Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, b a fam, It's Mandy here and I
Speaker 1: have a very very very special guest today. I cannot
Speaker 1: wait for y'all to meet her. But before I introduce
Speaker 1: our illustrious guest, I want to wish, of course, my
Speaker 1: co host, Tiffany. I hope she's having the most amazing
Speaker 1: time off during the month of March, taking some time
Speaker 1: for herself, go into Egypt, of all places. And as
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of her, I'm like, she better have flown
Speaker 1: first class because the days of economy are over for
Speaker 1: her and she needs to embrace her rich auntie life.
Speaker 1: All right. So, for those of y'all who have followed
Speaker 1: BA from the beginning, and I know we have some
Speaker 1: ogs in the audience, first of all, thank you because
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen fifteen, when we launched the show, we
Speaker 1: were one of like none women of color, no women
Speaker 1: of color who were covering finance in the career and
Speaker 1: doing it in the way that we were doing it.
Speaker 1: And for those of you who don't know the orgin
Speaker 1: story a Brown Ambition podcast, Tiff and I met at
Speaker 1: a conference, became friends, and I was a reporter at
Speaker 1: the time at Yahoo Finance and for my career like
Speaker 1: I literally studied print journalism because they allowed me to
Speaker 1: do that in two thousand and five, even though it
Speaker 1: was a dying industry, or at least a rapidly changing one,
Speaker 1: And it was one of my survival tactics throughout my
Speaker 1: career to figure out these new skill sets. And so
Speaker 1: I taught myself video, taught myself broadcast how to actually
Speaker 1: talk to a camera, which I had huge fears about,
Speaker 1: and podcasting was sort of that next chapter. And so
Speaker 1: when I thought about a show i'd want to do,
Speaker 1: Tiffany of course came to mind. We had such great
Speaker 1: chemistry and brown Ambition was born and I we launched
Speaker 1: a podcast in twenty fifteen. I remember going to Yahoo
Speaker 1: at the time. I loved telling and everyone loves a
Speaker 1: story where someone passed on you and then you did
Speaker 1: it anyway. So bruh. Yahoo actually said, no, we're not
Speaker 1: interested because you can't guarantee, you know, a million downloads,
Speaker 1: and you can't guarantee that we're going to be able
Speaker 1: to advertise immediately and make a revenue. So thank goodness
Speaker 1: they did, because of course we went on to make
Speaker 1: the show on our own and to this day fully
Speaker 1: owned the IP. We own the show. Obviously, we have
Speaker 1: a great podcast partner in Westwood One are our network,
Speaker 1: but still it is our show and we are so
Speaker 1: proud of it. And one of the questions I get
Speaker 1: a lot, especially from people in my career coaching group
Speaker 1: Mandy money Makers, is I'm thinking of starting a podcast.
Speaker 1: It feels like it's such a crowded space. Now, do
Speaker 1: you have any tips for me? And I do offer
Speaker 1: all of the insights that I have, but I've only
Speaker 1: ever worked obviously on Brown Ambition.
Speaker 2: So I am so.
Speaker 1: Excited to welcome today's guest because she is someone who
Speaker 1: has become a podcast crew and her own right, has
Speaker 1: worked on multiple shows, and she is here today to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about her journey and I'm hoping
Speaker 1: on y'all's behalf, I'm gonna ask all the juicy question
Speaker 1: so that you feel more empowered if that's what you
Speaker 1: want to do to launch a show of your own, because,
Speaker 1: as I try to say to everyone, I still think
Speaker 1: that there's room for new voices, new ideas, everything in
Speaker 1: the podcast space. So I want to introduce our guest,
Speaker 1: Carla will Maris. She is the founder of Idea to
Speaker 1: Launch Academy and the host of the Idea to Launch podcast.
Speaker 1: But before she became a podcast guru, she was like me,
Speaker 1: a corporate girly crunching numbers behind a desk as an accountant,
Speaker 1: working forty to sixty hours per week. But then ultimately
Speaker 1: decided to make the brave and bold move to pivot,
Speaker 1: lean into new skills, and become totally fulfilled in her
Speaker 1: new path. And in less than a year, Carla was
Speaker 1: able to sell out a live show, quit that corporate job,
Speaker 1: and go full time as a podcaster. Since then, her
Speaker 1: show has amassed over a million downloads, over one hundred
Speaker 1: K and AD revenue, and in her business, the Idea
Speaker 1: to Launch Academy, she helps others just like herself do
Speaker 1: the same. I am so honored to welcome Carla to
Speaker 1: the BA Studio. Welcome Carla, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great introduction. I'm bringing you in my pocket everywhere.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Well, you know I have an editor so I can
Speaker 1: stop and start again. I love that some of the
Speaker 1: shows you worked on, y'all might have heard of the
Speaker 1: No for Suore podcast Holding Court not just another sex
Speaker 1: podcast powered af but take us back to your journey,
Speaker 1: you know, as a podcaster and what year did you
Speaker 1: really get your start and when did you start to realize, Okay,
Speaker 1: this could actually be a career for me.
Speaker 3: So, like I said, I come from corporate. I was
Speaker 3: an accountant for six years. I was a young mom.
Speaker 2: So it was like, you're going numbers, it pays well.
Speaker 3: Get it done. That's what you basically do, right, especially
Speaker 3: in my culture. You know, I'm from Puerto Rico, Caribbean.
Speaker 3: It's just like a woman just gets a job and
Speaker 3: works nine to five, and that's what you do. I
Speaker 3: never fit the mold, but as I'm in accounting, I
Speaker 3: started to feel like there was something that I needed
Speaker 3: to change it. This wasn't for me and it wasn't
Speaker 3: fulfilling me. So I turned thirty and I started this
Speaker 3: blog called Shit, I'm thirty. My dad had just passed away,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, oh, oh, what year was this? This was
Speaker 3: twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Oh man starting a blog in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3: I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew
Speaker 3: that I needed to. It was more like a journal. Honestly,
Speaker 3: I'm like, well, I'm gonna just put it out there.
Speaker 3: I usually do it on Instagram and the business side
Speaker 3: of me. I'm like, well, maybe I can monetize this somehow,
Speaker 3: some why, other than just putting it out there on
Speaker 3: videos or talking to friends or maybe going live whatever
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 2: So I did the blog that didn't last long.
Speaker 3: There were I would put like the fucks and like
Speaker 3: all caps and a bunch of exclamation marks, and it's like,
Speaker 3: oh what the hell.
Speaker 2: It wasn't giving what I.
Speaker 3: Needed to give, although a lot of people were resonating
Speaker 3: with it, like oh, we love this one was the
Speaker 3: next one coming out, but I'm like, I was still itching,
Speaker 3: like there's something that's not.
Speaker 2: I need to say my fucks better.
Speaker 3: You know, I really need you to know, because sometimes
Speaker 3: you read something and it's it doesn't translate the way
Speaker 3: I wanted it to translate.
Speaker 1: So I was laughated versus saying it out loud.
Speaker 2: Yes, there's like a text message.
