3 Lessons Learned from Making Money Online
Podcasters Listen Up
Are You Attending Podcasting Meetups?
Podcast Movement Denver 2023 is coming up soon! I’m excited to partner with Podcast Movement this year and I hope to see you here in Denver. Make sure to check out locally hosted podcasting events in your hometown or towns that you’re visiting throughout the year. Tonight I’m attending one here in Denver. I’ll let you know how it goes. I share some helpful tips on how to prepare for Podcast Movement here.
Upcoming Case Studies
I am so excited about the following monetization stories and advice that are already recorded and ready to share in the upcoming months.
Jeremy Enns founder of Podcast Marketing Academy talks about solving one problem, how he figured out how he would serve his community and more. One of the most interesting things that Jeremy talked about was the different types of approaches to an online business. One where you provide services so you get paid faster vs. developing products. He’s doing both and it was so fascinating to hear about how he made decisions within his business. A lot of what he shares is what I’m discussing in this edition of “Podcasters Getting Paid”
Anna Deshawn shares how she raised $70,000 via crowdfunding campaign to fund her solution to podcast discoverability, The Qube. This tool is specifically focused on creating a comprehensive tool for finding podcasts created and hosted by hosts of color and the LGBTQ community. She also shares insight into the intersectionality between the two communities. She also won an Ambie in 2023-Best DIY Podcast for her show Queer News.
Robb Dunewood, a podcasting OG and I, talked for almost 2 hours about podcast monetization, brand building and more. I will share this conversation in two parts. Robb also is one of the cohosts of The Tech Jawn a podcast focused on the tech space from an African-American perspective. He shared so much insight and perspective and I had a great time recording this conversation.
Amanda Page of director of the documentary “Peerless City” shares how she raised $50,000 to produce the film. I first met Amanda when she was in the personal finance space and was working to pay off $47,000 of debt off. She blogged about that experience and that blog became the launch pad for all of the other creative work that she is now doing. She no longer is in the personal finance space, doesn’t have a podcast but I think her story will give podcasters thinking about shooting film (fiction/non-fiction or a documentary) absolutely should watch this interview.
I will publish at least one interview a month. But I may have other interviews that I share during the month as well.
Upcoming Events
How to Network Your Way to Paid as a Podcaster-Free Workshop (all subscribers)
This Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 12:00 pm MTN/2:00 pm EST (details at the end of this newsletter) Zoom details will be sent Sunday morning.
Paid Subscriber Monthly Office Hours-Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 7:00 pm MTN/9:00 pm EST. Ask questions and get feedback from Michelle. Zoom details will be sent to paid subscribers on Tuesday.
Quarter 2 Subscriber Office Hours-Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 7:00 pm MTN/9:00 pm EST-Once a quarter all subscribers are invited to office hours.
3 Lessons Learned From Making Money Online
One of the interesting aspects of working on “Podcasters Getting Paid” is reflecting on all of the lessons both painful and wonderful that I’ve learned from making money online. This week I thought I would share some of them.
Some context, I am currently a mentor for 3 phenomenal women who are incredible podcasters. They are at different stages in their businesses as it relates to monetizing their content. Each month we meet to touch base, discuss their content and strategies and to connect in general. For April’s meeting we decided to discuss monetization and I set aside several hours for this conversation. In fact, we ended up meeting for 3 hours .
It was glorious!
I’m not sure if I shared with you that around March of 2022, I started to have some real reservations about how I was growing my business. Like many people I’d pivoted in order to survive the chaos of 2020. But, 2 years into that pivot, I was beginning to question was what I was doing right for my work style, my goals and would it be sustainable in the long-run?
Lesson #1-Pivots are Good
I’m so glad that I pivoted in the way that I did in 2020. I was making passive income but I just didn’t have the capacity to continue focusing on some of my revenue streams. I was just unable to show up in the same way as before COVID. What did I end up doing?
Stopped writing romance books-COVID killed that creativity.
Stopped selling my “Make Money with Ebooks” course-I love this course and the authors that I’ve worked with via that course. I was having trouble showing up for myself…let alone students in my courses.
I started writing A LOT more freelance content. There was a huge demand for it. I started coaching people when they requested support on a topic, usually related to podcasting or brand building.
I said “yes” to cool projects that came my way.
Lesson #2-Pay Attention to How You Monetize Your Brand
It’s a digital age my friends. There are so many ways to make money online and one of the most interesting tensions that I noticed when it comes to monetizing online is that creators will often create more products where THEY HAVE TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE THE SERVICE.
In my case that was freelance writing. I’m going to share some additional examples of creating products that you would have to actually provide and will be difficult to scale:
1-on-1 coaching-Unless people are paying premium rates there’s a point where it’s time to rethink this model.
Podcast editing-There’s a point where you have so many clients that you’ll need to bring in a team member to scale.
Social media management-How many clients do you want to manage? Think about all of the communication, needs and brand voices that you have to actively manage and be on top of.
Why is this an issue?
There is a point when it’s just difficult to scale these services.
If you want to earn significant income “easily” scaling your earnings is the not so secret strategy that high earning influencers use
There will be a point when you will get tired in your content creation business. You’ll just want to take a break. If you’re having to do things for people when you get tired, burnout or want to pivot…things will get rough.
What Does Scaleable Monetization Look Like
Fortunately, there are a number of different types of services that may become a fantastic addition to your revenue model.
Newsletter subscriptions-These take awhile to grow but can be a great way to build predictable income.
A Membership program-It can take awhile to grow these but this is a great way to serve your community.
Affiliate income-You can grow predictable income over time. BUT, one thing to consider is that affiliate programs can change, be suspended or stopped for whatever reason.
Pre-recorded workshops-These are great because you typically wouldn’t have to do any additional follow up after the person purchases the course. I’m emphasizing workshops vs. courses because with courses you’ll probably have to do a lot more customer support.
Ad sales-I often talk about the fact that everyone whether you’re a podcaster/blogger or vlogger needs a website. You can create content that hopefully gets enough page views that you’re able to place ads on your website. Then you earn ad revenue while you sleep.
Lesson #3-Predictable Revenue is Bae
But, in all seriousness, it takes awhile to grow and scale predictable income. Every business needs predictable revenue and in creative businesses this type of revenue will help you sleep at night.
It will also allow you to:
Say “no” to lowball offers on collaborations
Take breaks
Experiment
Finally, headwinds impact the health of businesses. What am I talking about?
Technology such as ChatGPT
The economy
General interest
AI is Coming (click the link)
How Long Will It Take?
In my view, most people are unrealistic about the amount of time it may take to build up a revenue stream. I now give myself a YEAR, yes an entire YEAR to assess if something is working. I’ll end the experiment if it’s looking like a complete disaster.
Start now is the advice I would give anyone who is looking to build predictable income in a digital business.
Two more things….
Most people are too impatient and believe that results should happen quickly.
Most people won’t do the hard work. Seriously, they won’t.
You’ve got this!
Michelle :)
Services and Support
Subscribe to the newsletter. Pay an annual fee of $50 a year (or, $5 a month) gain access to the following:
Monthly office hours
Monetization case studies that breakdown the different ways creators are making money with their platform
Free “Live” Workshops
Virtual meetups and more
I purposely made “Podcasters Getting Paid” accessible because I remember when I was super broke and needed access to tools that would help me grow my business.
Pre-recorded Sponsorship Strategy workshop-I share insight into how I approach sponsorships and the strategies that I use to always be ready. Cost: $37 dollars.
1-on-1 Coaching Session-I set aside 10 hours a month to sit down and work with Podcasters on monetization strategy. Click the following link to schedule your strategy session today.