Microphone Money

Our guest today is a 4th generation farmer, and he is trying to reclaim a farming operation that was lost in his family so that the operation can go into the 5th and 6th generations and beyond. Corey Strothman has an interesting story of growing up on his families farm and then his father having to stop farming independently and lease out their ground when Corey was ten years of age.  For about 22 years Corey's father actually farmed the family ground for another farmer who was leasing it from them.  Then, around the time that Corey was in his early 30's the opportunity arose for he and father to partner and start farming independently again. This was not as simple as it sounds.  The land was there, but the equipment was not.  So, a lot of outside income was going to be required to get things up and running and return the operation to the productivity that it once had.  This required Corey to produce off-farm income.  Today, Corey's wife works in town, he is a John Deere mechanic full-time, and he is an independent distributor of agricultural and automotive products for a company called Conklin

There are a lot of reasons "why" your future clients should have a podcast to share their message.  In this episode of Microphone Money we will talk about what questions to answer for them, and the best ways to do this.   I will also explain why this is the final episode.

A new podcast is not going to grow on its own.  Creating the show and publishing it is only about 10% of the work.  To get maximum growth, somebody is going to have to promote and market.  Who is that person going to be - you or your custom podcasting client?  In this episode we will talk about how and when to deal with this issue.  

There are some small details that I failed to recognize in my first couple of custom podcasting contracts.  In today's episode I want to tell you what they were, and advise you on how to structure these details in your custom podcasting contracts.  

When you are negotiating a contract for a custom podcast with a client, the length of that contract is going to mean a lot to you.  With such a rapidly evolving business coupled with a lack of understand of how podcasting works, you need to really worry about this part of the contract to keep this a win/win situation.  

The world's response to Covid-19 is unprecedented.  When it comes to how downturns are going to impact you in your future custom podcasting business, I am the canary in the coal mine for you.   Today, I'll give you another status update on the business and help you to know what to expect when you are out on your own.

Sometimes clients are going to want you to be 100% exclusive with them, and other times there will be degrees of exclusivity that are either expressed or implied.   In this episode we will talk about identifying those, what opportunities they could cause you to miss and how to charge clients for this opportunity cost.

I've had this topic on my list for a while, and considering our current circumstances with the coronavirus and what is happening with our economy, I thought now would be a good time to cover this. Becoming a full-time podcaster is a crazy idea, and it is very unconventional.  And if this is what you are striving for, your spouse might have a lot of reservations.  And, considering our current circumstances, they might be right.  I have been speaking with advertising agencies as well as public relations firms since this crisis first began, and not one person has told me that marketing budgets get increased at times like these. With that said, we are probably in a moment of producing content while we wait to see what is going to happen with the economy.  When the economy improves, we will be poised to really grow our businesses and go full-time.  

I have always had contingency plans for my podcasting business because I have always known that clients will come and go, and that an economic downturn could really impact this business.   While I haven't had any clients pull out yet, I am preparing for the worse during this Coronavirus outbreak.  Regardless of your opinion of our nation's response to this, the response is going to negatively impact our economy.  So, what can be done?  I'll explain to you what I am preparing for in this episode.

I know that you are probably in a hurry to get your custom podcasting business up and running and to change your lifestyle.  I don't blame you one bit.  However, there is an area of this business development where we need to slow down and play the long game. That is developing relationships with potential clients. In this episode I want to tell you why it is so much more valuable to have a potential client on your show as a guest rather than just sending them a proposal.  I will break down the many positives aspects of this method.

In today's episode I am privileged to conduct the second ever interview on the Microphone Money Podcast.  I will be speaking with Steve Silver, the creative director who was in charge of one of my custom podcasts, The Corn Revolution Podcast. Steve will speak with us about who to connect with when seeking to work with an advertising agency.  He will also talk about the value of using a podcast as part of an advertising campaign, and why he values podcast hosts to deliver content in this medium over radio hosts. We've got a lot for you here as we move you down the road towards your new lifestyle.

