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00:00:01
Andy Lehman’s Secret Playbook for Growing (and Monetizing) Your Podcast
11 Plays10 days ago
In this episode, Ken Freire sits down with Andy Lehman, founder of Lehman Creations and host of Podcast Answers and Dudes and Dads, to pull back the curtain on how podcasters can actually grow their shows and turn them into profit machines. Andy shares the biggest mistakes new podcasters make, the importance of building a true community, and why engagement—not vanity metrics—is the real path to monetization. He breaks down his practical system for growing a podcast, building real fan relationships, and creating sustainable revenue streams without burning out.
Resources Mentioned
- Lehman Creations - https://www.lehmancreations.com/
- Podcast Answers - https://www.podcastanswers.com/
- Dudes and Dads Podcast - https://dudesanddadspodcast.com/
- Ecamm Live - https://www.ecamm.com/
- Discord - https://discord.com/
Timestamps
- 00:42 – Running two podcasts: business vs. passion projects
- 02:00 – The #1 mistake podcasters make when trying to grow
- 03:51 – Setting realistic expectations for audience growth
- 06:06 – Why your first episodes will be terrible (and that’s okay)
- 07:30 – Andy’s system for growing from 7 to 1,000 listeners
- 08:26 – The power of building community and engaging fans
- 09:56 – Long-form vs. short-form platforms for growth
- 12:10 – Leveraging Instagram Lives to expand reach
- 14:15 – When and how to funnel listeners into a community
- 16:32 – Building true fans through authentic DMs and voice notes
- 19:22 – How podcasts actually generate profit (beyond ads)
- 21:16 – Value-for-value model: time, talent, and treasure
- 23:40 – Using your podcast as your best ad for your services
- 24:26 – Growing your podcast through Facebook groups without spamming
- 28:06 – Mindset shifts to scale without burning out
- 29:39 – Creating true fans who evangelize and contribute back
- 32:18 – Where to connect with Andy and get podcast help
Recommended
Transcript
Concepts for Transforming Podcast Growth
00:00:01
Ken Freire
Welcome to another episode of the Solo Scaled Podcast. And today want to talk about this one concept that if you're tired of spinning your wheels, trying to grow your podcast and wondering when the money will actually come in, this episode will change the game. Andy Lehman's system has helped him turn podcasts into profit machines.
00:00:23
Ken Freire
And today he's sharing his secrets.
Meet Andy Lehman: Founder and Podcaster
00:00:26
Ken Freire
Andy, welcome to the show, my friend.
00:00:27
Andy
Hey, Ken, thanks having me. It's good to be here.
00:00:30
Ken Freire
Yeah, absolutely, man. Well, Andy, I want everybody to know you you are the founder of Lehman Creations and you're the host of two podcasts. It's Dudes and Dads and Podcast Answers, right?
00:00:41
Andy
Yep, absolutely.
00:00:42
Ken Freire
That's
Managing Podcasts and Branding
00:00:42
Ken Freire
awesome. Okay. So before we even jump into the conversation, I got ask, there's so many brand builders out there and people who are like, you should have one niche, just focus on one thing.
00:00:52
Ken Freire
You got two going on here. So we're I know we're gonna talk about profiting and all that, but I'm just curious from you, man, how does that play out in your branding, having two podcasts?
00:01:02
Andy
so so So for me, the one my actual business business. So like I layman creations and podcast answers are one in the same. but And And ah And ah I help people start and grow their podcasts as well as doing other production type type things, whether that be conferences in person live remote producing.
00:01:11
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:01:22
Andy
And so that that for me is my is my business. But dudes and dads, that's a whole hobby thing that
00:01:26
Ken Freire
yeah
00:01:28
Andy
started that actually before podcast answers. I've been podcasting a long time. and decided to start that one and then after that started Podcast Answers. So yeah, it's two separate things.
00:01:39
Ken Freire
I love it, man. You know, it's funny. I'm in a similar boat where I have solo scale as my business. But like as my passion project, I have a a similar podcast, but it's called Shameless Podcast.
00:01:49
Ken Freire
So it's all about helping men recover from addiction and stuff like that. So it was just interesting. I was like, oh, we're both doing the same thing. I love it.
00:01:57
Andy
Yeah.
00:01:58
Ken Freire
Well, um Andy, you know, today, We're going to talk about pulling back the curtain and see how it's done.
