Joanne Bolt on the Power of Podcasting for Female Entrepreneurs

GGG with Joanne Bolt – Final
Fri, Jul 05, 2024 7:40AM 38:40
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
podcast, business, joanne, episodes, real estate agent, podcaster, build, affiliate, listen, host, numbers,
started, masterminds, love, women, people, instagram, real estate, month, product
SPEAKERS
Karen Yankovich
Karen Yankovich 00:10
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Good girls get rich podcast. I’m your host, Karen
Yankovich. And I’m excited to have Joanne both here with me today, Joanne and I are gonna get
down and dirty about all things podcasting, which is one of my favorite topics. I have some
questions for her. And I’m sure she’s going to share some really, really good stuff with us. So
I’m excited to dive in with her. You know, I really think if you are one of my clients, you
probably have already heard me say this, but I think that podcasts are almost becoming
ubiquitous. I like if I’m talking to somebody lately and are not talking if I’m, if I’ve come across
somebody and I want to learn more about them, the first thing I do is I look for their podcasts.
And if they don’t have a podcast, I’m like, wait there and have a podcast. So I do think it’s
something that if you’re creating a thought leader brand is important, or could be an important
piece of your thought leader brand. And Joanne is the CEO and founder of podcast her and the
host of the B word podcast, your slightly snarky southern girl who ran a $56 million producing
real estate team, and then took that knowledge and sort of amplifying women’s voices and
their businesses via podcast, host of the B word podcast at a top 1.5% globally ranked business
podcast. During this interview with entrepreneur goddesses like Lindsey Swartz, Ali Costanza
and Natalie Ellis. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a 4.0 in both marketing
and management of information systems. She’s a numbers nerd at heart. And as the founder of
podcast her, is she’s created the place for ambitious women to grow a podcast from a part of
their business, to being a business, founder of the podcast, her network, where micro
podcasters grow and monetize. I am so happy to have this conversation, I gotta tell you
something, Joanne, I get a lot of applications to be on this show. And there’s very few that we
accept not because for any other reason that there’s just so many people I meet, and that
every one of our shows is a guest. So your application absolutely stood out. So I’m really
excited to get to know you and get to know what you’re doing. So thanks for being here.
02:08
I’m thrilled to be here. What an honor.
Karen Yankovich 02:10
Yeah, I saw it. I’m like, Yeah, we need to talk more about this. We’re not talking about this on
the show. So tell me a little bit about your journey, I mean, real estate agent and real estate
broker to podcaster. Tell us a little bit about how that all happened.
02:26
I mean, you would think that would be such opposite ends of the spectrum, right? But when you
when I look back on the journey, what really occurred was I went from being a consultant at a
top five consulting firm, to being a real estate agent, mainly because I learned quite a long time
ago, I don’t want to work for a boss, like I want to be the boss. And so I started real estate, and
then found that I was really damn good at real estate, and so stayed in it for 20 years. And
when it was time for me, you know, I kind of wrung out every piece of me in that world, I could I
could do. And it was time to move on. I looked around and was like, Well, what other skill sets
do I have, you know, like, I was so good in an industry that, quite frankly, doesn’t even take a
college degree or didn’t at that time. Now, you can get a college degree in it, but and so I
picked up a microphone. And I started talking and I started creating content via a podcast. And
what I discovered was every skill set that I had as a real estate agent translated over into
podcasting, different languages, different terminologies, but the same concept of you know,
running your own business. And so that was kind of how that journey happened. I thought for a
while I would be a real estate coach. Like that’s actually kind of like that little mid piece
transition there. I thought, well, if I don’t want to sell homes anymore, I’m always teaching the
agents on my team. So I’ll become a real estate coach the way to scale that would be a
podcast. And then the more and more I did it, I discovered that while my love for coaching and
teaching women to run big businesses is strong. It’s not strong in the real estate world any
longer. And so now I’ve shifted it over into the podcasting world completely.
Karen Yankovich 04:09
And is that what you’re talking about on the B word podcast? Tell us a little bit about what is
that was that your first podcast? My
04:15
first podcast was actually one called the wait for it. This is so cute that this trifle the Tina and
Joe Show because my friend in real estate and I we were going to be coaches together and so
we started the Tina and Joe Show to build up our, you know, our real estate thought leadership,
you know, globally instead of just in the local areas that we were in, and then I was Tina and I
decided you know, I didn’t want to be a real estate coach or we didn’t you know, want to do this
at the same way in the same time. And so we dissolved and about two years later actually
started the beat word podcast and if you were to go back and find the very first few episodes it
actually still talks real estate. Yeah, yeah. Does it now at all. But yeah, didn’t you know I didn’t
shut it down and start completely over. I just let the B word evolve as I evolved.
