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The world of podcasting has exploded in the last few years! Not only does having your own podcast create a new and fun marketing method for your business, especially as an introvert, but becoming a podcast manager can also be a great introvert-friendly business to start and manage. Podcasting or even being a podcast guest is now one of my favorite ways to market my business as an introvert, and I can’t recommend it enough. Have you ever wanted to launch your own podcast or start a podcast management business? If it has crossed your mind, then this is the podcast episode for you.
Our guest on the podcast today is Podcast Manager, Valery Colli. She is the CEO of The Podcast Planners, and with the assistance of her team, they are helping business coaches, services providers, and course creators with the launch and management of their podcast. Besides these services, Valery teaches VAs how to get started as podcast managers and make a consistent income.
In this episode, Valery and I dive into:
- How the cycle of working her 9-5 job and quitting to travel led Valery to book a one-way ticket to Bali to start her own business and became a podcast manager
- The misconception about waiting to outsource until you absolutely have to and how to build a team in your business
- Types of clients a podcast manager get to work with
- Your comfort zone, being fearful, and launching your very own podcast
- …and much more
How a One-Way Ticket to Bali Led to Becoming a Podcast Manager
One of Valery’s favorite things to do is travel. When she worked as a Management Assistant at her corporate 9-5 job she always had the itch to travel. It was a continuous cycle of working her corporate job, quitting that job to travel, and then coming back because she needed to make some money. At that time, she had traveled to Africa and South America, but knew she needed to find something soon so she could work online.
She took several courses with two of the major areas being web design and social media management. She knew that if she didn’t take a huge leap of faith that she wouldn’t be able to start working online anytime soon. If she were to stay at her corporate job and continue on with her social life, then it would take a great deal longer to get the ball rolling with her business. That’s when she booked a one-way ticket to Bali to start her business as a social media manager. While she was there, she met a podcast manager, who introduced her to the world of podcast production. It was interesting to her because she already loved listening to podcasts, but she never knew that you could make a business out of managing podcasts for other entrepreneurs. Now, she not only helps with managing other’s podcasts, but she is teaching virtual assistants to become podcast managers with The Podcast Manager Academy.
The Misconception About Outsourcing and Building a Team
Although Valery wouldn’t recommend for you to book a one-way ticket to somewhere to help start your business because of the money stress, she was able to focus on building her business and make good money. A misconception that she had at the beginning was that she wanted to grow her business, but she couldn’t actually grow and expand until she hired a team. When you are doing everything yourself, you don’t have time to spend on doing more of the money-making activities needed to grow. Valery wanted to wait to hire any team member until she had the funds for it, but she ended up waiting too long. She finally brought on a virtual assistant in her business, and this is really where she noticed the benefit of outsourcing. She now has a team of 3, including herself. Her zone of genius is the editing portion of podcast management, but because English isn’t her native language, she has a team member doing show notes while her VA helps with the business part of The Podcast Manager Academy. Most people wait until they are overwhelmed, stressed out, and fully booked before they hire any support. The key is to not let yourself get to that point before you bring someone onto your team because it also allows you to grow exponentially.
The Types of Clients a Podcast Manager Can Work With
The sky is really the limit for the kinds of clients you can work with as a podcast manager. Generally, the two kinds of people that have podcasts are either podcasting as a hobby or they have their podcasts as a part of their sales funnel or business. If you are looking for monthly retainer clients, then the second option is your best bet. These clients could be:
- Course creators
- Service providers
- Coaches
- Entrepreneurs
- Bloggers
- Youtubers
- Product-based businesses
There are even clients you can work with that I didn’t mention above. It all depends on who they are, and the message they want to provide by helping their audience in some way. Valery mentions that these clients often have a signature program or signature service, so they want to have their podcast be another marketing tool in their business. Just remember that you want to work with clients who are consistent, especially with their podcast, because their audience is looking to them for weekly or bi-weekly podcast episodes, and you want to have a consistent and sustainable income.