Speaker 3: You ended up arguing with your man because he said
Speaker 3: something and he meant it in a different way, but
Speaker 3: we were already mad at we read it in a
Speaker 3: different way, so when you hear it, it's different. So
Speaker 3: I went ahead and started listening to pods. I already
Speaker 3: did that for years. In accounting, you do nothing but
Speaker 3: sit behind a desk and crunch numbers. So audiobooks and
Speaker 3: podcasts were my thing from seven am until nighttime, you know,
Speaker 3: so all day long that's what I would do. So
Speaker 3: I then started teaching myself, because how do you get
Speaker 3: a podcast on iTunes? I'm not famous. I literally live
Speaker 3: in Disney World, Orlando, I have a kid. I'm just
Speaker 3: I don't know any of this. I'm not in the
Speaker 3: entertainment space. So I started to teach myself. It took
Speaker 3: about six seven months. Bought so much equipment that I
Speaker 3: didn't need, but I figured I became an engineer myself.
Speaker 3: I had a surface you know those pads, yeah, tablet
Speaker 3: and so much equipment in it. You're not gonna like
Speaker 3: I spent so my polo chick.
Speaker 2: I believing on that.
Speaker 1: I've seen it happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because when you go through the rabbit hole of Google,
Speaker 3: there's all these gurus telling you what to do. So
Speaker 3: I had to just learn trial on air. Started the
Speaker 3: podcast March twenty eighteen, so it'll be five years now.
Speaker 1: And was it always idea to launch? What wasn't?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: So it was called shit, I'm thirty.
Speaker 3: I just switched the blog onto the pod, Shit I'm thirty,
Speaker 3: It okay, And within eight weeks my actual idea to
Speaker 3: launch is the pod that it's kind of like a branch.
Speaker 3: It just has a few episodes of like tidbits and
Speaker 3: how to podcast. But it was shit I'm thirty, and
Speaker 3: now it's called pivot with purpose. So Shit I'm thirty
Speaker 3: was on the charts, and I always say with Oprah, right.
Speaker 2: On the Oprah.
Speaker 3: Within eight weeks, I was like me and her best
Speaker 3: d eaes, Y're right, but you know that it was
Speaker 3: a big deal back then, right, I'm like, I don't
Speaker 3: know what I'm doing. I'm in my daughter's playroom. Literally,
Speaker 3: I kicked her out and I'm like, this is a
Speaker 3: studio now.
Speaker 2: So I did that and just kept going right. It
Speaker 2: was audio. I had a friend. My friend's like, I
Speaker 2: don't really like this.
Speaker 3: I kept going on my own and from there I realized,
Speaker 3: specifically that people of color were asking me how do
Speaker 3: I start. I don't have the money to spend ten
Speaker 3: thousand dollars for someone to teach me how to do
Speaker 3: my own podcast. So I started testing out how to
Speaker 3: launch a podcast in thirty days. So I would charge
Speaker 3: like forty nine bucks for an hour and I would
Speaker 3: give them the whole rundown and help them. I did
Speaker 3: this for a while, then I started the academy. I
Speaker 3: then taught people everything I knew. You know, now, I
Speaker 3: know what equipment to use, Now I know how to
Speaker 3: simplify this. So I made it very simple for us
Speaker 3: to just start, because you can make it very difficult.
Speaker 3: Then the pandemic hit. And I've been doing this now
Speaker 3: for a while virtually because again I live in Orlando.
Speaker 3: There's no Mecca. This is not New York because it's
Speaker 3: not La Like, there's not much media here. So the
Speaker 3: pandemic hits and big corporations like iHeart don't know how
Speaker 3: to simplify things, and they're home and they don't know
Speaker 3: what to do. So then I was able to step
Speaker 3: in and show them, hey, we can do this. And
Speaker 3: at that time, Riverside wasn't a thing, so it was
Speaker 3: showing them how to use zoom but without zoom audio
Speaker 3: and using the backup audio, and they're like, oh, this
Speaker 3: is it.
Speaker 2: I'm like, that's it.
Speaker 1: Pay me now, yeah, yeah, I thinking of it thing
Speaker 1: for some of the networks. Okay, yeah, I interrupt you
Speaker 1: before you get too deep in because I love because
Speaker 1: I know everyone listening is and we start to like
Speaker 1: sort of tell the fast version. It's like, way, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: wait wait wait, so talk to us about choosing the
Speaker 1: idea for your show. You already had the blog. When
Speaker 1: did you realize, like this is the focus of the
Speaker 1: show and it's actually resonating with an audience. Because I
Speaker 1: think some folks will rush in, like they'll think that
Speaker 1: they have an idea for a show. They'll do the
Speaker 1: show without actually like testing or seeing if there's an
Speaker 1: audience for it, especially if you're not, like you said,
Speaker 1: a celebrity who has a built in fan base, you know,
Speaker 1: So talk a little bit about that. And I also
Speaker 1: hear that your show pivoted over time. Now it's pivot
Speaker 1: with purpose. So yeah, tell people who are wondering, what's
Speaker 1: the thing. How do I know that people are going
Speaker 1: to resonate with this? How you sort of?
Speaker 3: I did some things right, and I did some things
Speaker 3: now looking back that weren't the best. What I did
Speaker 3: do was I come from a business background, right, so
Speaker 3: I remember doing a lot of like customer avatars and
Speaker 3: knowing who my target audience is for business, so I
Speaker 3: figured I needed to know.
Speaker 2: That from the pod as well.
Speaker 3: So although it was called shit, I'm thirty and everything,
Speaker 3: I still remember my spiel. It's like getting rid of
Speaker 3: society's expectations about where you should be in your thirties
Speaker 3: as a woman of color when you turn thirty. And
Speaker 3: that's where I stayed, and I talked about parenting and
Speaker 3: career and relationships, everything, but through the lens of a
Speaker 3: woman of color turning thirty trying to figure out what
Speaker 3: to do. So I was very intentional with my content.
Speaker 3: It's like, oh, well, you talk about everything, yes, but no,
Speaker 3: I talk about what I'm going through. But it's in
Speaker 3: a very linear way, right, I don't kind of. I
Speaker 3: didn't deviate from that, and my guests also were very
Speaker 3: aligned with that. So that's when that was my test, essentially,
Speaker 3: and that's why I believe everyone kept coming back because
Speaker 3: whoever liked episode one, two and three also liked four
Speaker 3: or five, six, seven and eight. And that's I think
Speaker 3: a lot of people that want to start a pod
Speaker 3: where they fall is, oh, I want to it's for everybody,
Speaker 3: It's for all black women, it's for all No, it's now,
Speaker 3: we're not monolithic, we're not all the same. So why
Speaker 3: would you put me in the same category as what's
Speaker 3: her name?
Speaker 2: Candice?
Speaker 3: But moving right along, we're not all the same. So
Speaker 3: that thing, that's the very first thing. Now, one of
Speaker 3: the things that I think I did wrong was choosing
Speaker 3: that name. So although I was very I was sad.
Speaker 3: I was anxious about turning thirty. I'm not where I'm
Speaker 3: supposed to be, like in society and in my family.
Speaker 3: I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing.