We all need to be efficient in the growth of our podcast businesses.  One method of efficiency is to find an influencer who will champion your show and ideas for you. This can be accomplished by developing relationships with advertising agencies.  In today's episodes I am going to share my tips and tricks for doing this, and walk you through how I locate these agencies.  

If your podcast is niched or about a topic that does not flow with the news cycle it has lasting value.  When you advertise for somebody on your show you need to charge up front not just for the exposure the company will get during the paid campaign, but also for the future value they will receive from your evergreen content and promos.

All of us who are building a podcasting business are already doing a lot of work for free.  What do we do when what could be a paying client wants us to do work for no financial compensation? In this episode of the Microphone Money Podcast we are going to explore this situation and talk about when to say "yes" and when to say "no".  We will also talk about how to say "no" in a very respectful way, and why you should not feel guilty about that.

I will admit that I can get carried away with making money at times.  This might seem counter-intuitive considering this is a show about starting a business, and making money is the life blood of a sustainable business.  However, there are times when you can focus on money too much, and that might be a setback for your business or worse. This is why I want listeners of this show to start at episode #1.  I want you to see that this is a process with a foundation that you build upon.  You cannot start out with revenue in an artistic endeavor, you must start out with the art.  And don't fool yourselves, creating a podcast is an artistic or at least creative endeavor that requires some left brain thinking.

In episode #21 I talked about how to make money from advertisers, and I mentioned just a little about what I am discussing today.  That was a long episode, and there just was not enough time for me to include everything I wanted to say about how you go about selecting your advertisers.  I would be remiss if I did not cover this topic on the show.  I think that as a medium we owe it to our listeners, to our advertisers and to our fellow podcasters to do this right.

Since I started the Microphone Money Podcast I have become very active on Facebook and Twitter in the world of podcasting.  There are several groups on Facebook that I scan at least once per day looking for questions that I need answers to or questions that I can answer.  I do the same with Twitter only I have to watch individual people that I follow which makes it more of a challenge. I have seen a lot of posts and questions stating something similar to "I've got 6 episodes out now, and I've get about 100 downloads per episode.  What can I do to increase the number of downloads of my show?" This question that I see frequently is the catalyst for this episode of the Microphone Money Podcast.  I want to address this question and give you tips and strategies for making this happen, but I want to do it with a caveat. That caveat is "this will work, but it takes time".  Podcasting is brand new and revolutionary, but it does not erase the rules of business or life, it just adds a new wrinkle to what has always been universal truths.  Building a business, and building a following through your podcast takes time.  It is just that simple. There are over 750,000 podcasts in existence currently.  Yours is just one of those.  That is a lot of content for people to listen to.  So, folks are going to choose how they spend their precious listening time carefully.  They are not going to jump to your show just because it is there.

A good guest can make a great episode for you.  A bad guest can make a horrible one.   If you have a guest who is extremely nervous, and it is impacting your ability to put together a good show there is something you can do about this.   Learn to put your guest at ease and to level off the adrenaline spike they will feel by being interviewed for your show.

I have been seeing a lot of questions about how to find and charge advertisers on Facebook.  I thought I would address this question in today's episode.   I am going to cover what a CPM model looks like and how it works.  Why I abandoned the CPM model.  And some tips and tricks for finding and connecting with advertisers.  

As you are building your custom podcasting business, I highly suggest starting out with an interview based show under your industry umbrella and focused on your niche.  There are a variety of reasons I suggest starting with an interview based show, but let me just say here that there are so many positives to developing your business that can come from this, I think it is the only way to develop this business.   If you are going to create an interview based show, there will be challenges.  We have already talked about finding guests.  What about conducting great interviews?  Today, we are going to focus on that!