Challenges and Realities in Podcasting
00:02:04
Ken Freire
Cause a lot of people talk about, Hey, go create a podcast and it's awesome. Like you're going to generate money and then people start doing it.
00:02:10
Ken Freire
And then they realize like, how do I grow this thing? It's not like social media where people can just, the algorithm just shows it up.
00:02:13
Andy
Right.
00:02:17
Ken Freire
Right. It doesn't show up a lot on SEO.
00:02:20
Ken Freire
So I want to start with like, what's the number one mistake you see podcasters making when they are trying to actually grow their audience?
00:02:28
Andy
So for me, I see it happening too fast. People ah ah take off, take more than they can chew more than they can handle. They try to be everywhere. They try to do video and audio and social media and, and just try to try to do everything so fast. Podcasting is a, it is a slow game.
00:02:47
Andy
And I think a lot of people come into it expecting right away that there'll be money. And that's not necessarily the case.
00:02:53
Ken Freire
Yeah. So, so you're saying like, you know, some people may use it as like the ads game, right? Where it's like, oh, pay to play. And all of sudden I'm going to start growing within 30 days. And you're like, no, no, this may take like a year to actually grow.
00:03:05
Andy
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:03:07
Ken Freire
Right.
00:03:07
Andy
Because, yeah, I think, i mean, especially when we're coming to like monetizing your podcast as far as with ads, if you if you're using ads, that's something that for the most part is going to take your you have to have your audience there first.
00:03:19
Andy
And so yeah, definitely, you're gonna have to start start small.
00:03:22
Ken Freire
Yeah. So give some people a good frame of reference. If they were like starting a podcast from scratch, right? What would like, and you talk about you're helping people start a podcasting and then helping them grow it.
00:03:33
Andy
hmm.
00:03:34
Ken Freire
What are some good expectations for them to have when growing a podcast? Is it like, Hey, it's going to take six months for you to maybe hit a hundred views. And then a year from now you start monetizing. What does that look like?
00:03:45
Andy
Yeah, so usually what I tell people is, is yeah, you're gonna don't be disappointed by your numbers. In fact, I would tell them to not even look at your numbers for the first maybe month and a half, maybe two months, because what's going to happen is people are gonna look at that and they're gonna say, man, I only have 10 people listening to my show, when in reality, or or 100 people listening to my show.
00:03:58
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:08
Andy
But what I like to tell people is, imagine having those 100 people standing in front of you and you're telling them your message. that's 100 people that you're telling your message to. That's a pretty amazing thing.
00:04:19
Andy
I think people come into it that expectation of, I'm going to be nationally broadcasted. I'm you going to be ah next Joe Rogan. And I don't think that's a good thing to go into. So definitely don't check your numbers right away because you're going to be disappointed.
00:04:32
Ken Freire
Yeah. I remember when I first launched my ever first podcast, I was like, oh my gosh, this thing is going to hit hundreds and thousands. feet know, you have that vision. And then I literally remember looking at it and there was like seven people who downloaded the first one. And I was like, deep down inside, i a little heartbroken, man. like, I posted it on social media. I posted everywhere. You know, have thousands of people who follow me. and I'm like,
00:04:56
Ken Freire
Evan people that's it. I was like my ego for sure went out the window a little bit, you know,
Building Skills and Community for Growth
00:05:03
Ken Freire
but I started to realize I'm like kind of what you're saying, man, if I was able to talk to seven people about my story or whatever the thing is, that's a big deal every week.
00:05:11
Andy
Yeah. And I think people have to realize too, and now there's been more, I started back in 2007 when, I mean, podcasting was relatively new at that point, right?
00:05:19
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:05:21
Andy
I mean, there is, it's a couple years old, but there was not a lot of information out there at the time. we were doing things the hard way. We were, we had to, you know, essentially figure this thing out.
00:05:33
Andy
And, and I think there's been a lot of people, who are now in the podcast helping space, you know, where they're consulting and doing things like that.
00:05:39
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:05:40
Andy
But even so, your first couple episodes are going to be terrible. They are. I mean, I think to it. I mean, you you're not a normal, most people aren't naturally good at speaking on mic or on camera. ah And that's a skill that you have to learn.
00:05:56
Andy
And that takes a little while.
00:05:59
Ken Freire
Yeah. And even for people who are good public speakers, right? Like they might be great on stage, but when they get in front of a camera, they freeze, they start doing like,
00:06:02
Andy
Mm-hmm.
00:06:07
Ken Freire
My favorite part is a of become monotone.
00:06:10
Andy
Yes.
