This series is all about showcasing Libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A with Emily Chase Smith from The Entrepreneur’s Money Podcast
When did you start podcasting?
I had my first podcast in 2009, a mommy podcast that encouraged moms not to lose themselves in the lives of their children.
My life and focus changed and in 2011 I started The Entrepreneur’s Money Podcast using Libsyn.
I have to say, the difference between trying to figure out the tech side on my own in my first podcast and using Libsyn now was absolutely night and day. Libsyn saves me time and money and I especially appreciate having solid statistics so I can see what lights up my audience.
Why did you start podcasting?
I just love podcasting.
If I were born a few decades earlier, I would have gone into radio. There’s something so amazing about creating your own show that people love and the high you get from interviewing your idols should be illegal.
Hands down, I think the biggest benefit of a podcast is the ability to reach out to anyone (and I mean anyone) you find interesting and request an interview and 90%+ will say yes.
All of the sudden, you’re chatting with your favorite authors or online personalities. It’s a heady thing! Also, I believe podcasting is an amazing marketing tool, especially for professionals.
I’m an attorney and in what other medium would potential client have an opportunity to become educated about my topic and come to know me first, before they need to take the scary step and reach out?
And let me tell you, there are no warmer leads that leads that come from a podcast.
What’s your show about?
I talk about entrepreneurs and money. It’s like personal finance for business owners.
I help entrepreneurs be financially savvy as the start, grow and move on in business. As we say, “money only counts if you keep it”.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
I like to keep it simple, really simple. I have a $100 USB external mic with a $15 pop-filer.
I record interviews using Skype and a $20 add-on recorder. I had a voiceover artist from Elance record an intro and exit for $40.
Once I record an interview, I open up GarageBand, record a 1–2 sentence teaser intro, drop in the intro, then the interview, then the exit and save it as an MP3 to my desktop.
I then send it to a writer I hired on Elance to write the show notes, link up the resources and write social media posts.
This is money well spent because as much as I like writing, I hate writing about an interview I just did. I try to have 3 shows in the can at all times.
Interviews get postponed, life happens, and it’s not a tragedy if you’re prepared. That being said, you can’t get too far ahead when you interview as a cornerstone of your show.
If your interview is too old, you risk the interviewee having lost excitement about the interview and not promoting it as well. It’s a balance and I find 3 in the can works well.
How have you promoted your podcast?
I hired a podcast coach to be sure my podcast was in good SEO shape.
You want to be able to be found when people are searching for your subject matter. I post each episode as a blog post on my site and I give it a lot of social media love. One of the great things about a podcast is that your guests will promote it with you.
The sweet spot are the guests that are not too big, not too small, but just right. They will be exited to have been a guest and will let their fans know. Also, you want your guest to have a similar, but not duplicate audience so they’ll be interested in the content and also interested to follow your podcast when you have other interesting guests.
Also, link up anyone else you mention in the podcast. A guest, Michael Kawula, and I talked about the EMyth. I linked it up and tweeted about it.
It’s the EMyth for goodness sakes so I didn’t think anything about it. A few days later, the EMyth’s PR department contacted me and asked to have their Chief Branding Officer, Jonathan Raymond, on as a guest.
We recorded 2 interviews (because he’s such a knowledgeable guy) and now the EMyth has recommended my podcast to all their EMyth coaches and are promoting my podcast in their materials.
That’s some amazing listener expansion all from a conversation I was already having with Michael Kawula. And, as a side note, it turns out that Michael Kawula, is a connector of the highest order and has put me in touch with a lot of other interesting guests and potential joint venture partners.
The power of connecting with people via a podcast cannot be denied.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
That people will say “yes” to being a guest.
It’s scary to reach out to people you admire and you may think your audience is too small or that you’re too new, but even the big fish will almost always say yes.
Even if they say no, it’s always nice. I’ve never had an email that tells me to crawl back into the hole I came from.
Also, consistency is key. A weekly episode is necessary to keep an audience. The length is up to you, but it should be consistent.
What if you tuned into your favorite TV show (Big Bang Theory I’m looking at you), and they didn’t feel like making a new episode that week, or it was 12 minutes long because the felt like it.
That’s a no go.
Be true to your audience and they’ll be true to you.
Another note, New Media Expo (also called NMX), held in Las Vegas in January, is a “can’t miss” for podcasters.
Everyone who’s anyone in the podcasting world is there and accessible.
There are specific seminars held just for podcasters as well as the podcast awards. Last year was my first year and it was amazing.
I met some of the Libsyn folks and got a groovy tote bag too (no promises on the tote, but it is awesome). It’s the event of the season.
Emily talks about all the money stuff that entrepreneurs don’t really want to deal with, and she does it in a super accessible way. If you wanna get your money in gear and level up your business you absolutely need to subscribe to The Entrepreneurs Money podcast! And you know, if you need an attorney, Emily is your gal! You can email Emily(at)emilychasesmith(dot)com!
Looking to share your knowledge? Then you need to get started with Libsyn right away. We’re ready to save you time and money!
