What, what's your journey like?

Oh, man.

Okay.

So it starts, I was working as a bookkeeper at an accounting firm for, like, seven years, and if you know anything about bookkeeping, the computers do, like, most of the job, and so it's very mindless work.

You're just punching in numbers all day.

It's very easy.

And so I discovered podcasts, and podcasts, I mean, I was just binging them all day while I was doing, like, bookkeeping and payroll, and I fell in love with them, and I fell in love with, like, certain podcast hosts, and I would, like, follow them, and, um, I got my kids into podcasting.

Yeah.

And not so much what it's about as much as what you're gonna get from it.

And this is one of those situations where you can change this at any point in time.

At any point in time, you can log into Buzzsprout, and you can go into your podcast title and tweak it, change it to something that serves your podcast a little bit better.

So I'm going to use us again as an example.

So we wanted a...

I say we.

I wasn't even working here yet, but I know the story of this.

Okay

You can come alongside your customers in a way that's like encouraging and friendly that builds that relationship more than just like answering questions.

Well, and I love what you're saying, Priscilla, here, because what you're talking about is like brand loyalty.

And it's so funny because branded podcasts are like really having a moment.

I hear all the time about Trader Joe's podcast, which is so funny.

Like I've never listened to it personally, but like I know I love it.

But it's so funny because people are like, oh, my gosh, have you heard the Trader Joe's podcast? I love the Trader Joe's podcast.

I just think it's so cool.

I just want you to challenge that a little bit because I actually think it's something that's way more accessible than you might think it is.

So why would a typical podcaster find that useful?

Well, I don't suppose a typical podcaster might.

But if someone is producing video for their podcast, it is a huge improvement.

So with Buzzcast, we were kind of dogfooding the video podcasting because we have to test it out, especially if we're developing it.

We have to also be doing video podcasting and going through all the pain points that other people are going through.

And it's really interesting because I found out very quickly how painful it can be to distribute video podcasts.

And so now, you know, I just upload one file to Buzzsprout and it distributes to all the podcast directories, regardless of if they are video or audio, which is great.

Are people happy about it so far?

So if you're someone that doesn't have a lot of time or bandwidth, which one of these creative monetization pathways to monetize your listener attention would you want to avoid?

Yeah.

I mean, so listener monetization, it falls into two buckets really.

So you have listener support and listener support is what we use in terms of like donations.

So this can be like the tip jar, buy me a coffee, things like that.

You're already providing the value to your listeners by creating the content itself.

And that's something that a lot of podcasters forget is you are providing value to your listeners, to your audience.

I'm curious, Jordan, what you would say to those people right now who are listening and they're like, okay, this all sounds really great, but where do I start? What do I need to do first? Do I have enough listeners to make this worth my while? What would you say to them?

How did you land those in the first place? What did that actually look like? Can you take us through the ins and outs of that?

absolutely well what's interesting is like when i was first uh an independent podcaster and i started my downloads started like going crazy and i was like wait i can make this a job this could be like a side hustle this could be like a career and i just was looking around at what all the other podcasters were doing and you know i'm seeing them do like merch and they're doing q and a's and they're doing like patreon accounts and they're doing like sponsorships and ads and all these different things And I was at a point where I was just like experimenting with everything.

And merch was like an absolute no-go.

My mom bought a shirt and then that was it.

And so I experimented with all these different things to monetize with.

And sponsorships, because I had so many downloads, A, it was a little bit easier to land sponsors.

And B...

Can you tell us more about that?

experience, what makes a podcast one that listeners want to come back to?

There's a few different things, I think.

So obviously, audio quality, it helps.

It's not the most important thing.

But in this day and age, there's so many wonderful programs that even if you're just recording on your laptop audio or in your little Apple headphones or on your cell phone voicemail tool, there's so many incredible algorithmic audio Right.

Yes.

And I use it.

Where do I take this?

Mm

... and, like, how to do this.

Would, would it be okay if I came onto your podcast to talk about that?" And they go, "Oh my gosh, yes, we haven't done an episode on that." It's a great way to get in community with people that are in the same things as you are.

And so you kinda, like, make friends, and then people reach out to you, and they say, "Hey, I'm in this area, too.

Would you like to get coffee?" Like, th- podcasts lead to so much, even if you're a guest on podcasts.

Also, I feel like-Guesting on podcasts has really sharpened a lot of skills for me.

Um, I was very scared to do it at first, like even though I had been podcasting forever.

Yes.

So, tell us about your journey through affiliate marketing.

Well, I started with affiliate marketing because I was really nervous about sponsorships.

Sponsorships seemed like the big carrot at the end of the stick, and I was very scared of it.

Like, it just, it seemed like little old me is not gonna be able to do sponsorships, so I'm just gonna, like, kinda dabble in affiliate marketing and see if I am worthy of taking the next step of sponsorships.

And the reason why I did affiliates at first was because I had this mindset of, "Nobody's gonna know." Like, if no one buys it, I'm not gonna be embarrassed, because no one's going to know that I did this, like, affiliate marketing campaign and, you know, put out these ads, put out these call to actions, maybe made, like, a social post about it, and not a single person bought anything, right? And so, I think that actually affiliate marketing is a great place to start, is a great place to dabble in experimenting with how to place ads, and how to do host-read ad reads, and promote things that aren't yours.

And so, yeah, I just kinda, like, went to some, like, affiliate sites, and I found this really cool wooden puzzle company, and I thought, a lot of my listeners, they deal with, like, anxiety, and they are finding ways to relax before bed.

And I thought, "Man, one of the ways that I relax is I love puzzles." I do puzzles like crazy, and I actually have some of these puzzles, and I really enjoy them.

What would one sound like for yours?