of podcast coaching. I mean from everything from microphones to software, to marketing, to monetizing. I've talked about all of it well over 10 times and I have a bunch of training on it.
Now, putting this in a resource library is perfect because that allows me to attract more prospects. This has gotten me a ton of leads, a ton of leads, and I love it because I don't have to do a ton of the marketing and all the extra stuff. The marketing there is look I and all the extra stuff, the marketing. There is, look, I have all of these resources. Here you go, take these resources and it's going to help you get the result that you want, but you're going to use the software to get the result right. You see how it's all tied together, like, using that method makes it really really easy to bring in more prospects into my business and to keep them around. Like, think about it this way if somebody is using my software and they have a problem, I can just have a training section for the software inside of the resource library. Now, if you have a problem or you need help or something you got a question, you can go and watch the trainings on that.
Now, this isn't to say that they can't reach out to me personally. I'm be clear on that. I think having that resource library available where people can go and get the answers or the help that they want or need immediately, it's a game changer, because now I can cover all the topics and then when they look at me and compare me to some other expert or somebody else out there in the market, I'm more valuable, because all the stuff that they want from me to help they want from me. They can just go and grab it. You know, if you pay the 30 bucks a month, you get access to all the training and then you use that training when you need it. Pretty simple, right? It's a very simple approach to this. I think it's just a perfect method you know what I'm saying To bringing the prospects in, keeping them around answering all the questions, and this alleviates me from having to do the back and forth, you know.
Again, not to say I don't want to talk to the prospects, but I've been asked questions like what's the best podcast hosting platform for so long. I can just make a video answering the best ones for the type of show that you have and put it out there for everybody that's gonna have that same question. Now I will say what makes the resource library even more valuable than any other method is I can get feedback for what people want. So think about this they're paying 30 bucks a month to get access to all of these trainings and then they want other training, they want additional content. Now I know if they put in the comments or they answer one of my polls or survey and say I want to learn about how to do this thing. Okay, perfect, I can now go and do that, make it like a masterclass or something. Answer that question, solve your problem and then help everybody else in the process. I can even resell that, repurpose it and sell it as something completely different. Right, it's so many layers to something like this.
Like I think every founder should have something like a resource library where you're just teaching your prospect, just teaching them and, from my perspective, always think of it like this what would I tell myself if I was just getting started today about this specific topic? So if I was starting today about this specific topic of monetizing your podcast through sponsorships and merchandise sales, if I was covering that topic to myself in the beginning, when I started, what would I say? That makes it easy. Now, when I sit here and talk to a camera like this, I know exactly what to say, how to say it, all of that stuff. So I think you got to put yourself in their shoes as a prospect, and that makes it easier to make the content that will answer their questions and solve their problems.
So, as you can see, I got a couple of different high level strategies going on right now to bring prospects back into my business back into the fold, right, and this is going to help me get a ton of leads into Pocentral. It's going to help me get a ton of buyers, customers, and again, I'm not just concerned with getting a bunch of people to come in, like that's part of it, obviously, but the main thing is keeping those people around. Like I want to keep the subscribers I get, you know I want them to stay there for six months because I didn't make the tool. So it's not an information thing. You know, with information stuff they buy a course, they watch three or four videos and never touch it again. No, I built the software so that it could solve your problem that you're going to face every single day.
Managing a podcast is a daily thing, so this platform helps you manage that on the daily, you know, and putting this together it took a lot of work, but it was worth it, because now I know I can solve these problems for as long as people have them, you know. So I'm super excited. I'll make sure I keep you guys updated on the outcomes of these strategies. It'll be inside of the founder newsletter, so make sure you checked it out. It is completely free down below in the description. Also, let's connect on Twitter at Chris podcasting. Hit me up, I'll see you next time.