00:06:11
Ken Freire
And you're just like, dude, it's okay. like got to actually be expressive. People are listening to it or they're watching it nowadays, right? All of it has to kind of come out. So I get it, man. It's one of those challenges that most people have.
00:06:23
Andy
Well, and I think that's one of the reasons that I've started recording my stuff live because go live to YouTube, live to Facebook when I'm recording.
00:06:28
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:06:30
Andy
And part of that reason is because then I know that there may be people listening, right? Whereas if I just sit down and hit the record on my on recorder,
00:06:35
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:06:39
Andy
I'm going to mess up. I'm going to say something that I don't want. And then I'm going start over again. And it's going to take twice as long to actually make the show. Because, because if I just go straight live, I have that expectation of, Oh, somebody may be listening or somebody is listening.
00:06:54
Andy
And so I have to, I don't want to say say be perfect, but there's that expectation of no, I can't start over.
00:07:01
Ken Freire
Yeah. So walk us through a little bit of your system.
00:07:04
Andy
Yeah.
00:07:04
Ken Freire
How do you do it, especially if you're helping people and want to start growing their podcast? We talked about it just being like, have the right expectation. But once they set that expectation, how can you go from seven views to 100 views to even 1,000 views? Yeah.
00:07:16
Ken Freire
even
00:07:16
Andy
Sure. Yeah, so I would say build a community, right? Communities are are huge. So I'm a big fan of whether that's Facebook or Discord or wherever you feel comfortable growing your audience.
00:07:29
Andy
Grow an audience. I would say start with a singular place. I mean, yes, you can do discord and you can do Facebook groups and things like that. I would start with a singular place. And the reason for that is just because you want your audience to be all in one place. But, but the nice thing about the audience is then they feel connected to other people that are listening, right?
00:07:46
Andy
If you can get them into into your community, Facebook, discord, whatever,
00:07:46
Ken Freire
Thank
00:07:51
Andy
they're gonna know that oh there's more than just myself listening and and again now at the beginning of a show it might feel pretty lonely in there when you first start your episode or your podcast because there may only be one and maybe your grandma or your mom in there right but but starting that that community is something that i think is is helpful because
00:07:59
Ken Freire
you.
00:08:11
Andy
i've seen it happen when you call your you you call your audience something special like the your listeners you you name them something and you you address them like like that those people who are in the club they feel special and they're they're more likely to go out and tell people about your show because they are they're more than just listening to it on their drive to work they're they're engaged so that's that's what i'd say first and then i'd also say engage your audience too so like if someone leaves a comment
00:08:36
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:08:38
Andy
reply to it if that's you know on facebook or in your group or email reply to it not only to reply to it to them so they can hear your answer but also talk about on your show people love hearing their comments on your show it's the same thing that that know that i've seen with with things when you're live streaming if if you're using a tool like ecamm like i do for my live stream i have the ability to bring my comments right up on screen and as soon as i start doing that
00:09:05
Andy
people engage more, they're going to comment more, they're going talk more, they're going to chat more, because they see their content on screen, they are they hear their comment on the show. And so I would say, i would say, give your give value to your audience.
00:09:18
Andy
And they're going to tell other people about it.
00:09:20
Ken Freire
Yeah. As you are growing that community, I want to take a step back. One of things you said earlier was that you don't want to be everywhere. What would you recommend for people when they're starting the podcast?
00:09:28
Andy
hmm.
00:09:30
Ken Freire
Would you say something like, one of the things we say all the time is like, have one long form and one short form channel.
00:09:36
Andy
Yeah.
00:09:37
Ken Freire
would you be, what's your opinion on that?
Strategies for Audience Engagement
00:09:39
Andy
Yeah. So I would say the same thing. Now I would say, would say as far as your podcast goes, be everywhere. Right. I mean, if you have the opportunity to,
00:09:46
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:09:49
Andy
to put it on Spotify and Apple podcast and and wherever do that. That's not gonna take a whole lot more effort on your part, right?
00:09:58
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:09:58
Andy
You're uploading it to your podcast host and then they gets distributed to all of the directories.
00:10:03
Andy
So that's not gonna take a lot of extra part on your part because so you won't burn out. But I would say yeah, have, maybe at the start, like one social channel. So whether that's Facebook, because you're growing your community there, then do that. If it's something like Instagram, where you can do something more shorts and and reels and type of thing, then then do that. But somewhere that you can engage your people.