Karen Yankovich 05:02
Well, in my podcast, this podcast has evolved as I’ve evolved as well, right? Like we so I get
that I get that. So when you started the B word podcast, what was Why did you start the B word
podcast?
05:13
I really started the B word podcast because I was in that that time period of life. Some people
might call it a midlife crisis, when I was trying to figure out like, Joanne 3.0, who was she going
to be? You know, I didn’t want to be the consultant anymore. I didn’t really want to be the real
estate agent anymore. What could I do. And so the B word podcast started as a continuation of
the Tina and Joe Show, even though it was just me. And it was teaching real estate agents how
to be a really damn good real estate agent. And so that’s really why I started the B word
podcast. And over time, what I discovered was, I just love this form of content. And I love this
form of relationship building with your potential clients. It’s really it’s what I did in real estate is
I built relationships. That’s how I built my $56 million business. And podcasting allowed me to
do that. But without the handcuffs of needing to be literally in front of you, or literally handing
you a cup of coffee and saying, Let’s go have coffee, or literally like looking you in the eye, you
could form a relationship with me on your own terms and in your own time. And so that’s why I
stuck with podcasting. It was just that relationship builder.
Karen Yankovich 06:25
I love that. I love that. Yeah. So I started my my business started, well wait for my podcast, and
this probably is going to be episode 280. Something. So you know, we’ve I’ve got a bunch of a
lot of episodes under my belt at this point. But at the time, I had started my business I you
know, like kind of like an online brand and online presence. And I was writing blog posts. And I
really do like to write but I was getting help with the blog post, because I’m not necessarily a
writer first and foremost. And I just felt like I just couldn’t do another top three ways to blah,
blah, blah. But it took me forever to kind of come up with a title and a theme. And most people
know me for like LinkedIn strategy, but I didn’t really want to have a podcast just about that.
Oh, my gosh, took me forever to get off the stick. And finally just do it and, and at the time. So I
don’t know, maybe five or six, or maybe even more years ago, it was at the time I thought,
Okay, well, I’m gonna build a podcast, I’m gonna build a brand, I’m gonna get billions of
listeners. And because I’ve got a lot of followers and all my followers are gonna listen, and I’m
gonna get sponsors, and I’m gonna have this is gonna, I’m gonna monetize this with sponsors,
and all the things right. None of that the
07:31
typical journey, like 00 of that happened 90% of podcasters think that that’s exactly what they
think they’re going to do and then fall flat. Yeah, yeah,
Karen Yankovich 07:43
it’s funny, I was talking to the people on my, one of my programs, because a lot of the women
that I work with, some of them are starting podcasts, and we’re talking, we’re talking about
podcasts a lot. And I just want to manage your expectation, because I think it’s really important
podcasts a lot. And I just want to manage your expectation, because I think it’s really important
for them to have a podcast. But you know, my podcast is in the top 2% of podcasts, you know,
ranked in the top 2% of podcasts. So I kind of shared my numbers with them, you need to see
what the numbers look like for a podcast and the top 2% of numbers. I don’t want you to think
you’re going to be getting, you know, 20,000 downloads a week, because you’re probably not,
you know, you’re probably gonna get nowhere near that. And, and I did it literally kind of
transparently to say it’s, I still think you want a podcast because it does help your brand. It
helps. Here’s what it helps us people get to know like, and trust you, right? Oh, yeah. So while I
do love doing my show, it’s never been monetized via sponsors. It’s always been monetized via
driving people to my own products and services. And that is where it’s so valuable for me. And,
you know, always looking, I’m always looking to see what’s happening out there. So what are
you what are you seeing,
08:47
Oh, I’m seeing the same thing. So monetization can occur in so many different ways. You know,
I look at the podcast, and I’m like, I don’t really want sponsors, because I listened to other
podcast, and they have gotten so saturated with the commercials that I’ve even stopped
listening to some of my favorite podcast. And so for me, I’m like, No, I want to make sure that
what the podcast does is allow me to have that thought leadership ring in, you know, people
into my world to where they get to know me, like me, trust me, because you can hear my
voice. You can hear how I talk. You can hear how I teach. And so when they’re ready for my
products, I’m the only one that they think of, you know, to join us. I don’t have to do sales calls.