Today is the first ever interview featured on the Microphone Money Podcast.  The bulk of the information for this episode will be found in the audio recording and not here in the show notes. I have Suzanne Doyle-Ingram on the show.  She is an author and the owner of Prominence Publishing.  She consults with people on writing their books, publishes and helps people along the way.  She has a lot of great ideas about leveraging your book to gain contracts and to be seen as the expert in your industry umbrella. There are great tips and hacks in this interview, and you will definitely come out thinking that you should write a book to use as a very large "business card" in the development of your business. Enjoy!

At some point in your journey you are going to have an idea about hosting a podcast for a major corporation.  You are going to try all sorts of different methods to reach the decision maker that can actually make this happen for you only to hit road block after road block.   Today I will discuss how an interview based podcast can help you avoid all of those road blocks and actually get to the person you are seeking.

This is part 2 of my 3 part series on building a platform when you are brand new and have no talent or expertise. In today's episode we will focus on how having an interview based show will help you to build a very unique and very valuable network.

The reasons I focus so much on an interview based show is pretty simple.  Here is a list of the reasons why I am a proponent of this format: When you start out, you are going to be brand new with no platform You are unlikely to have enough expertise when you first begin to fill 52 episodes per year with your own knowledge We are building a business, and having experts on your show as guests helps you to build your network When you approach a large company for an interview, the people you will be dealing with will also be the decision makers you will later approach with an idea about making a show for them An interview based show is easier to fit into your busy schedule

If you are looking at a few options, paying your listeners to help you find guests might be the best one of all of them.  Compare it to hiring a booking agent or assistant.  There is a good chance that you are not going to find an assistant that knows your industry umbrella and particularly your niche.  But, you listeners absolutely will.  Your listeners are just like you.  And they are just like your other listeners.  So, there is a great chance that if they suggest a guest, this is a guest that the rest of your audience will enjoy hearing.  You are leveraging your platform to make it even better.  And, if your show is like mine then it is going to be difficult to mine those diamonds out of the rough.  Your listeners will have insight because they are interested in this as well, and there may be no other way to find those great guests that are just waiting to be discovered.

Why You Should Be Jealous Of Solo Shows If you plan on making a show that is just you, you might be able to skip this episode.  And, you should realize how lucky you are.  You aren't lucky because you don't have to interview guests.  Guests are great, and they are very valuable to you future business (more on that later).  But, if you are going to rely on guests, week after week, then you better have good system for lining them up.  This is a logistical challenge that can add some stress. For The Rest Of Us Now, for the rest of us.  We need guests.  More importantly, we promised our listeners that we were going to bring them interviews that would benefit them.  This is a constant piece of work we need to be doing in the background to make sure that we fulfill this promise and produce a great show.  And, this is definitely not passive. So, how do you go about this.

When you first get started, you are going to sound nervous.  If you have never done this before, and possibly even if you have, you will have that shake and quiver in your voice that will give you away.  So, what can you do to get rid of this?  Well, I've got a simple answer that you will probably not like - start making regular episodes and power through it. Nope, I don't know any tricks other than just doing the work. And, I cannot tell you what your magic number is.  But at some point you will hit that magic number, the nerves will subside and this will feel natural to you.

Coming up with content ideas can be a stressful experience, or it can be a rewarding one.  This is different than booking guests and getting interviews done.  This can still stress you out.  But at least if you know what topics you want to cover and when, that part of the planning does not have to add to your stress. So, think of it in terms of your total episodes for a year.  If you are doing a weekly show, my minimum recommendation, then you only have to come up with 52 episode ideas per year.  52 may sound like a big number when you are first getting started, and if you have never done this before.  But when you really dig into your niche, you are going to find out that it is not.

In all honesty, there are no shows that I listen to that do not have a regular publication schedule that they stick to.  I do know of some story telling podcasts that only come out once every month and a half or so that are seeing success.  However, that is a completely different animal than we are dealing with when it comes to building a custom podcasting business.  So, for now, I am saying once per week - minimum. The reason why this is so important to me is the professionalism that it exhibits.  Remember when you are creating a custom podcasting business you are trying to please two distinct groups with each show - your listeners and your future clients.