00:10:24
Andy
And I like, I like Instagram too. I mean, not not Facebook can't, do lives because facebook can do lives but i i like the ability to on on instagram to kind of go live and you can even bring somebody up pretty easily on instagram now you can do it on facebook too but i think instagram is probably a better there's more more of a following there that you can go live and you can even interact with your audience if you want to that's a great thing you can just bring bring one of your guests on and or one of your followers on and talk talk have something that yeah they're gonna they're gonna share their people and
00:10:40
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:10:57
Andy
The great thing about Instagram is the fact that I go live on Instagram, then their people that are following them also get notified that they're going live. So you're going to actually have twice as much audience when you do that.
00:11:10
Ken Freire
That's awesome. So if I hear you correctly, part of your system is like, hey, pick one long form channel. We're talking about podcasting, the short form, let's say Instagram.
00:11:17
Andy
Yeah.
00:11:19
Ken Freire
Right. And you would say, hey, let's go live. Because if you go live on Instagram, the person that you bring up, then their group is going to see that they went live too.
00:11:29
Andy
Yep. Absolutely.
00:11:30
Ken Freire
And that's how you start to get that channel.
00:11:48
Andy
listen.
00:11:49
Andy
Can you get on with me for about, 10 or so minutes just to kind of recap what we covered on Instagram Live. And so that's a great thing because people have had a chance to listen to a little bit. So they may be able to bring up some of their questions and their comments.
00:11:59
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:12:02
Andy
But then also it it exposes me to your audience because your audience is notified that you're going live with podcast answers or whatever the show is. And so it exposes to more people.
00:12:14
Ken Freire
I love it. Is that same thing possible with like LinkedIn and with, I know Facebook, I think might do that, but it sounds like Instagram is the one that does more of that live distribution.
00:12:26
Andy
Right. I like Instagram better as far far that goes for the quick lives to bring on. Again, I think you can do it on Facebook. Honestly, when I go live on Facebook, I'm using Ecamm, so I'm not doing it with a traditional Facebook, just doing off my phone.
00:12:41
Andy
And so that's where, yeah, you're not going to get get that same interaction there.
00:12:42
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:12:46
Ken Freire
So with, with Instagram, you're, you're not even using Ecamm. You're just straight getting on your phone
00:12:50
Andy
No. if I'm going to do something, if I'm going to do something like an ask me anything, then I'll do it on Ecamm.
00:12:52
Ken Freire
More organic.
00:12:56
Andy
But if I'm going to bring somebody else onto my stream, I'm going to do it just on the app on my phone. It's a little bit more raw. It's and And, you know, I've even done it one
00:13:04
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:13:05
Andy
I was recapping an episode and I was in my car and I just parked it and did a lot of life from there. It was real. It was raw.
00:13:12
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:13:13
Andy
People like, I mean, don't get me wrong. People like polished shows and polished things. But there is something about that being raw and being real that that attracts people to it because then they know that you're a real human too
00:13:28
Ken Freire
Yeah. I love that. I love that. And that and seems like part of system, right? Of like, how do you keep growing? How do you keep the audience engaged?
00:13:38
Ken Freire
The first thing I heard was build a community. The second one is actually like engaging them in a more authentic, real way. It might be in the car. Sometimes it might be on eCamp, whatever it is, do those things.
00:13:45
Andy
yeah
00:13:48
Ken Freire
When you do those lives, at what point do you push people to the community? Like if you were building a marketing funnel, are you like just doing it from the podcast recording or are you doing it just on the Instagram comments?
00:13:55
Andy
Sure.
00:14:01
Ken Freire
Like just curious, when does that, when do you push them the community?
00:14:03
Andy
Yes. so So I would do couple different things, probably for my actual podcast episode, I would my my call to action on that would probably be something like, share, you tell tell others about the show, if you've gotten any value about out of this, tell other people about the show.
00:14:17
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:14:20
Andy
uh and in try to help grow your audience like that to help them you know nudge them in the direction to say yes you know and share your show on instagram i think i would bring them in into the community i would i would say things like hey if you want more more content like this where recapping our shows come here come to our community and and even do some things that are strictly for your community.
00:14:45
Andy
So if you are doing it in, in Facebook, maybe do a a a behind the scenes type of a show in, or not a show, I don't want to say show, but a live stream or something that you can put just in that community.