I don’t need coffee chats. I don’t need all the other. I mean, I hate to say it, but dare I say it
time wasters in order to get your business because by the time generally speaking, you have
clicked the button to join my network or join my studio. You have found me on Instagram.
You’ve learned a little bit about me, I look at Instagram, like the billboard into your business
and then you’ve gone over to the podcast, which is the it’s like, you know a lot of authors, they
treat their books like their business card. I treat my podcasts like my big Since card, go this five
episodes, and you will know in five episodes whether you want to work with me or not right out.
And I don’t even talk about my actual business on the podcast, I interview other people,
because what we do in the studio, which is my community is we teach women in particular how
to run their businesses from start to finish with five main things. And so I bring people onto the
podcast that are experts in those five main things. And so really, I’m just giving you a referral,
you want the best content creation, you know, on YouTube, here’s, here’s your go to, you want
to learn how to do many chat, here’s your go to, you want to like whatever it is you need in the
business, I’m bringing you the referrals. So because I do that, then they join my, my offers,
because I’ve already shown them the value. Right,
Karen Yankovich 10:49
right. It’s exactly right. And, you know, unless you’re looking for, you know, 10,000 new clients
a month to pay you $1 Right, typically, we’re looking for people that vibe with us. And the
podcast, I think the five, the podcast helps me do that, you know, I talk 100 miles an hour, I’m
from New Jersey, you either gonna connect with that or you’re not? And if you’re not, let’s find
out now, right before we struggle to build a relationship once you’ve paid me, right, so I think it
not only does it attract the exact right people, to me, it also, you know, I’m going to use the
word repel, I’m not repelling people, but it also means that we’re not a good fit.
11:31
Yeah, you do want to repel the people that you’re not gonna be a good fit for. And that are not
your ideal client avatar, because there’s no sense wasting anyone’s time. Yeah, you know, I
joined in 2022 and 2023, I joined several masterminds. And I learned a big lesson. I joined
these masterminds, and some of them were phenomenal, and some of them not so
phenomenal. And I should have gone back and listened more to the host. Because every single
person who ran the mastermind had a podcast, and had I gone back and really listen to those
podcasts, I would have probably not joined the ones that weren’t phenomenal for me. Because
the they showed up in the master minds, just like they showed up on the podcast. And it didn’t
click with me it didn’t which
Karen Yankovich 12:18
of course they did. Right? Of course they did, right. The ones that did really,
12:22
really well, like, again, they showed up on their podcast, just like they showed up in their
mastermind, I to this day, I listen to their podcasts, like I love their podcasts on in their world,
I’m in their masterminds, I’m meeting their friends, because it’s like sitting down at the cool
kids table in the cafeteria in high school and suddenly realizing I either don’t want to be here,
or I do want to be here and finding the right table to sit at. Right.
Karen Yankovich 12:46
Right. And you know, it’s it’s, it’s so interesting because, you know, for so long, it’s I would say
for maybe a decade up until maybe the pandemic or maybe even through most of the maybe
to like 2022 There was so much talk about numbers, right? Your numbers of social media
followers, I need to grow my followers, I need to grow my email list, I need to grow my
listeners, I need to grow my download. And for me, it’s truly almost never been the case. But
because my what I teach is really more timeless marketing, like how do you who the people
you need to meet and how to get them on your calendar, right? Like so. And then and that’s
really how we’re growing our business there. But your your thought leader brand helps with
that, right? Because you’re going to have a higher success rate of getting the people you really
the cooler people on your calendar, if you’re showing up looking like you’re worthy of their
time. So all of this kind of all comes together. So even with podcasts, like if you’re starting a
new podcast, let’s say you’re only getting like 20 downloads a week, right? Or five downloads or
100 down like whatever some you know, even what maybe people think a low numbers, if one
of those people every month or two every month higher you converse Yeah, right? Who cares?
