Episodes

With the Podcast Liftoff Playbook out, and Jennifer Bourn’s Profitable Project Plan is open for enrollment right now, I thought it would be a great time to re-air her interview where she talks about running a cohort-based course, and how she built the PPP. I listened to it again as I was looking for inspiration and best practices to realize the Playbook fully. And let me tell you, this episode really holds up! For members, I talk about how my webinar → paid members sales to funnel went.

In May, I was at a bit of a crossroads. I wasn’t sure what I should do with the many things I was working on, and I felt like I was being pulled in too many directions. I couldn’t focus on one thing to help take my business to the next level. So I decided…

We must make content to serve the almighty algorithm to make money on YouTube, right? Wrong! Over the last couple of weeks, you’ve heard from creators who are doing a video that works for them — and today’s guest is no different. Hannah Smolinski is a Fractional CFO who grew her YouTube channel to 38,000 subscribers and doesn’t pay attention to analytics. Instead, she answers questions her target audience has, is generous with her time and her knowledge, and knows it’s all about the long game, not getting rich quickly.

It’s easy to think your content will get better if you just have the right gear. Alas, a $1000 camera can’t save you if you’re not spending time on the content. But that doesn’t mean you can’t look and sound good. So today brought in Dan Bennett, who’s built his business on making people look and sound great on camera. Spoiler alert: This almost never results in buying new gear. Instead, we talk about small tweaks you can make. Then we talk about the growing importance of videos for podcasting.

If you’ve been listening for a while, you’ve heard this lesson 100 times: ship with what you have. Ship what you have. In other words, don’t waste time looking for the perfect tool or process. Instead, ship quickly and iterate. And no one embodies this credo better than Marie Poulin. As one of the best Notion instructors out there, Marie has illustrated time and time again that shipping early and iterating leads to success. We chat about how she uses Notion from delivering her course, gets feedback earlier, and leverages YouTube to grow her audience and make sales…around 90% of her sales come from there! Plus, in Build Something More, We chat about my potential switch from Airtable to Notion.

How do you get the NY Times (or the WSJ) to publish your article? Do you just email them and hope for the best? Well…you can, but according to Stephanie Lee, you shouldn’t. See, Stephanie is a media strategist who’s been published in the NY Times, and has gotten her clients into publications like Entrepreneur…through cold pitching! She says the important thing for you is to build clout markers to show you are trustworthy. And today, she walks us through how to do that using her Slingshot method. Plus, we answer the question, “Will PR outreach make me rich?” In an extra long build something more, we chat conferences, World of Warcraft, and…Scranton? Like from The Office?

Most brands don’t care about your numbers! It’s true, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Justin Moore knows a thing about brand deals. He’s done 500 himself, and over 1,000 through his agency. Today he teaches creators how to get paid brand deals through his cohort-based course, Brand Deal Wizard. And in today’s episode, we cover a lot, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Starting a business has never been easier. We can now sign up for a free ConvertKit account, get a nice-looking landing page, and even start selling products in mere minutes. Because of that, it can be tempting to jump into “making” the business without thinking about why your business exists. According to Cara Chace, that is a recipe for disaster. Listen on to learn why. Plus, in Build Something More, Cara tells us about her previous career as a special agent.

“Get a real job.” “If you’re going to start a business, you need to grow.” “Hustle.” If you’re starting a business, you’ve probably heard this “advice.” You’ve also probably heard that you need to do exactly what someone else did. But all of that is poison to our creator businesses. And Dr. Shante Cofield has the antidote: Moar You. If you want to know the importance of values-based marketing, how to be vulnerable enough to grow, and the seasonality of life, this episode is for you. My conversation with Shante is real — and it’s important for anyone who works for themselves to hear.