Speaker 3: I should settle down and get married, have more kids,
Speaker 3: have the white picket friends, you know, just stay home
Speaker 3: after five o'clock, do whatever you have to do for
Speaker 3: your husband. It wasn't me, and I felt trapped in
Speaker 3: my thirties. But then as I got to my thirty
Speaker 3: four thirty five, I'm like, oh, I like it here.
Speaker 2: I like it a lot. You can't can't might tell
Speaker 2: me nothing.
Speaker 3: I'm not a kid, I'm not too old. I love
Speaker 3: who I'm becoming. So that's when I pivoted and I
Speaker 3: started really finding out what my purpose was through the podcast.
Speaker 2: It was enjoyed speaking, but at.
Speaker 3: The same time, I started finding my passion and my
Speaker 3: purpose through storytelling and helping others and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is where I'm supposed to be. And that's when,
Speaker 3: with the help of the community of the podcast, we
Speaker 3: came up with Pivot with purpose because I didn't know
Speaker 3: where to take it. But I believe also the name
Speaker 3: is very important because you'll get to a point where
Speaker 3: you're like, oh, does this still fit who I am today?
Speaker 3: We are forever evolving who I was when Shitto'm thirty
Speaker 3: started Its one hundred percent not who I am today.
Speaker 3: So we have to be able to evolve with our
Speaker 3: podcast as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean it's hard to like, it's impossible
Speaker 1: to force into the future where you're going to be.
Speaker 1: I think we got lucky because Brian ambition has just
Speaker 1: it never gets old, it never is stale. I do
Speaker 1: remember in the early days someone saying like if someone
Speaker 1: who also was launching a podcast, like, well, are you
Speaker 1: afraid of alienating people with the title and feeling a
Speaker 1: little bit like I was confident, but also she made
Speaker 1: me think twice and of course now, of course we
Speaker 1: want it to be called this. You know, this is
Speaker 1: who we are, who we want to speak to, and
Speaker 1: it's okay to be specific and be niche down in
Speaker 1: that way. And also what I'm hearing is like it's
Speaker 1: okay for you to change your mind and to change
Speaker 1: the title of a show. And I've seen this happen.
Speaker 1: Like I was on someone's podcast and they it was
Speaker 1: one title, and then they were launching a book and
Speaker 1: they're like, okay, so we're going to change the name
Speaker 1: of the podcast now to the name of the book.
Speaker 1: And it was like planned out. And when you do that,
Speaker 1: like are you able nothing changes? Like you can keep
Speaker 1: the same you know, home on Apple, the same links,
Speaker 1: all that stuff, you know on the technical side, so
Speaker 1: you don't have to actually lose any like ground you've
Speaker 1: made in terms of placement on the charts and things
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah, you absolutely a can.
Speaker 3: Oh you have to change that are basically what it's
Speaker 3: called an RSS feed. It stays the same. You just
Speaker 3: update your artwork, you update your description. Everything stays there,
Speaker 3: depending of course on what media host you use. But
Speaker 3: you can keep everything the same. All your subscribers will
Speaker 3: not go anywhere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh man, you said hosts. I mean when we
Speaker 1: launched Brown Ambition and our host used to be Libsyn,
Speaker 1: and I remember, okay, like teaching myself how to use
Speaker 1: that what was your first host?
Speaker 2: I still use lips In. I use nineteen and lips in.
Speaker 1: Okay, nice, Yeah, Lipsen is one of the ogs. But
Speaker 1: now there's several more.
Speaker 3: You know, Oh, there's so many that Libsin has been
Speaker 3: around since the beginning of podcasting. But there is Art nineteen,
Speaker 3: there is bus brout there a spreaker. I don't recommend
Speaker 3: as anchor if you are serious about podcasting and an
Speaker 3: anchor it hates me since Clubhouse days, I am very opinionated.
Speaker 2: But I do not.
Speaker 3: Becaus was amazing for those like three months I made
Speaker 3: a lot of money at Glubhouse just talking about podcasting
Speaker 3: because it became so big during that time, you know,
Speaker 3: and people didn't know what to do. But if you're
Speaker 3: taking this seriously and you really wanted to eventually be
Speaker 3: a business, I'm all about owning your ip owning your content,
Speaker 3: and everything that's free comes at a cost.
Speaker 2: Every Oh that's the thing.
Speaker 1: And when it yeah, yep, even Lipsyn's I think lipson
Speaker 1: I could start with like five fifteen bucks something like
Speaker 1: that depends on So what else? When those in those
Speaker 1: early days when you said that you got a bunch
Speaker 1: of equipment, did everything wrong, Like, if someone's starting out today,
Speaker 1: what would be I know it's in my starter kit,
Speaker 1: but what would be in your starter kit? For a podcaster?
Speaker 3: All you need is a Samsung Queue to you, what's that?
Speaker 3: It's literally a sixty nine dollars microphone. It's you plug
Speaker 3: it in straight to your computer.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, what that?
Speaker 2: No, you probably have a short it looks like a
Speaker 2: say that, yeah.
Speaker 3: Okay, so there is Like you probably have the MV seven.
Speaker 3: I have a short mic as well, Like this one
Speaker 3: will run you about two hundred and fifty dollars and
Speaker 3: it'll be XLR.
Speaker 2: And you can also just go directly to your computer.
Speaker 2: You can choose. If you grow, you can grow with it.
Speaker 3: But the same thing with a Samsung it has for
Speaker 3: you to be able to put it straight to your computer.
Speaker 2: So all you need is your computer and your microphone.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: And then something like this Riverside or squad casts or
Speaker 3: zencaster that records you know, interviews.
Speaker 2: Or yourself by your or you by yourself.
Speaker 3: Your audio and your video and boom, you have a
Speaker 3: full studio at your house with your computer and your microphone.
Speaker 2: That's all you need.
Speaker 3: Of course, there are productions that cost ten twelve thousand
Speaker 3: dollars a month to.
Speaker 2: Make, but it's not necessary to get you off the ground.
Speaker 1: Yeah, talk to me about the production side, Like obviously
Speaker 1: in those early days, I'm like us, I'm sure you
Speaker 1: edited the show yourself and like behind the scenes, uploaded
Speaker 1: it yourself. How did you what did you use to
Speaker 1: learn how to edit? Did you already have some familiarity
Speaker 1: with like audio editing or did you teach yourself.
Speaker 2: That girl, I didn't even know how to plug in
Speaker 2: the cable box.
Speaker 3: Like if my cable went down, I'm calling Spectrum and
Speaker 3: then they're like, can you do this?
Speaker 2: No, send someone right now. I don't want to touch
Speaker 2: the cables.
Speaker 3: I YouTube University was where I went and got my
Speaker 3: degree YouTube Anyone.
Speaker 2: When I got dms from people was like how do
Speaker 2: I do this? Or how do I do that?
Speaker 3: I want to answer those If you give me a
Speaker 3: specific question, Hey, I have my EXLR cord and this
Speaker 3: is not working or whatever, then I'll answer that question.
Speaker 3: Because there's so much information on YouTube for free. For free,
Speaker 3: I have literally I've been producing some of the biggest podcasts.