Right? So it’s really not about the numbers. It’s about the conversion of the people and having
the right people listening. And of course, you know, the numbers are nice when they grow. But
if you’re if everything is growing with it, right, but it’s not just about the numbers, and it’s so
disheartening, sometimes right to see because that’s because but even for me, like I have, I
knew there’s no way on this planet if I took off the rest of 2024 and did nothing but listen to all
the podcasts I want to listen to on my podcast, I wouldn’t finish them, you know, so. So it isn’t
that I don’t want to listen to people shows. It’s like there’s just not enough hours in the day,
because so there’s so many great shows out there. And that’s the same thing is happening with
with this show, right? There’s somebody listening and going, oh my gosh, I really want to listen
to all our episodes, and they’re just not getting to it right and it’s not a it doesn’t mean that this
isn’t a great show. It just means that it’s mixed in with a lot of other great shows. Right? So we
have to remember that I think as podcast hosts, of course we want to we want to drive loyal
listeners and people listening to our back catalogue and there’s I’m assuming you’ve got some
strategies for that and I know there’s strategies for that. But at the same time, to me what i The
number that I care about I just who’s booking calls, who’s booked, you know who’s joining my
program from this that listens to my
15:04
podcast. Yeah. And I want you to also remember and give yourself permission to remember the
fact that podcasting comes in seasons. So your listener who has subscribed to your show may
listen to 12 of your episodes this month, get what they needed from Karen and go on to
another podcast and bench that I think people tend to binge upon, you know, podcast more
than, say, social media. And then when their brains circles back around to something that has
clicked in from those that first time they benched you, they’re going to come back to you and
they’ll start benching you again. So your numbers may go up and down, because your followers
are just binging in a season and then they kind of, you know, they’ve, they’ve had their fill. So
they go on to a different podcast, or three or four, and then they come back to you. I know, I’ve
done that with a lot of, of ones that I routinely listened to, you know, I’ll suddenly look around.
I’m like, I have not listened to that podcast in like six months. And I start back listening. And I’m
like, it’s like a best friend. Yeah. All over again. And now 15 other episodes, ready in the
morning, right? It’s
Karen Yankovich 16:08
like finding like, it’s like finding a Netflix series that you love that they just came out with a new
season, and you didn’t even realize it. Now you’ve got like, I’ve got this whole deal. So good.
Right, right. Right. I love that. I love that analogy. And it’s so it’s so important. So what what,
tell us a couple, give us a couple of tips around starting a podcast and growing a podcast and
really managing me, you know, making our podcasts part of our business,
16:33
who I love that question. When you, you have to make a concentrated effort to make a podcast
a part of your business. It is the long game. A lot of entrepreneurs look at things and they’re
like, no, we want it now we want big splashy marketing, we want a million followers on
Instagram, because that will equate to sales. And what they’re not looking at is three years
down the line, you have started your podcast now. And in three years from now you’ve laid so
many bricks, because you have formed so many relationships, you’ve got so many, you know,
episodes that people can go back and learn who you are, that in a couple of years, when this
long game, you built brick by brick by brick, it becomes that solid foundation of your business,
you can actually kind of turn off some of the other things that you’re doing that are driving you
nuts, and just lean into the podcast, because it has built the foundation of your business. So
any advice I give a new podcaster is always your first 10 episodes are gonna suck. So embrace
the suck, it is okay. Please just start recording and get out there. And don’t worry about being
perfect on your first 10. Because hardly anyone is like you, your mom, your dad, your dog are
listening to that. And that’s about it. So where you really want it to get good is about episode
15 to 20. And that’s when you start marketing it. And that’s when you start really like you start
honing in on your zone of genius and the way that you talk on the podcast and the way that
you show up. So that’s when you want to start really kind of marketing and out there in order to
build that loyal following that will later become clients of yours. But just know it’s gonna take,
you know, it may not pop off for you instantly. And that is okay. And that is normal. But just like
anything else you’re building in your business mean, the first offer you did probably didn’t pop
off yet you’re refining it, you had to figure out what your avatar was what they wanted. How
could you solve the pain point? You had to evolve the business? The podcast the same way?
Yeah,
Karen Yankovich 18:37
yeah. And you know what I think too, I think that, you know, at least kind of like in my world, in
my online world, a lot of people that I know, have podcasts, a lot of my clients have podcasts, a
lot of them are starting podcasts. But many, in many people’s worlds, if you’re listening to this
show right now, and you are have a podcast, we’re thinking about starting a podcast, your
audience might not be the same. So what I mean by that is, you are the host that automatically
gives you gravitas. And the your audience is going to look to you differently, because you are
the host of your show, because many audiences don’t who are not necessarily as heavy
podcast producers, as my audience necessarily is right. So it immediately gives you gravitas.