Starting a Podcast Manager Business as an Introvert
If you are a virtual assistant, freelancer, or looking to work online, then podcast management can be a great opportunity for you. When Valery started, she watched YouTube videos among other things, but she has learned so much since then. With all of her knowledge, Valery created her course, Podcast Manager’s Academy. It is a great resource to not only teach you the skills you need to become a podcast manager, but also helps you take your skills into the real world by launching your business and finding clients. Some of the skills she teaches inside of this course include how to edit audio, how to launch a podcast, how to write show notes, and how to create audiogram social media graphics. Even if you don’t know about podcasting or haven’t freelanced before, then you can still jump into this course and learn everything you need to get started. If you are an introvert, this podcast manager role is a great option for you. Unlike many other service provider roles, this doesn’t require a lot of client contact after being hired. Depending on how you set up your business, you may choose to connect with your clients by email, Slack, or any other client communication tool of your choosing. Sounds like an introvert’s dream come true.
Comfort Zone, Fear, and Launching Your Own Podcast
Many people may think that it’s as simple as hitting record and then publishing an episode as you launch your podcast, but in reality, there are several steps in the workflow to complete everything. When I started my podcast, it was a big leap out of my comfort zone. Even though there was no video involved with putting it out there and launching it, I had mindset obstacles that I was struggling with. I asked myself, what if nobody listens to it? What if people don’t like my voice and they find me annoying? I also let fear hold me back for a while before I finally decided to launch it, too. I didn’t know what steps to take to put it out into the world and that really held me back. Once I pushed through my fear and comfort zone scares, I was able to put out the first three episodes for launch day. I’m so glad I pushed through that because the feedback has been incredible.
If you have a real passion for it, that’s going to help propel you forward. It’s always about serving your audience. If your goal is focusing on a way to get your message out there and helping people, then podcasting is a really incredible way to reach a bigger audience. There are definitely some things you need to have in place before you launch, so it’s best to put a launch strategy in place before you physically launch it. Some of the things to take note of are your launch day, how you plan to market it, how many episodes you plan to release on launch day, what your workflow will look like for each episode, and if you plan to hire someone to help manage it for you.
Things to Know Before Launching Your Own Podcast
As mentioned above, it is important to have a launch strategy in place before you launch your podcast, but there are a few other factors to keep in mind, as well. If you are unsure of where to start, you can actually hire a podcast manager for launch services. This person is going to be able to walk you through a strategy, technical setup of recording each episode for better sounding audio, create and put marketing materials in place to make sure that you are launch day ready. If you plan to be a little more hands-on with your podcast, you can have a consultation with someone to help you with your strategy on what steps you need to take next for you to implement yourself. Once you launch your podcast, it is a great idea to figure out if you plan to do a lot of the work or if you want to outsource some of the work to a podcast manager for monthly management. This could be show note writing, editing, creating the marketing materials or preparing copy to post on social media and for newsletters. The last thing you want to have in place before you launch your podcast is a content bank of topics and ideas ready to turn into episodes. This helps you to have something to fall back on and gives you that level of accountability.
Valery gave so many valuable and helpful tips on launching a podcast and becoming a podcast manager, especially as an introvert, on this podcast episode today. She shared about how the cycle of working her 9-5 job and quitting to travel led Valery to book a one-way ticket to Bali to start her own business and become a podcast manager, the misconception about waiting to outsource until you absolutely have to and building a team in your business, types of clients a podcast manager gets to work with, your comfort zone, being fearful, and launching your very own podcast, starting a podcast management business as an introvert, and the best tips to keep in mind before you actually launch your own podcast.
Don’t forget to follow Valery on Instagram for more tips on launching your own podcast or growing your own podcast management business. If you are a virtual assistant or freelancer, and want to get started as a podcast manager, but don’t know where to begin, then check out The Podcast Manager Academy that is opening for enrollment in October.
Which of Valery’s podcasting tips spoke to you the most about launching your very own podcast or starting your own podcast management business?
a breakdown of this episode
[1:39] Valery’s story from working a corporate 9-5 job, traveling, and becoming a podcast manager after booking a one-way ticket to Bali
[3:38] Building a team of her own and the common misconception of waiting until the last possible moment to hire or outsource in your business
[5:36] Valery’s favorite marketing platform and the importance of knowing where your audience is hanging out online
[10:06] The types of clients that Valery and her team work with in her podcast management business
[14:02] The Podcast Manager Academy, who the course is perfect for, how to actually become a podcast manager, and how its a great role for introverts
[18:40] Tips for launching a podcast, and what you should be doing beforehand
[21:20] When to hire a podcast manager for your podcast and how now is the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon of launching a podcast or starting a podcast management business
If you enjoyed this episode, I invite you to take a screenshot and tag me on your Instagram stories @introvertcoach and tell me your biggest takeaway!
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