Speaker 3: We're talking about two million downloads a month off of
Speaker 3: Audacity which is also free. And where do I learn
Speaker 3: how to do audacity on YouTube? Literally, and it's free
Speaker 3: on a mac. It's free on a PC. You don't
Speaker 3: have You don't have to have a huge computer. Again,
Speaker 3: I said in the beginning, I started with a surface tablet.
Speaker 2: That's all I had.
Speaker 3: I didn't even I had my work computer, but and
Speaker 3: I would use that to the Lenovo Frome work.
Speaker 2: I ended up getting fired from accounting.
Speaker 1: It's fine specifically that I don't record your podcast on
Speaker 1: your work computer, though, just you know.
Speaker 2: Don't don't do it.
Speaker 3: I would do a lot of research on there and
Speaker 3: then record on the surface. So all my research and
Speaker 3: my outlines were on my laptop, and then I.
Speaker 2: Would use all this stuff.
Speaker 3: But literally, all you need is your computer, your microphone,
Speaker 3: something like Riverside, Squadcast, Zancaster and just get started.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I think I also.
Speaker 3: Have a plan starting it is because many people going
Speaker 3: in it without a plan.
Speaker 2: What is your plan is? What's your Why?
Speaker 3: Why are you doing this? Who are you impacting? Once
Speaker 3: they leave your podcast? What are you leaving them with?
Speaker 3: Because just because you have cool conversations with your friends.
Speaker 2: Does not mean you need to have it on a podcast.
Speaker 3: So there are a lot of podcasts gurus out there
Speaker 3: that are like, everybody needs a podcast, Like, oh, bro,
Speaker 3: you get a podcast, You get a podcast.
Speaker 2: No, shut up, they don't. And now we're seeing how
Speaker 2: everyone should not be on a pod.
Speaker 3: And I truly believe the power of the tongue. We're
Speaker 3: so powerful with the things that we say and the
Speaker 3: influence that we can create and the people that are
Speaker 3: listening that could be very easily influenced. So just be
Speaker 3: very careful with what you're saying, because once you get
Speaker 3: on this microphone, I feel like we should have a
Speaker 3: duty on what we say and how we say it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to whom you're speaking. Like being able to define.
Speaker 1: I feel like if you can't define your person, like
Speaker 1: how old are they, where do they live, what apps
Speaker 1: are on their phone? You know, what kind of shows
Speaker 1: do they enjoy? What are they struggling with? Like actually
Speaker 1: being able to share, excuse me, actually being able to
Speaker 1: like personify your audience and like what and always center them.
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the best things we did
Speaker 1: at BA was of course our personalities, our personal stories
Speaker 1: infuse the show with color and all that, But we
Speaker 1: never forgot about her you know, we never forgot about
Speaker 1: our listener and.
Speaker 2: Did you have a name for her? Oh no, actually no,
Speaker 2: I might.
Speaker 1: Fortunately, we have so many people submitting questions, we have
Speaker 1: like real names now, you know, we think about I
Speaker 1: think about dang it. There's so many that just have
Speaker 1: over the years. They're always sending questions and encouraging words,
Speaker 1: but we never forget about what the brown and black
Speaker 1: woman's experience is and what she's going through and how
Speaker 1: the news, what about the news is stressing her out?
Speaker 1: And like, how can we, you know, help comfort and
Speaker 1: provide some insights into everything that has to do with
Speaker 1: her pocketbook and her career. So that's such a good
Speaker 1: point that you made. For sure. I used to use
Speaker 1: garage band. I had a Mike because everyone had a
Speaker 1: Yetnie Mike, you know, saying I.
Speaker 2: Know, I mean, they're terrible. They're they're model of podcasting,
Speaker 2: that's it.
Speaker 1: They have such bad like you pick up so many
Speaker 1: different background noises. I was like, what am I danging wrong? Anyway? Anyway, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I used Apple earbuds. Plus they're not portable yeties
Speaker 1: are heavy and I would be going into the city,
Speaker 1: so I literally would use Apple earbuds and a laptop
Speaker 1: and garage band and I would you know, rock that
Speaker 1: out for years, like I'm probably until the pandemic, until
Speaker 1: I was forced to stay home because it was the
Speaker 1: portable functionable and we used.
Speaker 2: To use Skype back in the day, like I know if.
Speaker 1: No it was a thing Skype, it was no squad
Speaker 1: cast back in twenty fifteen. Ok. Okay, So we covered
Speaker 1: some technical stuff, and I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: about one of the other questions that I get frequently
Speaker 1: from anyone wanting to start a show is and then
Speaker 1: how do I tell people about it? Like how do
Speaker 1: people find the show?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: You started the show, you know, not long after your blog? Right,
Speaker 1: So about a year after you launched your blog, did you.
Speaker 3: All have literally I only had like seven blog posts,
Speaker 3: and I was like, okay, off to audio we.
Speaker 1: Go, lowercase B blog got it?
Speaker 2: Yes, very all of it tiny, like ten.
Speaker 1: People getting really caught up and like put you know,
Speaker 1: the same thing that Yahoo was caught up in, which
Speaker 1: is like, but is anyone going to listen? And I
Speaker 1: feel like for us, we had to not care about
Speaker 1: that for a while. I mean, of course you care,
Speaker 1: but like you can't make that the reason for doing
Speaker 1: it because it takes In my experience, I found it
Speaker 1: takes time to build that loyalty, that trust, you know.
Speaker 1: So talk to me about your show and how you
Speaker 1: grew it and if there was any strategy that particularly.
Speaker 2: Worked for you. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So back then there was no video. Well I didn't
Speaker 3: have video, right, it was audio only. But then I
Speaker 3: knew about audiograms, so I would create these audiograms with
Speaker 3: clips of the show on social media. Again, I had
Speaker 3: maybe a thousand followers back then. If I got twenty
Speaker 3: likes this is my favorite joke on such as like
Speaker 3: dad jokes person. I'm like, if I got twenty likes
Speaker 3: on a picture, I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 2: Kim Kardashi cann watch out.
Speaker 3: You know, I thought I was popping with twenty likes
Speaker 3: on social media, right, So I had these audiograms and
Speaker 3: that's what I would do, create clips and just push
Speaker 3: them out constantly.
Speaker 2: And I do remember some people saying, oh my god, you're.
Speaker 3: Always posting about your podcast. Okay on follow That's fine.
Speaker 3: I'm gaining more than what I'm losing. So how will
Speaker 3: they find you? You have to be your number one fan.
Speaker 2: You really do.
Speaker 3: If you start thinking about what other people might think
Speaker 3: about your little podcast. Oh you think that's when you
Speaker 3: have to literally put your blinders on. And unfortunately, I
Speaker 3: will say, I don't know if this is in every community,
Speaker 3: but definitely for hours, our biggest supporters are not our
Speaker 3: family and friends. Yeah, yeah, especially in the beginning. Oh
Speaker 3: what are you doing the little podcast?
Speaker 2: What you know?
Speaker 3: You think you're an iTunes or you think you're big man?