00:14:55
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:14:59
Andy
And again, it's not, When you're in that community, you do need to engage your people, not just have a community for others to talk, but ask questions in there. So if I have an episode that I'm, let's say, you know, know, for dudes and dads, if I'm talking to somebody who, you know, maybe out that they were adopted when they were young and never knew their dad, but found out later who their dad was,
00:15:21
Andy
I'm going to maybe ask questions about that episode in in the community also. So I get people going and engaging because you can't just expect people to come in there and chat.
00:15:31
Andy
know I'm in a lot of communities on Facebook and the larger ones, yeah, there's a lot of people chatting back and forth.
00:15:31
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:15:37
Andy
But especially when you're small, you have to engage the people too. They're not just going to come in and chat.
00:15:44
Ken Freire
Yeah. You know, I was talking to someone going to be on SoloSkill podcast and her name is Megan and she says, hey, the thing she does with her community and she has a pretty large community now, but she's like, hey, as soon as they enter the community, she's in the DMs actually talking to to them.
00:15:59
Andy
Oh,
00:16:00
Ken Freire
And she actually told me like, hey, she takes two hours a day of her working day of like just engaging people, like interacting with them.
00:16:04
Andy
ah
00:16:08
Ken Freire
And she's like, I do most of my sales from the DMs.
00:16:12
Andy
Yeah, I've done that occasionally.
00:16:12
Ken Freire
Like,
00:16:14
Andy
It's not something that I've done in a little while. But when when I've had people that start liking, you know, are commenting on things on Instagram, I'll shoot them a DM. And even even I'll do it over the voice memo.
00:16:25
Andy
Personally, I like voice. I mean, I'm a podcaster. So so I like I like voice, but I'll just do a quick voice.
00:16:28
Ken Freire
Yeah. And you got a great voice, by the way.
00:16:31
Andy
Yeah. Thank you. So I'll just do a quick voice chat, ah you know, on, on, I mean, anything really does it Facebook messenger, Instagram, you can do these voice message, but I'll say like, Hey, thanks for following our show.
00:16:43
Andy
Just out of curiosity. How did you hear about us? And a lot of times it's, it's that it's that first email back, you know, I know it doesn't happen as much anymore because it's kind of expected, but a lot of times that,
00:16:54
Andy
what i've seen work for email marketing for people is when they ask you a specific question on that very first email like once you've subscribed but they'll say something like hey tell me a little bit about yourself or whatever to kind of get you engaging and and i find that if you if you do that on instagram you create what i'm gonna call like a true fan right some somebody who's gonna be have that connection with you that says
00:17:02
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:18
Andy
I know Andy. I've had this voice conversation with him. He's not just a podcaster that I'm listening to, but he's somebody that I have a relationship with.
00:17:27
Ken Freire
Yeah, you know, it's fascinating that true fan kind of analogy, because most people, if you just send them like a random DM, right, they're like, okay, yeah, I think I talked to him. But am I talking to them?
00:17:38
Ken Freire
Or was that just a mini chat automation?
00:17:38
Andy
Right.
00:17:39
Ken Freire
Or that? But as soon as you send a voice audio note, you're like, oh, wow, this person wants to actually engage me.
00:17:45
Andy
Mm-hmm.
00:17:45
Ken Freire
Like, want to be my friend. Like, it's just this interesting psychological thing that happens.
00:17:47
Andy
Yeah.
00:17:51
Ken Freire
It's happened to me, man. I remember some people have reached out to me and like they're more known and they send me an audio note like, hey man, tell me how business is going. And I'm like, wow, they really want to know.
00:18:01
Andy
Uh-huh.
00:18:01
Ken Freire
Deep down, I realized I'm probably getting sucked into their marketing funnel, but still was like, hey, we're having a conversation.
00:18:06
Andy
Right.
00:18:08
Ken Freire
This is awesome.
00:18:09
Andy
Yeah.
00:18:10
Ken Freire
So for you, Andy, as you think about people, and I know we've already kind of started talking about this, but like, As they start growing, right, a lot of it is the engagement piece, right? It's getting them into the community. It's really you being present is what I hear, right? think a lot of people want to have a shortcut where it's just like, Hey, I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to open a community and hope and see what happens.
00:18:31
Ken Freire
That's not a good strategy.
00:18:31
Andy
Right.
00:18:32
Ken Freire
You're actually engaged. You're actually active.
Monetization Models in Podcasting
00:18:35
Ken Freire
At what point have you noticed that people can actually start making profit or generating leads from their podcast?
00:18:44
Andy
Sure. So what I would say, and I know... A lot of of advertising is going to require you to have lots of listeners, right?