Do You Even Need An Intro I think the quick answer to this is "no".  I certainly have intro's for each of my shows, but that is just me.  There are a lot of shows where the host just starts talking and it is fine.  This is especially true for niche podcasts, and it is another one of the reasons why making a niche show is so great.  If your content is great, you can almost get away with anything. With all of that said, most of the shows that I have ever listened to have an intro.  It just seems weird to have somebody hit the play button and for the next thing they hear to be you jumping right into the content.  So, most hosts do opt to have some sort of an intro.

Before we get caught up in picking a name for your show, we should talk about what the purpose of the name will be.  It is important to keep the fact that we are building a podcast business at the forefront of our minds.  If we were naming a podcast that was only a hobby or a passion project this would be a much less important decision.  But if we are building a business more consideration needs to be given to this. Here is the good news - I don't think that this decision is so crucial that it needs to trip you up.  If you are spending more than a day on this, you are probably overthinking this.  The purpose of your show's name is going to be to help people find you and to tell them what you do.  That's about as far as it can go.

If you are going to start your custom podcasting business and follow the method I teach, you will need to start with a niche show that is within the industry umbrella you want to serve.   In today's episode we will look at how to choose that niche, how to test its marketability and how to determine if it fits into the parameters we are looking for to start setting yourself aside as an industry expert.

There is an old adage that says something to the effect of "If you don't know where you are going how can you ever get there"?  That is probably not exactly correct, but the point remains that you need to determine where it is you would like to wind up.  If you do this it is just a matter of figuring out the path to get there and following it.  Simple Right?  Not So Much.

If you are going to start your own custom podcasting business, do not launch episode #1 of your own podcast until you have banked at least five shows and you are totally committed to never missing a scheduled episode. In this episode of the Microphone Money I explain why this is so important when you are starting your podcast business and career. Affiliate Links Related To This Episode: Do The Work by Steven Pressfield: https://amzn.to/2M5pGsW

If you have never started your own business before, and you have a creative idea there are going to be a lot of people who won't see your vision.   Should you even disclose to them what you are trying to do?  Today we will talk about why you might not want to do that, what black crabs are and who you should tell about your idea.

LinkedIn is a great platform for building a custom podcast business.  I am not an expert about all the inner workings of LinkedIn.  So, if you have come here to learn about the pros and cons of regular vs. premium membership, you will not find your answer.   I have built my custom podcasting business using the connecting and networking ability that LinkedIn offers me for free.  I am going to teach you how to do what I have done for this business type.   Make sure you listen to episode #008 before this one.

LinkedIn is a great platform for building a custom podcast business.  I am not an expert about all the inner workings of LinkedIn.  So, if you have come here to learn about the pros and cons of regular vs. premium membership, you will not find your answer.   I have built my custom podcasting business using the connecting and networking ability that LinkedIn offers me for free.  I am going to teach you how to do what I have done for this business type.  

You are probably not going to be an overnight success with your podcast.  And, if you are trying to build a custom podcasting business you will likely be producing content for a year or more before you develop the confidence, professionalism and catalog that will get you noticed.   But during this time you are going to be developing skills that will allow you to hit the ground running when companies start looking for podcast hosts.  And, you will be creating a network and putting yourself in a position to be taken seriously when you pitch ideas to potential clients.  

I just got back from Podcast Movement 2019 in Orlando, Florida.  This was a great conference in a great location.  More importantly it reinforced everything we have been talking about on this show.   Podcasting is about ready to explode with opportunities for those of us who are ready.  The numbers of listeners is about to spike, and the number of companies who are going to be making their own podcasts is also about ready to spike.   Get Ready!

My Personal Philosophy I strongly believe in establishing credibility and having experience to fall back on if you want to be a thought leader on a topic.  If you are going to pursue the world of podcasting and speak on a specific topic, then you, by definition, are striving to become a thought leader.  So, the advice you will get from me is to have experience in what you are talking about. Today we will talk about getting that experience at the same time that you are building credibility.  And, we will talk about building your podcasting resume!