Speaker 3: What is that doing and you're making any money? You
Speaker 3: can't go out with us anymore because you're recording. Yes,
Speaker 3: because I'm passionate about it, and you will know if
Speaker 3: you're past, know about what you're talking about and what
Speaker 3: you're doing when you have to pass up on brunch
Speaker 3: or you have to pass up on a friend's vacation
Speaker 3: because like you know, I have to record x amount
Speaker 3: of pods or I need to learn how to do this,
Speaker 3: so I have to work on my outline or I
Speaker 3: have to edit whatever that is. For two and a
Speaker 3: half years, I wore all the hats, you know, marketing, graphic, design,
Speaker 3: editing engineer, like all of it was just me unto
Speaker 3: the pandemic. When I found, you know, my May, who's
Speaker 3: amazing and still work with her, but we you know
Speaker 3: I need it with her. I was like, I'm going
Speaker 3: to give you four episodes and do it for free,
Speaker 3: and I want to see what you can do. Edit, yes, edit,
Speaker 3: And the very first one was mid pandemic on my
Speaker 3: birthday and it was Charlemagne and she goes into the
Speaker 3: zoom and she's like.
Speaker 2: What, and I'm my girl, don't ask any questions. We
Speaker 2: just got to get this done.
Speaker 3: Everything went wrong. Internet was going down. We were doing
Speaker 3: it on a hot spot which didn't break, by the
Speaker 3: grace of God at all during the entire hours.
Speaker 1: Listening to the story. So you're interviewing Charlemagne.
Speaker 3: Yes, oh okay, and I am terrified because I've been
Speaker 3: I've been trying to get this forever right and he's
Speaker 3: like yy one day, yea, one day.
Speaker 2: Finally the day.
Speaker 3: Comes and I got you on here because the world's
Speaker 3: shut him down. So now you're sitting down nothing but time.
Speaker 3: It's May twenty twenty and my internet's not working. My
Speaker 3: internet works every day all day. But we made it
Speaker 3: work with that a hiccup, and from then I knew, Oh, like,
Speaker 3: she's as dedicated as I am, and we spent She
Speaker 3: hasn't left my side.
Speaker 1: Since Okaba fan, so many gems are being dropped right now,
Speaker 1: you do not want to miss the rest of my
Speaker 1: conversation with Carla, and I'm gonna put the full respect
Speaker 1: on it. Will Marie coming back to you in just
Speaker 1: a few All right, we are back with our guest,
Speaker 1: Carla Well Madis who's gonna tell us all about the
Speaker 1: power of podcasting and how you yes, you can actually
Speaker 1: launch your own podcast if you have a plan and
Speaker 1: you never forget about your purpose, which hopefully is to
Speaker 1: help others. What like the key for me with you
Speaker 1: talking about showing up, skipping things, you know, being really
Speaker 1: serious about it is if you're treating it like something
Speaker 1: you pick up and put down, It's almost like why
Speaker 1: bother Because consistency is so key, like showing up when
Speaker 1: you say you're going to show up for your audience
Speaker 1: so they rely on you. How did you build that cadence? Like,
Speaker 1: for example, with Brown Ambition, we started recording I think
Speaker 1: in the early days we aired every Tuesday, and then
Speaker 1: we switched to Wednesday. You know, we've didn't make very
Speaker 1: many changes over eight years, and now we do two
Speaker 1: shows a week, you know, consistently Wednesday and Fridays, which
Speaker 1: we record on one day. So talk to me about
Speaker 1: deciding the cadence and we are a week. We are
Speaker 1: we never miss a week, like we have something new
Speaker 1: every week. And we chose that life for some reason
Speaker 1: I can't remember, but it's the life that we have now.
Speaker 1: But we show up, you know, we say we're going
Speaker 1: to show up. So how did you decide you're kiding?
Speaker 2: So if you're listening, you're like, I just don't have time.
Speaker 2: This is too much. I was an accountant close week.
Speaker 3: I would be there from seven am to sometimes midnight
Speaker 3: to do it again the next day.
Speaker 2: Bulk recording was my friend. For sure. I would sit down.
Speaker 2: But I chose weekly.
Speaker 3: I knew that I have if someone wants to it's
Speaker 3: just like a relationship.
Speaker 2: You got to show up.
Speaker 3: When you start not showing up at being some timey,
Speaker 3: then I'm not going to invest any time, any money,
Speaker 3: any anything into you.
Speaker 2: So I was showing up weekly. There were times there.
Speaker 3: I remember one time specifically, I had nothing in the bank,
Speaker 3: and by that I mean no episodes that were recorded
Speaker 3: extra and the audio somehow someway was like distorted. It
Speaker 3: was really weird, like none of the audio worked and
Speaker 3: I'm like, it made no sense. Sometimes with tech you
Speaker 3: just have it doesn't you can't explain it.
Speaker 2: So I was I had to.
Speaker 3: Be to work the next day at six o'clock, wake
Speaker 3: up my daughter, take her to school, like I'm single mom.
Speaker 3: So I stayed up until like three o'clock in the
Speaker 3: morning and recorded a solo episode for it.
Speaker 2: But think it was like a thirty minute episode.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day I showed up
Speaker 3: in that episode ended up having the most downloads I
Speaker 3: had had to date because I showed up and I
Speaker 3: was real and wrong. I'm like, listen, this is not
Speaker 3: supposed to be the episode, but I have an outline
Speaker 3: and we're going to talk about and I did some
Speaker 3: research and at two three in the morning, I'm recording it,
Speaker 3: editing it and putting it out.
Speaker 2: But definitely I chose weekly.
Speaker 3: I have clients that tell me, oh, what about bi weekly,
Speaker 3: And I'm like.
Speaker 2: No, what about once a month? Especially today? That won't
Speaker 2: cut it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know how anyone can do it with
Speaker 1: less than once at least once.
Speaker 2: A week at least.
Speaker 1: And I love the fact that we went to too.
Speaker 1: The strategy behind that was shorter episodes because we love
Speaker 1: the content of our show, but we were paying attention
Speaker 1: to engagement rates throughout the duration of the show, which
Speaker 1: now factors a lot into like rankings and things like that.
Speaker 1: So for us, it was like, let's break off a
Speaker 1: chunk of the show and make it all about our listeners.
Speaker 1: So ba Q and A was born on you know,
Speaker 1: we do that on Fridays and then Wednesday we had
Speaker 1: the main show. But yeah, you got to have that.
Speaker 1: I remember that consistency, that dedication. Like there were times
Speaker 1: when it was always me and I'd be the one
Speaker 1: because you know, Tiffany could just show up bless her.
Speaker 1: But I knew, and I knew that about our relationship.
Speaker 1: We were a duo, and I knew tips only going
Speaker 1: to do this because if I'm handling the tech side,
Speaker 1: so like, let me show up for that. But I
Speaker 1: also was learning, and there was like one time, more
Speaker 1: than one time, when like my audio would be screwed
Speaker 1: up and I'd literally go home listen to her audio
Speaker 1: and just have a conversation with her, like like pretend
Speaker 1: like it was live, just to get my side of
Speaker 1: the conversation. Sweating bullets, like the whole time.