And people start to look at you like that thought leader, right, which is a big part of I think a big
part of creating a brand that leads to running a very profitable business. So you know, I feel like
there needs to be some kind of consistent content every week. I think if you’re if you’re running
an online business, or if you’re marketing yourself online, you do need to have some consistent
fresh content every week. And with podcast. It’s just there’s so many once you record it, there’s
just you can just repurpose so many pieces of it and there’s just so much there’s so much
there. And as you get to like you mentioned the 10th or the 15th through the 25th episode.
Now you can start having conversations with people like you know what I did a show about that
a couple of weeks ago. I’ll send you the link. And that starts again, it builds in more gravitas
and more thought leader into your brand. And and all of this leads to helping you show up, like,
you know, like you’re worthy of people’s time.
20:11
And again, it’s like your business card. So someone says, oh, I need to know something about
that. Or I would like to get a connection with this person or that person. Oh, I met them on an
episode, let me send you that episode. Oh, we talked about that. I brought in an expert, let me
send you that link. And that’s how you grow your podcast as well. And your thought leadership
in in whatever it is you are, and you may discover, and here’s the fun part, you may discover
that what others view you as a thought leader is not what you originally started out, yes. But
the more you know, I used to tell, and I go back and equate this to real estate. But we used to
tell agents that in order to get really good at a listing presentation, you needed to teach it, you
know, to master something, you talk about it, and you teach it to others. And I feel the same
way about podcasting. You know, the more we talk, the better we get at something. So you
may start out thinking you’re going to talk about LinkedIn. And the next thing you know, you
are an expert on a certain piece of LinkedIn, or using LinkedIn for something else, because you
keep talking about it. You keep bringing in people to interview you keep getting better and
better at what you’re, you know, what you’re thinking about and talking about, and the
questions you’re asking. And the next thing, you know, your thought leadership has evolved
and becomes something completely different. Yeah. And
Karen Yankovich 21:33
it’s, you know, it’s so accessible. I mean, it’s so accessible to all of us to this, you know,
podcasting, you don’t need to have, you know, millions of dollars, like I’m actually I’m actually
at my family’s house at the beach, right. I’m not even in my office, but I’ve got my little
portable microphone here. And of course, I should have better lighting, but whatever. There’s,
there’s, there’s that. But but the, you know, it’s easy to do. It’s not like, you know, I don’t I don’t
have a $10,000 microphone, you know. And it’s interesting, because a lot of people say to me,
what, what do I need, I need fancy microphone, and I go watch the news one night, like, watch
MSNBC and see how many of the people that are being interviewed in their house have their
earbuds in? Yeah, you know, If Katie Couric can do an interview with their earbuds in you do not
need to buy a $10,000 microphones do your podcast, or no, it’s just you just have to have
something, you
22:17
know, setup that I teach people to use. I’ve got a course called press record. And I’ve got two
setups. One is for the Mac user, and one is for the non Mac user. And both of them are under
$300. Right?
Karen Yankovich 22:30
Right. It’s very inexpensive. I was like, Oh, I
22:33
can’t start upon Yes. It’s so expensive. I’m like, if you don’t have $300, we have other issues.
Right? We want to start getting, we got to talk about something else in your business. Yeah, we
can’t do Yeah, there
Karen Yankovich 22:44
was a time there’s a I have a little bit of a funny story. There was a time that I was at. So so our
house at the beach is is just outside of Cape Bay. And I was in Cape May. I don’t know it was
offseason. So it was at the bar with some friends. And there was a woman sitting at the bar.
And she was just whining. She was whining about her life whining about everything. And
somehow I got in a conversation with her. And I was like, well, because my business coach me
kicked in. And I’m like, well tell me what you would want to do. If you could do anything in the
world. If I had a magic wand, what would you want to do do anything which was like, I’d really
love to have a radio show where I can talk about, you know, women’s issues and women’s
rights and blah, blah, blah. And she’s going on and on. She just described this like radio show.
She wants to have, like, picked up her phone, I go, Okay, well do it. Like what’s stopping you
from doing it? Push record on your phone, and put your earbuds in and record your first
episode, and then talk to find three people to talk to if you want to have guests. Like, and she’s
like, What do you mean, I go, why don’t you have a podcast like that Podcasts can start this
and then you never know where it’s gonna go. Right? People are gonna, somebody’s gonna
listen that might bring you in or pay you to speak at their event or whatever. But if you’re so
passionate about these issues, that you want to have a radio show, what are you waiting for?