Have you ever heard the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none"?  What image does that conjure up in your mind?  If it is the image of someone who never really succeeds because they are not specialized, I would say that you had the normal reaction. Today we will talk about why being a generalist in the industry of your choice is so valuable if you want to create a custom podcasting business.  We still want to start out with a niche podcast.  But if you love your topic area and can have great conversations about all aspects of it, then you have a great shot at a successful custom podcasting business.  

If you are going to be a content producer you need to create something compelling enough that people will want to consume it.  How do you do that?   One answer to that question is to engage with very compelling people and borrow both their expertise and sometimes their platform.  If you look at John Lee Dumas' story of how he built Entrepreneurs On Fire to the levels it has reached, it all started with getting very compelling people to appear on his show.   You might be reading this and wondering why would anyone that you look up to in your particular niche agree to a 30 minute conversation with you?  That is where the power of a podcast comes in. For the time being there is cache in requesting a "podcast interview" with someone.  Will this last forever?  Probably not, but I still think that we are on the front end of what podcasts will become.  And until there are so many podcasts out there that everyone in every industry is inundated with requests for interviews this cache will remain.   I happen to believe that inviting someone to be a "guest on your show" is going to be a powerful door opener for some time to come.  There are so many places that podcasts are yet to go, and it is going to take time for us to reach all of those places.  That may never actually happen. So congratulations to you!  You are doing something that makes you vulnerable to criticism and has some decent obstacles to entry.  You are putting yourself into a relatively small group of people, and that will make you stand out.  And, in your particular topic area you might one of just 20 or 30 people to even create a show like yours.  Even better, in your niche you will likely be the only one.   Today we talk about the power of podcasting, making yourself stand out and becoming a thought leader on your topic.  Enjoy!

In this episode we will delve into how you pick what your podcast topic will be.  We will talk about not being a big fish in a small pond, but being the only fish in a small (but growing pond).   This is an essential episode on the way to developing your custom podcast business.  For a much more expanded blog post on this episode sign up for our premium content by becoming a member of the Microphone Money Membership Website.