Speaker 3: That shows your dedication right, and the fact that you
Speaker 3: were there to show up even when you're not making
Speaker 3: any money. Some of this time you're not going to
Speaker 3: be making any money. But what you will see is
Speaker 3: that when you're showing up, you have an impact on someone.
Speaker 3: If you're doing it right and if you're really passionate
Speaker 3: about what you're talking about, and if you find that.
Speaker 2: To be your purpose, go for it. You never know
Speaker 2: what's going to happen.
Speaker 3: I mean my course specifically the launch of podcasts in
Speaker 3: thirty days I always talk about because she now works
Speaker 3: with you, Imani, she took that course in the beginning, yeah,
Speaker 3: to start her own path, to start her own pod.
Speaker 3: And she's one of many now who are what now
Speaker 3: producers for big you know Webby not in a winning
Speaker 3: podcast and they.
Speaker 2: Can do a B and C.
Speaker 3: Everyone at the agency for me has gone through I
Speaker 3: DA to launch, all my editors, all my producers, they've
Speaker 3: all gone through, and they're like, well, what what school
Speaker 3: do you have? None again YouTube University. I was an accountant,
Speaker 3: but I was able to put the work in and
Speaker 3: teach someone in. Podcasting can take you in so many
Speaker 3: different directions, so many different directions once you get started
Speaker 3: and find what you love about it. You might fall
Speaker 3: in love with the back end of it, which is
Speaker 3: editing or video or coming up with outlines or scripting.
Speaker 3: You never know what you will love about it until
Speaker 3: you start.
Speaker 1: So today, pivot with Purpose. Can you talk about how
Speaker 1: the show's direction, like the tone, the focus of the
Speaker 1: show has changed since.
Speaker 2: You a lot. I would say pivoted.
Speaker 1: I was trying to use the word pivot, but it was.
Speaker 2: It's the word shifting, pivoting.
Speaker 3: I like, however, the word became like a thing a
Speaker 3: couple of years back, but it just fit for me.
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't want the word, but it
Speaker 3: fit because my life did pivot and I found my purpose.
Speaker 3: Now does that purpose sometimes look different?
Speaker 2: Yes, it shifts. God bless you. This is the beauty
Speaker 2: of podcasting. We're actually talking.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it changed. I went from you know when it
Speaker 3: was shit, I'm thirty. I'm like, I'll never get I've
Speaker 3: been married before, I'll never get married again. You know, Uh,
Speaker 3: there was I'll never have a big one, I'll never
Speaker 3: have another child ever ever.
Speaker 2: Ever, Like I was gonna be a one and done.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna travel the world, go to Italy, have my
Speaker 3: boobs out in the sun, like that was gonna be
Speaker 3: my life. I was gonna be the rich an ticket.
Speaker 3: She was gonna be eighteen and them a kick.
Speaker 2: Her out of my house. Well, I fell in love.
Speaker 3: And chose to get off birth control, and I have
Speaker 3: a child likes asasion.
Speaker 1: Like, damn it, he came along.
Speaker 2: This is the one where you can do it in
Speaker 2: a blog where you gotta be fuck.
Speaker 3: I did all that, got engaged, uprooted my entire my kids,
Speaker 3: moved to New Jersey, did the whole thing.
Speaker 2: And it didn't work out. And it didn't work out.
Speaker 3: And the big thing about that was that I was
Speaker 3: already living in my purpose.
Speaker 2: I just had to pivot. I just had to pivot.
Speaker 3: When most of us would crumble and just say, you
Speaker 3: know what, why did this happen to me? I chose
Speaker 3: to lean into me and my children and not you know,
Speaker 3: sitting in there. So now what I do is I
Speaker 3: talk a lot about my experiences and I bring people
Speaker 3: onto the pod that can inspire you in a way
Speaker 3: with you know, humor and whatever else. But now it's like, oh,
Speaker 3: how do we go from what you went through to
Speaker 3: where you are now? Because there's so many women and men.
Speaker 2: Which is crazy.
Speaker 3: I have a big male listenership, but I think it's
Speaker 3: because I know I carry you like a.
Speaker 2: Lot of chestosterone.
Speaker 3: They just you have to watch someone. There's so many
Speaker 3: people that I've watched, like you guys being one, that
Speaker 3: I'm like, Oh, I got to look at where they are.
Speaker 3: I want to be there. I want to be in
Speaker 3: those rooms. Let me listen to them, let me learn
Speaker 3: from you. And we are very much so accessible through podcasting,
Speaker 3: So it's like, listen to us and you'll find ways
Speaker 3: to engage with us where we are and you'll learn more.
Speaker 3: And that's what I found with Pivot with Purpose. It's
Speaker 3: like I can still be me. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: things that haven't changed about me. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: it's like, how do I go through adversity and how
Speaker 3: do I choose to pivot every time? Because it's not
Speaker 3: just the one time. It's not just the baby, it's
Speaker 3: not just the broken engagement. It's been family issues, there's
Speaker 3: been money or career, all these different things. It's like
Speaker 3: it's my journey with other women or men that have
Speaker 3: been able to do it themselves and kind of encourage you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean if you're looking for a really hard life,
Speaker 1: then try to avoid pivoting. Try to assume that there
Speaker 1: will be a clear and linear path for you. I
Speaker 1: think one of the great lessons of my life was
Speaker 1: learning how to pivot at a very young age and
Speaker 1: sort of being I mean, of course you're ganged in
Speaker 1: different directions by circumstances because you're a child, but man,
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful because as an adult, like things don't
Speaker 1: really phase me in the sense that, oh, something big
Speaker 1: is changing. Okay, I'm just going to go in this
Speaker 1: direction now, from you know, being a journalist to pivoting
Speaker 1: into marketing and then pivoting out of corporate altogether to
Speaker 1: running my career coaching business. I mean, it's such a
Speaker 1: powerful it's when people resist the pivot or don't give
Speaker 1: themselves permission like they can feel it. It's and I'm
Speaker 1: sure in your work and in mine too, it's about
Speaker 1: encouraging and giving people the confidence that you deserve, like
Speaker 1: a different chapter, and you can give.
Speaker 2: Yourself creation to pursue. It is. As you're saying this,
Speaker 2: I'm sure your audience is like, oh, she's just so confident,
Speaker 2: But it's Mandy.
Speaker 3: Mandy is just so good at doing it, and it's like,
Speaker 3: I don't know about you because I won't speak going
Speaker 3: one if you're thinking that there are days that I
Speaker 3: don't get out of my bed. There are days that
Speaker 3: I'm just like, God, take me down. You know, I quit.
Speaker 3: I don't want to do this anymore, even with you know,
Speaker 3: one of my larger pods because they grew so fast. No,
Speaker 3: for sure would be someone in Megan. And I'll say
Speaker 3: this not because she just said it at the live show.
Speaker 3: She's like, there's so many times I wanted to quit,
Speaker 3: And I said, well, amen, because there are plenty of
Speaker 3: times that I've as successful as it's been early on.