And I really like I don’t I never I don’t know the woman. I never followed up with her or
anything, but I am always interested. Like, I’m wondering if she ever did anything if she was
one of those people that just needed to whine, you know, and be a complainer or if she truly
did it right. But it was just so funny that I was just like, well, what are you waiting for? Then just
do it. Like, what do you like recording? You have a phone right here that records
24:10
listen, I went to a conference in January, I cannot even make like, I cannot believe I’m about to
even admit this. I went to this conference in January for podcasters. And I was like, so excited.
You know, this was gonna be great. I’m gonna network with all these business owners who are
podcast hosts. I’m gonna really, really like this is gonna I’m gonna get so many great guests for
my own podcast. Yeah, I pulled up to this conference and should have known the minute I
walked in when the lady walked by me with like cat ears. No lie. There was at least 30 people at
this conference that all have podcast about cats. Hats. So at first I was like, you’ve got to be
kidding me. And then I looked up their podcast and I was like, how are they getting this many
downloads? They’re talking about Siamese cats. Half the time like cat habits and cat food and
like taking care of cats. And then I realized there really is an audience for anything. Yes. And
not only was there one cat podcast, but they all grew up together. And they all came on this
trip together, because they all knew each other because they podcast about the same thing.
And so it was like, they formed a community of cat podcast hosts, and like, there really is a
listening audience for anything. The trick now is figuring out how to turn that into a business.
Right? And then of course, that’s what my brain everybody does, because it’s strategists who
looked at them and went save here,
Karen Yankovich 25:36
cuz I’m always like, money, right? Where’s the money in this? I get, and I’m the same way. But
there are people that don’t need that, that are not looking to monetize it. And that’s cool, too,
right. But if you’re looking to monetize it, because, listen, it may not cost a lot of money to get
started. It may not cost a lot to run, but there are a lot of things that you have to do every
week, you know. So it’s a commitment. And it’s not a huge commitment, you know, but it’s a
commitment to get it. You got to show up, right? So so I’m always looking for like how, you
know, how can you monetize it? So tell us a little bit about what you when you, you talked a
little bit about how easy it is to get started from equipment perspective, what are some ways to
get started to think about monetizing your podcast,
26:15
26:15
the very first business, the very first thing I will always say is, do you have products and offers
that you sell? Because the first way to turn your podcast into a business, when you don’t have a
lot of downloads and you don’t have sponsors coming in is to legitimately become that thought
leader in whatever your service or product or offer is and turn that into your gateway into sales
for your business. We’ve already kind of dived into that. I think the second greatest way that
and the way that I really funded the B word podcast in the first few years, is I call it the affiliate
non affiliate strategy. So I was an affiliate for some products like Kajabi, which is where we do
all of our landing pages and all of our blogs, and we host our email system, and I’m an affiliate
for them. So I just recorded a little mid blurb that we would put in occasionally letting Hey,
fellow entrepreneurs, you know, I looked all over the place, I found this one all in one CRM,
because I don’t want to have a million downloads, and I just gave a why I love Kajabi and sent
them to a landing page I created with my affiliate link right now. I call it the affiliate non affiliate
strategy, because was I an affiliate for Kajabi? Absolutely. Did they pay me out if people you
know, registered for Kajabi? Also? Absolutely. Were they sponsoring me? Were they aware that
I was going on the podcast? Not necessarily. And so when we think about needing sponsorships
I’m err quoting for those of y’all that are listening audibly. When we think about needing
sponsorships, you’re only thinking about the people who are signing a contract with you and
paying you a certain amount of money to talk about their product. Well, what about the ones
who are paying you when you sell their product, but they don’t care how you’re doing that they
don’t care if it’s on your podcast, or your YouTube channel or your blog, create little inserts, pre
mid rolls, for those and then create your own landing page and send people to them. I cannot
tell you how much money we made that first year, because I loved a product called sparkle
hustle, grow. And it’s like a it was like this box product for entrepreneurs and you got a box
every month and would have like fun pens and a book of the month. And like it was like getting
a little gift to myself every month. Because I love the product I was an affiliate for it I created a
landing page for IT people would go and sign up for their product I’d get a little bitty, you know,
paycheck off of that and may not be a large paycheck. It actually added up over time and so