00:18:55
Andy
The thousands.
00:18:56
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:56
Andy
And even then, your or your you know price per thousands is going to be pretty low, right? If you're expecting to make it big.
00:19:06
Andy
So what I would i say as far as if you're looking for... revenue from your show. I've heard it said once and I'm going to attribute it to Adam Curry, who is an old MTV VJ, person who helped start podcasting.
00:19:20
Andy
And his big thing is value for value. And what that is essentially is an ask. And it's, hey, if you've gotten any value out of this show, I ask that you return it back. And that doesn't have to be money. That's time, talent or treasure.
00:19:33
Andy
And, and you start doing that. And you don't You don't just offer that, let's say, to somebody through a buy me a coffee or whatever, because you'll get something like if you set a limit like $2, $5, or $10, you're going to get $2, $5, or $10.
00:19:50
Andy
But if you start providing a lot of value, and this is where it comes back to even in your community, because if you're providing value lots of places, your podcast, your community, things like that,
00:20:02
Andy
and you ask you make that ask that says hey if you've gotten value for this from this show hey consider giving it back you'll find that people are willing to open up their pocketbooks for you.
00:20:15
Andy
If you don't pigeonhole them into a $5, $2, $5, or $10 donation, you may get $2, $5, or $10 donations, but you may also get a $1,000 donation. And because people, you you don't really realize, especially if you're building that community and you're making people feel special,
00:20:32
Andy
they're going to want to give you value back. so say start with that. and you can also create something to sell or coaching one on one consulting, you can do that right away.
00:20:44
Andy
That's it's one of my I mean, that's really honestly, can the reason one of the reasons that I started podcast answers, because I wanted to pitch myself to people to, do podcast editing.
00:20:57
Andy
But I also knew that like, I can't just go through my name out there because no one's going to know who I am. And so if I give them something like my podcast, and I also know that not everybody is going to be able to afford the price that I'm charging for consulting or at a podcast editing.
00:21:12
Andy
And so I'm willing to give back to my I'm willing to give back to my community by creating this free podcast. And so I'm answering questions that people have, and that I think other people might have that I can point people back to.
00:21:25
Andy
So let's say someone comes to me and says, Hey, I want to move podcast hosts, how do I do that? I can send them an episode, and I don't have to go through the the time and of actually re explaining that I can just say, Hey, I already created this episode, here it is.
00:21:40
Andy
And so you can you can start making money like that, by just creating something that that is of value to people because once they get to know you, you can, i mean, mean, honestly, if you have a podcast, you're,
00:21:53
Andy
Your best, not best, easiest advertiser is yourself for products that you have. So, cause it's not gonna cost you anything. You already have this audience. You can put it out there and and pitch it to your audience. Now, again, don't be too salesy.
00:22:08
Andy
People will see through you and go, oh, he's just trying to sell something. So don't do that. But for me, my call to action at the end of podcast answers is usually, hey, if you have a podcasting question, for one,
00:22:21
Andy
send me an email and I'll answer it. But if you don't want to go through all of this yourself, I'm available and you can hire me to do it. And so that's something that you can easily do and and doesn't come across as hazy.
00:22:34
Andy
I lost your audio. There
00:22:36
Ken Freire
Oh, sorry about that. For those who are doing coaching and consulting, that's the huge game changer, right? Where like that simple call to action of like, number one, if you have a question, reach out to me.
00:22:47
Andy
Yeah.
00:22:48
Ken Freire
Right? And I love your specific question of like, if you have a podcasting question, reach out to me. I'm glad to answer your question. And I'm sure from there, you can start having the the the conversation, right?
00:22:58
Ken Freire
Where you're like, Hey, how are you doing? What's going on? What's your game plan with this podcast? and see where it goes. It might not go anywhere, but at least it's going somewhere.
00:23:06
Andy
Right. Well, and another thing that's good having this like offering that you offer to sell people your services and podcast is it helps grow your podcast also because you can be in Facebook communities and other communities or whatever.
Community Value and Avoiding Burnout
00:23:20
Andy
And
00:23:22
Andy
The worst thing you can do is walk into that community and say, hey, I have a podcast. Come listen to my podcast. Everyone's going to turn you off and and not listen to you right there.
00:23:30
Andy
But if you come in and you're providing value that that doesn't even necessarily apply to
00:23:30
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:23:36
Andy
to things that you're selling, but you're providing value to that community itself. Then when that question does come up, like, hey, how do you change podcast hosts and do that effectively?
