This episode take you back on the 24th of October 2016 where I was a guest on The Podcasters Unplugged. In here we talk about how I got started into podcasting from seeing a need in the market and wanting to help others retire successfully and happily. Dusty Porter is the creator of Podcast Unplugged and has been podcasting for several years. Podcasters Unplugged is a place for Podcasters who wants to make a difference.

Where It All Began

As you all know, I was a financial adviser for 25 years. Then after being in that profession for so long, I decided that I needed a change. So, I basically went from a large practice to a very small one. I was looking at my clients and I thought, “Wow! Money does matter, but it’s not everything.” You can have millions of dollars and have a horrible retirement or you can have almost no money and completely rocking it. And I thought to myself, what is the difference between these two types of people? Then I thought I needed to learn more about this. That is why I started this show. The show is an interview format and I interview either experts or regular people on how to Rock Your Retirement.

Initial Steps to Starting the Podcast

The first thing that I did before starting this show is that I tried to find information online that I didn’t have to pay a lot for. Because I wasn’t planning on making the podcast my life’s work. I really wanted to do it for my benefit. I didn’t want to spend three or four thousand dollars attending a class, but I signed up for a podcasting class. Took some classes, but not all of them. But I continued to pay for the monthly fee because I wanted to support people who teach other podcasters how to podcast. Also, I like his methodology. That’s why I continued to work with him and still be a student of his.

I really wanted to get this started right away. So, I talked my husband into going to Fry’s with me and we found this decent microphone on sale for about thirty bucks and then my husband bought a recorder with a sound mixer. Then I backed up the interview process with “Pamela,” a Skype recording system.

How to Get People On the Show

When I first started the show, I pretty much bribe people to come over. I wanted to interview people who could help seniors because I worked in a sort of a senior world industry. I said that if you come to my show, I’ll give you a free advertisement on a different show. I gave them a free ad and then I said, if you get me a retiree to interview, I’ll give you a free advertisement. I kept on doing that until my interviews got stacked up.

Business Aspect of the Podcast

Over the last month or so I’ve been figuring out how to monetize the show because my audience is not your typical podcast audience member, they’re older. I also use an avatar. My avatar is named “Marla” and she is 62 years old, has two children, one grandchild, and has a living parent. So whenever I do an episode, I always think, what would Marla like? How could I reach Marla? My Marla doesn’t listen to a podcast; She doesn’t have an iPhone and probably has a flip phone. That is why it’s really difficult for me on how to reach Marla. So, what I did in the beginning and I still do this is that I have live events. The first thing that I needed to do is grow my audience.

Working, telling people face-to-face, having live events (I also have a Facebook group), and all these things are growing the show. They’re also growing the website. I had a 46 percent increase in website hits, from last month to this month. I’m thinking all of these is growing, things are great, how could I monetize it? To be honest, I don’t know yet. But I know that the juices are flowing. And I know that someday soon, I’ll figure out how to monetize it.