What Counts as Podcasting Success

Some food for thought

A few weeks ago I shared that I was recognized for the work that I’ve produced in the personal finance space. I was beyond shocked when I learned that I won the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award for Personal Finance Content Creation (per the Plutus Awards). It was a very humbling and amazing moment for me. In fact, this is the 4th award that I’ve won for my “Michelle is Money Hungry” project-heavily centered on podcast content.

During the past year I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what we consider “success” in podcasting. I think it’s an important topic to think about because the actions that you take are heavily influenced by the goals that you’re working towards.

Success Metric #1-Number of Downloads

This is the most obvious metric that many people find themselves focusing on. How many people are listening to their show? But, Podcasters Getting Paid was designed for podcasts getting 10,000 or fewer monthly downloads. These shows were just as important as shows with 10,000 or more downloads…just a bit smaller.

In fact, my small show that has won these awards and has been recognized by the niche community that it serves has a lifetime downloads number of almost 120,000. I’ve even shared a screenshot of the downloads at the end of this post.

Despite this number, this work has changed my life.

• I’ve worked with brand partners such as Experian, Refily and Student Loan Hero.

• I’ve grown professionally and developed skills that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t created this project. Skills such as:

  • Public speaking

  • Copywriting

  • SEO-Search Engine Optimization

  • Community building

  • Hosting an in-person event that people flew in to attend

The point? You don’t need massive downloads to make a difference to you, your audience and the space that you’re creating in.

Success Metric #2-Earning via Your Creative Work

You’ll notice that I didn’t share a specific amount earned. I think that earning money, any money with work that you’ve designed and put out into the world is an unmatched skill. When people pay for your work they are literally voting with their dollars and validating your vision. Below are some of the ways that I’ve earned money online.

• Self-publishing books (both fiction and non-fiction) In fact, book sales are my most consistent revenue stream. Every since I published my first book, I’ve earned income from ebooks on a monthly basis.

• Course sales-I no longer sell courses, but I have made thousands via course sales.

• Affiliate income-One of my favorite ways to earn income “passively” by sharing helpful resources or tools with my audience or friends when it makes sense. I’ve made thousands affiliate marketing.

• Workshops-Some of you may have attended workshops that I’ve designed and produced. I prefer workshops to courses these days and I love hosting them.

• Freelance writing-I have a love/hate relationship with freelance writing. I always enjoy it more when it’s not my sole source of income. Right now, I’m enjoying it more LOL! It’s a great way to build brand authority, backlinks to your website and earn income for sharing your personal and professional expertise.

• Public Speaking-I don’t do this often enough and in 2024, my goal is to lean into this more. I love public speaking, sharing a message and inspiring a community via the spoken word.

• Hosting an In-Person Event-This was actually one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done. I hosted an in-person event called “Money on the Mountain” here in Denver in 2019. It was a success but I found it so stressful that I haven’t hosted an event since then (and COVID happened)

• Growing a newsletter-I love making money with newsletters.

Despite the challenges with these different ways to earn money, it has meant so much to me whenever someone has said “yes” to something that I’ve created.

Success Metric #3-Follower Count

I almost didn’t include Follower Count as a success metric because I think that social media can become a huge distraction. However, if you’re able to work a strategy and grow a following on a platform that you enjoy-your follower count can change how you negotiate a brand deal, how people perceive your authority and how you view the work that you’re doing.

Success Metric #4-Winning Awards and Other Accolades

I didn’t realize how much I valued and appreciated professional acknowledgement of the work that I was doing until I began winning awards. I realized that it was a tangible way of feeling like I was being “seen” in a way that my 9-5 never gave me. In fact, I am very aware of the best time to release award winning content. I also spend a lot of time thinking about how to design award winning content. What is the highest quality work that I can produce and what does that look like?

Success Metric #5-Connections Made

Who are you meeting in your space and connecting with? Who can you call to shout out your work, contribute financially to a project or be a guest on their show? Who is happy to share their expertise with your community? Who wants you to win and never second guesses what you’re working on? They just say “yes, when and where?” It has taken a lot of in-person time, conversations and giving without expectation for these connections to stand the test of time.

Each Success Metric Takes Different Action

If you’re looking to grow your social media, network with incredible people or sell the products that you’ve created-it takes energy and sustained action. It’s a much slower process than most people are ready for.

It’s also difficult to focus on several success metrics at the same time because each one has different components to it.

Example:

• Growing your podcast downloads-What does this entail?

  • Designing your content

    • Topic covered

    • Guests if needed

  • Recording your content

  • Editing

  • Releasing your work

  • Marketing your episode-This is an ongoing process

    • Marketing materials if needed

Quick Question

If you’re not achieving the success that you’re working towards, could it be because you’re focusing on too many success metrics? In 2024 I have very specific success metrics for the different projects that I’m working on. Initially it was really difficult for me to scale down so that I could scale up the success that I was working towards for my different projects.

I’ve realized that zooming in and pausing on certain activities is just for a period of time, not forever.

I’ll keep you posted,

Michelle

The screenshot of my downloads