00:23:47
Andy
I can drop that in Facebook and say, hey, you know, I answered this on on of my podcast episodes, because that's less likely to trigger people as spam and your admins as spam. Now, again, some some podcasts or some Facebook groups are going to not like that no matter what.
00:24:04
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:05
Andy
But but you're more if you've been providing value in this group and value in this group and value in this group, it's not going to come across as salesy and spammy. If you just drop an episode, you're linked to something that somebody has already asked about.
00:24:17
Andy
And then and then once they've got that, they they're listening to your podcast.
00:24:22
Andy
a you've maybe gained another listener but in the future they may come to you and go oh that's right andy did say that he has consulting services that he can provide on how to do this or podcast editing whatever and so you're in their mind two different places because now you've become they've become a fan of your show but then also your call to action is in their head and and at their fingertips when they actually need your services
00:24:45
Ken Freire
Yeah, absolutely. just to even go back to the Facebook groups, I used to be part of a coaching program and and I was a staff member there. And we use Facebook groups a lot.
00:24:55
Ken Freire
Like that was kind of the way we used to to teach people. And one of the things that we always told people is like, if you are actually not commenting and engaging in that group, don't waste your time. Right. Cause like you said, no one's getting, everybody's going ignore you.
00:25:08
Ken Freire
And i i actually found one of that was super helpful is that I would really focus on the admins and see if they're posting and commenting and I will start becoming friends with that. Right.
00:25:18
Ken Freire
And not like in a salesy way, but just like, Hey, I want to become a friend with you.
00:25:18
Andy
Gotcha.
00:25:21
Ken Freire
I want to partner with you because I want to provide value.
00:25:22
Andy
Mm-hmm.
00:25:23
Ken Freire
Uh, so that when questions came up and I knew that it was like, uh, against the rules to post my, my content. If I have built a relationship long enough, I would go to those admins and I'd be like, Hey, I know this is weird, but I saw this question.
00:25:38
Ken Freire
do this. Are you cool with me posting this? Right. And if they're like, oh yeah, for sure. Go for it. Like I've now just gotten an in.
00:25:45
Andy
Yeah.
00:25:47
Ken Freire
Right.
00:25:47
Andy
Yeah, that's a great idea.
00:25:47
Ken Freire
And now I realized that I can build this whole relationship with people.
00:25:51
Andy
I'm actually a moderator in the Ecamm community too. And that that that will happen from time to time too, where we're saying, okay, like this person is coming in as spam or that person that actually is providing a lot of value.
00:25:54
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:26:02
Andy
So let's leave that up, even though it may bend the rules a little bit.
00:26:06
Ken Freire
Yeah, but it all it goes back to provide the value. Right. I'm in other Facebook groups, man, where some people are like, ah Right off the get-go, they're like, hey, check out this podcast or watch this thing. And like, dude, you're about to get blocked in like two seconds.
00:26:20
Andy
Yep.
00:26:21
Ken Freire
ah The other thing that I've done too is that when people are have questions, I'll be like, hey, man, I'll either answer it in the comments or I'll just be like, hey, I shot you a DM.
00:26:30
Andy
Mm-hmm.
00:26:30
Ken Freire
And I just send them the podcast recording that way.
00:26:33
Andy
Mm-hmm.
00:26:34
Andy
Yeah.
00:26:34
Ken Freire
That's another way.
00:26:35
Ken Freire
know it's a longer play, but it's a way that you can start little by little growing your podcast.
00:26:41
Andy
Well, and again, comes back to you, especially if you've DM somebody, they have, they have that conversation with you in, in their DMS. And they're going to go back to that. They're going to say, Oh, that's right. Ken did send me this, this episode one time about XYZ.
00:26:54
Andy
Like, you know, maybe he has an answer for this and you can come back and that is a coaching or consulting type of thing that you service that you can offer them then.
00:27:04
Ken Freire
Yeah. you, Andy, as we wrap up here, what's like one mindset shift that helped you scale your podcast without burning out? Because i know a lot of people can be doing podcasting and they feel like they have do it, you know, five times a week or like, you know, crank out a podcast every other day.
00:27:22
Ken Freire
I know one person does it every single day and I'm like, dude, going to burn out, you know.
00:27:26
Andy
yeah
00:27:27
Ken Freire
But how do you do it? How do you scale? What's that mindset shift that you need to have?