Speaker 2: I don't want to do anymore. There's too much in this.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of work.
Speaker 3: But you even on those days when you don't want
Speaker 3: to keep going, you have to find it in you.
Speaker 3: You have to do it scared, you have to do
Speaker 3: it when you're tired. Just get it done and it'll
Speaker 3: pay off eventually. I can't tell you when, because sometimes
Speaker 3: it takes years. There's things for me that I have been,
Speaker 3: you know, stay in constant with, and it took years.
Speaker 3: I mean I didn't get into radio all I wanted
Speaker 3: was radio back in twenty eighteen, That's all I wanted.
Speaker 2: I'm on air. Yeah, I wanted radio grand father bad.
Speaker 1: And now you're working. Tell me about what Yeah, tell
Speaker 1: me about today? What's Carla up to? So you have
Speaker 1: that that you have the academy, of course, but still
Speaker 1: you have like what you've worked full time as every
Speaker 1: radio producer.
Speaker 3: Well, I have the academy and I have the agency
Speaker 3: where we now have about seven or eight pod that
Speaker 3: we produced fully and then we also launched for people.
Speaker 3: And then once we get the full launch going your
Speaker 3: entire concept, then they can take it and edit it
Speaker 3: and produce it themselves.
Speaker 1: Crunch a number behind a desk, seven to twelve. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: literally it turned out fine, but it would have been nice.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I also listened to the serial
Speaker 3: podcast absolutely, but we're here now. So twenty eighteen, when
Speaker 3: I first quit, I just I actually quit because I
Speaker 3: knew I was getting the radio job. So it was
Speaker 3: a big station here called XL one sixty seven, and
Speaker 3: I just knew I was going to get the job.
Speaker 3: I'm on air and everything I got this me absolutely
Speaker 3: got it. Psych I quit in October February when it's
Speaker 3: supposed to make the decision, and I didn't get it.
Speaker 1: The job was for what an on air personality?
Speaker 2: Yeah on air? Oh okay, I was a morning show.
Speaker 3: It was a morning show, one of the biggest morning
Speaker 3: shows here in Orlando. So I was like, how did
Speaker 3: I not get that? So then I really went on
Speaker 3: the podcasting part and just kept going and kept going.
Speaker 3: And now twenty twenty two, when I come back from
Speaker 3: Jersey and I let go of that relationship and you
Speaker 3: know how I was bringing me down and I had
Speaker 3: to walk back in my purpose. I come home and
Speaker 3: without looking for it, I get the phone call and
Speaker 3: it's like, oh, we're starting a morning show. You know,
Speaker 3: it's the show for radio. And I'm like I'm good,
Speaker 3: and they're like no, no, I'm like, I'm good. I
Speaker 3: already have my agency going, I have my academy going.
Speaker 2: I'm all right.
Speaker 3: And radio puts all these restrictions on you that I
Speaker 3: don't want because now at this point, all these years later,
Speaker 3: my crogram director won't get me a dumb button. And
Speaker 3: every week he's like, Caila, and I'm like, give me
Speaker 3: your dumb button.
Speaker 2: Shit will slip out.
Speaker 3: But yeah, they called in twenty twenty two, and as
Speaker 3: I saw it at first, it's actually their JBC Broadcasting,
Speaker 3: so it's independent broadcasting company. H And I'm with some
Speaker 3: of the biggest talents, Rickydilla, DJ Nasty who goes on
Speaker 3: tour with Beyonce, He's DJ Khalid's like big talents.
Speaker 2: I'm like, what do you want me on there for? Right?
Speaker 2: And they're like, they want off of my clips, my podcast?
Speaker 2: That is it?
Speaker 3: The fact that I've been showing up weekly they were
Speaker 3: people notice that, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Just showing up and I got the job that morning show.
Speaker 1: It that I fucking love that so much because you
Speaker 1: have to do the work and not understand the end goal,
Speaker 1: like not sometimes not understand how the story is going
Speaker 1: to end or where it's going to take you, but
Speaker 1: the faith to continue to share your voice, to do
Speaker 1: the thing that you want to be doing by yourself, like,
Speaker 1: you know, because you believe in yourself. How else are
Speaker 1: people going to know? You know, how else are people
Speaker 1: going to find you if you're not making yourself findable.
Speaker 3: So hell, whether it's podcasting or Instagram or blogging or
Speaker 3: whatever it is that you do, keep showing up. Because
Speaker 3: in twenty eight and eighteen I really thought it was over.
Speaker 3: I didn't think about radio again. But I created my
Speaker 3: own lane with my podcast, created my own lane. I
Speaker 3: did retreats with women. We would do a Patreon, we
Speaker 3: have virtual what did we call them, Oh my god,
Speaker 3: you know list pajama parties. Once a while, we would
Speaker 3: go in our robes and on Zoom and we would
Speaker 3: do book all these things.
Speaker 2: I just kept showing up.
Speaker 3: I kept doing things for my community to where finally
Speaker 3: they noticed and they're like, we need her. And then
Speaker 3: at that time I had the leverage. This is what
Speaker 3: I want and this is how I'm going to do it.
Speaker 3: And now they're like, oh, you're now working corporate again.
Speaker 3: I am, but I have a business that they're very
Speaker 3: aware of. And I'm like, I got to go for
Speaker 3: a week, and I go, I have a production in
Speaker 3: New York, give me the equipment and I will broadcast.
Speaker 3: I have broadcasting now from Miami. I have broadcasted from
Speaker 3: New York, from LA from Atlanta because I'm working my
Speaker 3: own personal business, which they have no ownership of or
Speaker 3: restrictions on me. But it was because I created my
Speaker 3: own space.
Speaker 2: Very unusual.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, I created my
Speaker 3: own lanes in order to be able to have that leverage,
Speaker 3: and a lot of us really depend sometimes and what
Speaker 3: others can give us, even in podcasting, like oh we
Speaker 3: want to deal, first, start.
Speaker 2: On your own, figure out what you could do.
Speaker 3: Start on your own first, really invest into yourself first
Speaker 3: and see where that goes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when did you start to well pivot with purpose?
Speaker 1: When did you start to court advertisers? And were you
Speaker 1: doing that on your own? So let's talk about monetization
Speaker 1: because for broad ambition, it's been pretty straightforward. We've sold
Speaker 1: ads since about twenty eighteen, so I guess like three
Speaker 1: four years into the journey, and we partnered with an
Speaker 1: agency to do that. But talk to me about your
Speaker 1: experience with monetizing and any advice.
Speaker 3: I started with affhilly stressed. I started, and I tell
Speaker 3: everyone to start with affiliate marketing. My first one was audible,
Speaker 3: so I would get fifteen bucks every time someone used
Speaker 3: the code. So you better believe I had a pre
Speaker 3: roll in a midroll for that fifteen dollars.
Speaker 2: I wanted it. I wanted it bad, so it.
Speaker 1: Was not so hard like if you really use something
Speaker 1: or you like it correct. I do like a lot
Speaker 1: of places have affiliate programs if you just Google, so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so many right now. One of my biggest affiliate
Speaker 3: is Better Help. You know they do just ads, but
Speaker 3: I actually make more money as an affiliate, so I'm like.