yeah, that’s when I discovered that the affiliate non affiliate strategy was honestly for a new
podcaster one of the chef’s kiss way awesome i love that
Karen Yankovich 29:03
and you know we all should be doing that we all should be doing that I mean every you know
any everybody that is a guest on the show gets an application you know, it gets a an intake
form from me and one of the questions on the intake form is do you have an affiliate program I
should sign up for you know, and I would say you know, some do some don’t I don’t care I’m not
gonna not have you on if you don’t but if you do have an affiliate, then I’m going to use an
affiliate link in the show notes because absolutely how I build my business and everybody
listening should do the same thing. I have a page on my website, if you go to Karen
yankovich.com/tools It’s a page on my website that’s just they’re not all affiliate links. As a
matter of fact, I am NOT an affiliate for Kajabi but I I have I use one of my friends affiliate links
because I know that it’s a great service for a lot of my students should have so I send them
there because I know they’re gonna get a little support from her. You know, so it’s not even
that I get affiliate payments. It’s more these are the things I use. Some of them I get affiliate
links for some I don’t, but typically things I talk about like either on the show or in my
programs. And instead of, you know, so I just have one page on my website with all the links to
the things, you know, and,
30:05
and here to me is the best part of this. Yeah, and I’m sure you have figured this out for yourself,
when you have a sponsor for the podcast, they sign a contract, they’re going to pay you a
certain amount of money to mention them, they are now tying what they have output into what
their input is. And so there’s a responsibility of giving UTM links and showing them you know,
how many people listen to that blurb on the podcast and got back to your website. And for a lot
of entrepreneurs, especially in the beginning stages of podcasting, when maybe it’s there,
they’re so busy holding up the rest of their business. You know, accounting to a sponsor host
isn’t really in their wheelhouse, you know, having me responsible for that. When you go the
affiliate route. There’s no affiliate asking you every week, right? Your numbers are happy
Karen Yankovich 30:57
when you send them a link that isn’t I love getting those checks. Yeah.
31:01
So it’s like easy peasy revenue. Sponsorship revenue without without the responsibility as a
brilliant no accounting.
Karen Yankovich 31:09
Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. What else? What’s it and I asked you that we should
know about starting a podcast or building a podcast? Oh,
31:16
gosh, I would say that the number one thing I would I would tell, well, I’ve probably already
given a couple of number one things is just get started. And don’t worry that the first 10 are
going to suck. And you can do the affiliate strategy. And the other thing that you know, the
third and final thing is really, just make sure you’re consistent with your business. You know, if
you’re going to start a podcast about yoga, yoga pants, yoga workouts, all the things, but your
business is, I don’t know, creative copywriting for, you know, BLOG HOST. There’s a
misalignment there. Yep. And so what you don’t want to start is a podcast that you intend to
make money off of that is so different from your business, you cannot tie them together at
some point. Yeah. If your podcast is about yoga and yoga pants and yoga stances, and you just
want all the yogi’s to, like, follow you. And it’s just a love passion of yours, go for it. But if you
want to actually use it for the business, then they’ve got to, they got to connect the dots at
some point. Otherwise, it’s like, you know, it’s like seeing someone show up all the time, on
Instagram, like super dressed up and ready to go. And then having them show up on stage in
front of you in flip flops and a T shirt. Right, right when our brains cannot equate. Yep, between
the two, we immediately distrust someone. And so you want to make sure that you have
connected the dots.
Karen Yankovich 32:42
Yeah, you know, I just saw before before we got on this, this call, and I’m gonna paraphrase. So
I’m not gonna use the name because I guess I get this wrong. But there was a pretty big
influencer that posted something on Instagram today that said, for the last couple months,
we’ve been talking, we’ve been really broad with our content. And we’ve, we’ve never had
bigger numbers, but they’re not the right people. Yeah, we’re getting all the wrong people
following us. So as of now we’re going back tight, we’re going back tight, because we want to
build our we want to build our network of business, you know, business supports, I’m going to
talk more about business support more about this more about that it was literally just today. So
that goes back to the numbers don’t matter as much. Because I don’t know what the numbers
were, you know, if the business growth was slower, I have no idea about any of that. But it was
it was so in line with what I’m seeing right now, which is, you know, we’ve got to stay aligned
with what we want and build the audience of what we want. And the numbers are so so don’t
matter anymore the way they used to 10 years ago anyway.