00:27:30
Andy
yeah i would say set set ah ah real expectations for for yourself so for and and don't be afraid to even fail that like if you if you were to go look at podcast answers right now my goal was originally to release an episode every week i haven't
00:27:44
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:27:45
Andy
released an episode in over a month because i've gotten busy with life now i've been providing value other places and i've been able to to still continue on that relationship building with my listeners but but as far as an episode goes it's been a while since i put out an episode but start try to set good expectations for yourself if you know that you can't release an episode every week maybe come back to your your listeners and say hey we're gonna scale this back to just every other week or i'm killing it i'm gonna do a great job let's move this up to twice a week now that's ah that's a lot of production work make sure you have time but that and then and ah ah when i originally thought about this question that you asked me thought i went back to the one true fan right you can especially if you're just starting your show like that one true fan
00:28:17
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:28:34
Andy
is somebody that's going to evangelize for you. You make them feel special and they're going to evangelize. So again, I know I've hit that on the head several times, but they're going to evangelize for you. And you can even do things like make them a part of your team.
00:28:47
Andy
If that means let them be a moderator on your Facebook group, then do that because those type of people that you can trust and give a little bit more information responsibility to are people that are going to be stick stick with it for the long time and and they're invested because not only do they feel special because because they have that relationship with you but they're invested now because they're a part of your team and there may be things that you can even hand off you may not be good at everything let somebody in your community do it for you you know people may have better editing skills than you maybe you be able to create
00:29:10
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:29:21
Andy
episode art for you you may not be great at that and so let other people that in your community that that can do those skills that want to give back and that goes back to the the value for value it doesn't always have to be it doesn't always have to be monetary it can be your time or your talent too and so people may may they may be really good artists and you can employ i'm using this in quotes employ them to to create episode art because they want to do that to give back to you
00:29:49
Ken Freire
Yeah. You know, I'll give you a great example of this value for value thing the mindset.
00:29:55
Ken Freire
I had a ah friend of mine who I used to do lot of sales coaching. Right. And he's having trouble. So I was like, hey, man, just send me your calls. I'll listen to him.
00:30:04
Ken Freire
Right. And I gave him some feedback and he was like, oh, my gosh, that was phenomenal. And it increased his his conversion rate exponentially.
00:30:12
Andy
That's awesome.
00:30:13
Ken Freire
It was like, he went from like 20% to like 60%. I can't remember the exact numbers. So don't quote me on it. But it was like, he was like, oh my gosh, this is game changer. So, you know, we we stayed in touch. And then a few months after that, I actually had to new computer, a new laptop.
00:30:28
Ken Freire
And he's in the digital organization space. And I was like, he's huge tech fan. I'm like, I need a good laptop to run all my Ecamm, all my tech stuff. I don't know what to do. So I just randomly reached out to him.
00:30:39
Ken Freire
And he's like, oh my gosh, let me help you. And I mean, he literally broke it down to the T and he just kind of like held my hand.
00:30:45
Andy
That's awesome.
00:30:46
Ken Freire
But it's just because I provided value for value on that. Like I helped him on this thing and he helped me back.
00:30:49
Andy
Right?
00:30:51
Ken Freire
And it was like, it was a great relationship that I still value today because he just did that. He just provided value for value.
00:30:56
Andy
Yeah.
00:30:57
Ken Freire
And I love, i love that you're ending with that.
00:31:00
Andy
Yeah.
00:31:01
Ken Freire
Andy. For those people who are listening to this and like, I love this. I love that you're focused on podcasts helping people grow. Where's the best place to reach you?
00:31:09
Andy
right, so Podcast Answers is my website for all things podcast coaching. can go there or email me hello at podcastanswers.com. I'm available for one-on-one chats.
00:31:22
Andy
I'm available to you teach you. I'm available to do the work for you. Or Layman Creations is my other website where I I i do a lot of production stuff for conferences and other things like that.
00:31:35
Ken Freire
I love it, man. Andy, thank you so much for providing some valuable practical insights for our people. And for those of you who are listening to Andy and if he inspired you, listen, don't just listen to this and walk away.
00:31:49
Ken Freire
Take one action step, whatever it is, maybe go on Instagram live, maybe just reach out to him and ask him for more follow up. Do whatever it takes. Start applying it today, right? Not next week, not next year today and watch what happens.
00:32:03
Ken Freire
And if you found this video valuable, hit subscribe and share it with a fellow podcaster ready to level up. Hope you have a great day.