Hello and welcome to custompodcasting.com and the Microphone Money Podcast.  I really appreciate you visiting our site and subscribing to the show. My name is Matt Brechwald, and this is the not the first time that I have done an initial episode, introducing a podcast.  As a matter of fact, I have done this very same thing on three different shows: Off-Farm Income The Corn Revolution Podcast The D&B Supply Radio Show & Podcast Doing an introductory podcast or blog post is always fun for me because I get to talk all about my vision for the show.  This showhas everything to do with you.  This website and the Microphone Money Podcast is all about helping you find the new future and new career that you are seeking. Now, you probably have already noticed that the three podcasts that I listed above are agriculturally based. Well, at least for the first two that is obvious.  Don't let that bother you.  Microphone Money is not about farming or agriculture.  It has nothing to do with that.  Farming and agriculture just happens to be the niche that I thrive in when it comes to podcasting and now, radio broadcasting. What I am going to teach you will involve yourniche.  Whatever you decide that you would like to make your living talking about, I am going to tell you how to do just that! So, let me tell you what to expect on this show and on this site by telling you about my story.  To begin, back in about 2010 I was working in a career that I was no longer interested in, and I had started to consider starting my own business as a way to change my lifestyle.  The only problem was that I was not a natural born entrepreneur.  And, I had not even been working in business.  I had been working for a city government as a police officer ever since college. I had a lot of learning to do, and a lot of self-doubt to overcome before I was ever going to get my first business started.  At the same time, my wife and I had always wanted to have our own farm.  But after 12 years of marriage we were no closer than when we first got together.  At around this time I started trying to figure out how to take action and change my life into what I was envisioning. In 2011, right at the bottom of the real estate market in Boise, Idaho, we found a gentleman who needed to sell his farm fast.  We were able to sell our house and get a little bit of equity out of it, and we bought that farm.  For the next year I worked that same, government job, that I no longer liked.  We had purchased the farm, but the desire to have an entrepreneur's lifestyle was still eluding me. During this entire time I was listening to podcasts, both for inspiration and for instruction on how somebody like me might become an entrepreneur.  Later in 2011 I actually identified a business that I believed was needed in my area and could replace my current income.....eventually.  I did enough research to decide that if I were to become a business owner, this would be the business that I would start. I wasn't expecting the "resistance" that I encountered once I identified this business. The resistance did not come from my wife, it did not come from my friends - it came from inside me.  I was scared, and I found a million excuses to not take this leap.  And I found a million reasons to not leave my government job with the pay, benefits, vacation, seniority, security, etc. I knew what I really wanted.  I just couldn't find a way to make myself really go get it.  So, I found more podcasts that could help me realize that not every entrepreneur in the world was born that way.  I found podcasts to help me overcome that resistance.  I found podcasts that instructed me on how to create a side-hustle and that told me when it was right to leave your full-time job to turn the side hustle into a career. Finally in the spring of 2012 I bought a piece of equipment and started the business I had been thinking about.  The only way I was able to get the courage to spend the money and do this was by listening to podcasts. I had taken the leap and started the business.  Now I had to learn to market my business.  Again, I turned to podcasts.  All the sudden, the things I was learning from other people really started to work.  My business really started to grow.  As a matter of fact, I found myself surprised by what was happening.  I had three days off per week back then, and all three of those days were packed with work on my side hustle. By the winter of 2012 I started to believe that I really could leave my full-time career and become a full-time entrepreneur.  I talked it over with my wife, and we mapped out a way to make this happen.  Once she was on-board, and I knew this was the route I wanted to take I got really nervous.  Giving up all the benefits and security of my career felt foolish to me at that point.  However, I knew there were people who had done it and lived to tell the tale.  So, you guessed it, I turned to podcasts to find them and to hear their stories. In March of 2013 I put on my uniform and drove a patrol car for the last time ever.  I left my career as a police officer and became a full-time business owner.  At that point I set my sights on growing my business and really making it work.  For the next year I did just that, and I was having a great time. The business was seasonal, so over the winter I had a lot less work to do.  But when the spring of 2014 hit I really ramped it up.  We had been developing our farm for three years at this point.  We had fences and livestock on our property.  One morning I was driving out our driveway to go to a customer's property and this feeling of satisfaction and contentment washed over me.  I was looking around at my own farm, and I was fully self-employed.  I was inspired! The inspiration of this moment is what led me to get behind a microphone for the first time in my life.  I decided that I wanted to help other people do what I had done - start a farm, leave their full-time job and create a new life through entrepreneurship in agriculture.  This is a narrow niche under the larger umbrella of agriculture, but this is where I had experience and credibility. The "Off-Farm Income" Podcast was born at that moment.  To explain, farmers in America make money from what they produce on their farms with crops, livestock, etc.  