33:38
Yeah, no, I agree. It’s going deep and not wide. It’s going deep in order to go wide. Because
what you’re really doing, you know, if you’re that health fitness coach, and what you and your
your product, what you sell on the back end is a smoothie, then you don’t need to have a
podcast or an Instagram account or anything else. It talks all things health, right? No one to talk
to the person who wants to buy the smoothie, right? And guess what, that person will not only
buy your smoothies, they will now recommend you to all their friends. So you’re really using
that person to go and reach their friends. And you think you’re getting their friends when you
go broad and wide. And the truth is no, it’s when you talk directly to that person that is going to
buy your offer. That’s when they spread the word and that that’s the best relationship to form.
Karen Yankovich 34:25
Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love that. So what do you have on deck for this year? What’s coming up for
Joanne bolt and I guess we really didn’t talk that much. Tell us a little bit about podcasts her
and what’s going on with podcasts, her and the rest of 2024 and beyond.
34:38
2024 is going to be bonkers. I will tell you that. So last year, putting together a network and I
really kind of like talked about it a little bit maybe like sprinkled it out there but I really
gathered Six is my favorite podcast host and I said Okay girls We are going to form a network,
because I wanted to be in some of the bigger networks because I understand visibility for your
podcast can help you reach your ideal client avatar, right when I said, Okay. But if you’re not a
huge podcaster, you don’t get invited into those networks. In fact, you can raise your hand all
you want, they’re not going to listen to you. So let’s know what we’re going to do this our way
we’re going to, we’re going to create the network for the little girls so that we can help them
become the businesses that they want to behind their podcast. And so for the last eight
months, we’ve really refined and developed and put together that network that helps the
average sized female podcast host, get their podcasts into the right years, get the right guests
on their podcast, and put together the right offers for their business so that we can connect all
the dots because that’s really part of my jam is visibility and strategy. And so we are launching
out on May 8, the Podcast Network, which is open to the world, I’d like to say, but we are really
going to launch it may 8, so that we can build out that network where if you’re not getting
100,000 episodes on your podcast, like that’s okay, we have a spot for you. And we can help
you get there. And if you’re not ready for that, maybe you’re just starting your podcast, we are
also rolling out the community, the studio, which is where every single month, I unlock a
different piece of my five part strategy to build a million dollar business. And we focus every
month on one of those pillars. And at the end of the month, we close it down and we open up
the next pillar. And we just repeat this over and over because we I don’t want to overwhelm
entrepreneurs, you know, if you go into something, you’re like, oh my god, I have access to
everything. You don’t implement any of that very well. But if we spend a month just talking
about your short form content, and then we kind of close all that down in the next month, all
we’re talking about is your long form content, and we close it down in the next month, all we’re
talking about is how to engage with your audience, you can put the pieces together and build
and build and build and build. And so those are the two things that we’ve rolled out here at
podcast her and I’m just I’m balls to the wall with both of them for the awesome.
Karen Yankovich 37:09
That’s awesome. That’s amazing. Well, we’re gonna definitely keep an eye on that. We’ll put
links to all of this in the show notes. And I know that you spend a lot of time hanging out on
Instagram, is that the best place to connect with you? It
37:20
is my handle is at its Joanne bolt. And that is definitely where yes, occasionally you may get my
mini chat bot that answers but most of the time, if you just send me a question, you’re you’re
going to get me.
Karen Yankovich 37:30
Awesome, awesome. Well, thanks so much for sharing this. I look forward to seeing what you
do I love I love just kind of the ripple effect of women supporting women and I love that you’re
doing that. So if you’re listening to this show, and you love what you heard today, I would love
for you to take a quick screenshot of this and share it on your social media tag me tag Joanne
so that we can share your share with our audiences. And that’s how we continue that ripple of
supporting women here with the good girls get rich podcast and in my shoes linked up
programs. I just want there to be more wealthy women in the world. I think women with money
can change the world. And I love that Joanne is committed to that as well. And we need to be in
this together and changing the dynamic of women that are like catty to women that are truly in
their heart of hearts supporting each other and that’s what I’m here for. So if you want to know
what that looks like in my world, the links are below here as well. Grab a spot on the calendar
at Karen yankovich.com/call or DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn. I would say the same with
Joanne and then let’s see we let’s see we can do is change the world ladies for that. Alright
Joanne, thanks so much for being here. And good luck with your launch of your network. Thanks
you