But 90% of all farmers need additional income because farming alone will not support their household.  This income that is not produced on the farm is called "off-farm income".  This was my niche! During the summer of 2014, in addition to growing my business, I bought the equipment needed to record podcasts with decent audio quality.  I spent about $1,000 on this equipment.  I then went about learning how to use it, I developed a website for this future podcast and figured out what I was going talk about. During this same time I also wrote down my goals.  I just put them down in the notes app of my iPhone so I could glance at them anytime I wanted.  Here is what I wrote: To have a productive and beautiful farm and to be well integrated and known in the "real" agricultural community - nation wide! To be an expert on starting small agricultural service businesses To be writing, speaking and coaching with my expertise as my platform As of today I have achieved all of those goals, and am still pursuing them at an even higher level.  However, I have added goals to my list, and the Microphone Money Podcast is among those. In the fall of 2014 I recorded my first interviews with guests.  And in December of 2014 I published my first ever podcast, Episode 001!  Publishing this first ever episode was difficult for me.  I suffered from "imposter syndrome" - "who am I do this"; self-doubt - "who would ever want to listen to me"; and insecurity; "I don't have a radio voice or dynamic enough personality to do this".  But I clicked publish on the website anyway and put it out there. People actually downloaded the show.  And you know what?  It was fun!  I really liked the feeling I got from creating a show, publishing it and then getting proof that people were actually listening.  It was these feelings that pushed me to keep going and to improve my performance as a speaker, interviewer and writer.  Something was happening here. I continued podcasting, vowing to never miss an episode, and I was having a lot of fun.  I was still running my agricultural service business, but I could see the writing on the wall.  That first business had been the vessel that led me to podcasting.  Podcasting is really where I wanted to be. Pretty soon I added a second, weekly episode to my podcast, then a third!  The podcast was opening a bunch of doors for me, and it did not feel like work at all.  Then it happened.  I received a telephone call from a producer at the cable television network, RFDTV.  RFDTV is part of the "Rural Media Group" and they have a satellite radio network called Rural Radio.  One of the shows on that network is called "FFA Today" and is all about The National FFA Organization. I was interviewing FFA students about their entrepreneurship projects at that time, and the producer at Rural Radio had found out and started listening to my episodes.  When he called he wanted to know of if he could use my content as segments on the show in exchange for promotion of my podcast.  I jumped at the chance and went for it! I started providing content, a lot of content, to the show "FFA Today".  Then, I was able to update my resume to include radio broadcaster as one of my professions.  I was blown away by this.  Never in my wildest dreams did I see myself as a radio broadcaster.  I was pretty excited about it, so I kept sending them segments and great interview ideas.  It did not take too long until they asked me if they could start paying me as a freelance journalist!  They wanted me to conduct interviews for them that were outside of my niche, and they were offering to pay!  I jumped at the chance again. Once this happened with the radio show "FFA Today" I realized what I had done, and I figured that I could replicate this.  Before long I found myself hosting, editing and producing a radio show and podcast for D&B Supply.  Then I found myself adding advertisers to my own podcast!  Then I found myself editing and producing a podcast for Bulkloads.com. I was getting so busy podcasting and broadcasting that I knew I was in another transitional period.  Only this time I was not transitioning from a job to entrepreneurship.  I was transitioning from one business type to another.  I needed to give something up, and that was the gopher extermination company.  I sold the company to my employee and became a full-time podcaster and broadcaster in 2017.  Since then I have added another client and another show, "The Corn Revolution Podcast".  I have retained all of my previous clients, grown my advertising income and developed products that I sell. I had known for a couple of years that I wanted to teach people how to create a custom podcasting business.  However, having credibility before putting myself out there as an expert is important to me.  It was when I was hired by the marketing firm, Bader Rutter, to host The Corn Revolution Podcast, and they flew me out to Iowa for a week of interviews, that I knew it was time. That is when I started developing the Microphone Money Podcast and bought the domain name custompodcasting.com.  I now have the business, the experience and the credibility to put myself out there as the expert in building a custom podcasting business.  Actually, I believe I am the only person in the world doing this, and I am here to teach you how to do it too! So, that is who I am.  Just 6 years ago I was a police officer with no broadcasting experience and no idea that I could make my living this way.  Today I have an unbelievable lifestyle, work on my own terms and have replaced my police officer salary. What I have done is replicable by anyone in any niche.  The Microphone Money Podcast will paint a picture of how I did this with broad strokes and will be a free resource for anyone who wants to listen.  For those of you who are really serious about changing your life and podcasting for your living, I have created the Microphone Money Membership Website.  It is here, on this site, where you will gain full access to me and monthly webinars to learn everything that I know about building this type of business. I hope you will subscribe, like the Facebook page and get on the waiting list to join the membership site during the enrollment period in August of 2019.  I look forward meeting and working with each and every one of you!