Speaker 2: Keep it as an affiliate for right now. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm good.
Speaker 3: Let's not do CPM, but affiliate program anything that you
Speaker 3: use on a daily basis for your pod.
Speaker 2: Like if you guys were a.
Speaker 3: Finance I'm not sure you know you're a network now,
Speaker 3: but your finance and.
Speaker 2: That's that you are. QuickBooks is something that you use
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 3: You can get an affiliate like right now, you might
Speaker 3: not have quick Books or the numbers for a main sponsorship,
Speaker 3: but they have affiliate programs and you can get that.
Speaker 3: Or Honeybooks has affiliate programs. So it depends what you're in.
Speaker 3: If you're like a DJ podcast, is there a DJ
Speaker 3: equipment that you can contact them and say, hey, for
Speaker 3: every sale that I make with this code, I get
Speaker 3: back X amount. So that is the easiest way in
Speaker 3: how I started monetizing the pod. Then I went to
Speaker 3: local businesses. I had an attorney, a real estate person
Speaker 3: that would buy ads for seventy five dollars an ad
Speaker 3: and it was local, and I'm like, hey, is this realtor.
Speaker 3: I also had an attorney that because I talked about
Speaker 3: and I had my daughter and I was dealing with
Speaker 3: a lot of uh with child'spport and divorce at that
Speaker 3: time in twenty seventeen, I had just finished it. Had
Speaker 3: an attorney since I talked about it. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: and if you need here in central Florida someone for
Speaker 3: your child support or whatever it might be, this is
Speaker 3: the attorney for you.
Speaker 2: Boom fifty hundred dollars an ad M, so you have.
Speaker 1: Your like your focus was local in the beginning, too.
Speaker 3: Local, yep, and anything digital that could be for anyone, okay.
Speaker 3: So and I would pitch myself just like cold email,
Speaker 3: hold emails.
Speaker 1: Yeah see, you guys are waiting for her to be like.
Speaker 1: And then I had the magic idea. But there is
Speaker 1: no cheat code. It's just and some people think the
Speaker 1: cheat code is hiring out for help. And I can't
Speaker 1: think of a worse trap in the sense that if
Speaker 1: you are not clear, like you said on who your
Speaker 1: audience is, what your show is about, what you want
Speaker 1: to say, all that point of view format things like that,
Speaker 1: it can quickly sort of spiral. I don't know, just
Speaker 1: become something that you never wanted to begin with, if
Speaker 1: you're even lucky enough to make money that.
Speaker 2: Way outsourcing is now.
Speaker 3: I wish I could outsource the gym and someone would
Speaker 3: take my body and take me to the I outsource everything,
Speaker 3: but there are two things that we can outsource, and
Speaker 3: that is like our physical health and our mental health.
Speaker 3: We gotta do it ourselves. But everything else. I am
Speaker 3: a fan of outsourcing everything, but at the right time,
Speaker 3: you need to know what you're outsourcing. Yes, I outsourced
Speaker 3: now my editing, my video and all that, but I
Speaker 3: was doing that all myself at one point.
Speaker 2: So if at some point, whoever it is.
Speaker 3: They mama dies or dog dies, or they just want
Speaker 3: to quit because they're irresponsible, I can pick up that
Speaker 3: slack and you kind of know how you want it done.
Speaker 3: So I definitely will say learn how to do everything
Speaker 3: yourself first and then outsource.
Speaker 2: That works for most people.
Speaker 3: There are some that are like, hey, I got the budget,
Speaker 3: take it on with the agency, right, that's why have
Speaker 3: the academy.
Speaker 2: To have the agency.
Speaker 3: The academy is everyone that wants to do it on
Speaker 3: their own. You know, I can launch with the agency.
Speaker 3: It's like, hey, I have the budget, help me get
Speaker 3: it done, and let's just put it out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and for folks who are wondering and have the question, well,
Speaker 1: how do I determine how much an AD is? You
Speaker 1: mentioned CPM, which is it's just its cost per thousand,
Speaker 1: even though it's cost per million, right, like whatever it means,
Speaker 1: like the dollar amount, like that her thousand listeners, you
Speaker 1: can estimate that you're going to deliver. So let's say
Speaker 1: an AD is one hundred dollars. You know, for every
Speaker 1: thousand listeners that we have. You're the accountant, so you
Speaker 1: can probably do that math.
Speaker 3: Well, the CPM is actually in the end in this
Speaker 3: industry specifically, is twenty five to thirty five dollars is
Speaker 3: their CPM. So for every thousand downloads, it's thirty five dollars.
Speaker 3: So some people are like, oh my god, it's such
Speaker 3: a lucrative business. When it comes to sponsorship. The top
Speaker 3: one percent is the ones that are making money, honestly,
Speaker 3: So you have to have one hundred thousand downloads to
Speaker 3: get thirty five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the average side account of TIZE when we got
Speaker 1: to fifty k when we could consistently get fifty k
Speaker 1: per month. That's when an advertiser was like, oh, I
Speaker 1: mean an agency was like, okay, we'll sell adds for you,
Speaker 1: and fifty thousand is not easy to do.
Speaker 4: The average listen, there's average that is the average is
Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty two downloads. Wow, the average podcast
Speaker 4: gets between one hundred and fifty to two hundred downloads
Speaker 4: an episode. And if you're there, be really proud that
Speaker 4: you're there.
Speaker 3: And with that, just imagine, I tell everyone as I'm teaching,
Speaker 3: imagine walking every single week into an auditorium with one
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty people.
Speaker 2: You're popping.
Speaker 1: I love that and yes I do that too if
Speaker 1: you can.
Speaker 3: If you're walking every Monday into a room with one
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty people that are showing up for you,
Speaker 3: you're doing a great job. Now, how are you going
Speaker 3: to monetize one hundred and fifty people? Now they're showing up,
Speaker 3: Now they really trust you. Create something for them. Start selling,
Speaker 3: and don't be scared to sell. They want to buy.
Speaker 3: They literally want to buy from you because they want
Speaker 3: to support you. Do it, get it, then, don't feel
Speaker 3: scared about your friendsy and something and be like, oh
Speaker 3: my god, who's gonna buy from you?
Speaker 2: You're just pooky from the corner.
Speaker 3: No, well, you these people really do love you, despite
Speaker 3: of what anyone else may think. Get start providing products
Speaker 3: and services or retreats or groups or you know, whatever
Speaker 3: it may be that you can monetize, whether it's ten
Speaker 3: dollars a month to fifty bucks a month, whatever it
Speaker 3: may be. Monetize that one hundred people before you get
Speaker 3: to fifty thousand.
Speaker 1: Yes, have a plan to your point, have a strategy.
Speaker 1: It's almost like it's important to think about what's the infrastructure,
Speaker 1: like what are the bones of this operation, because you
Speaker 1: don't want it, Like you said, like if you wait
Speaker 1: until you get there to whatever that, to whatever there is,
Speaker 1: whatever goal you have right then and like all those
Speaker 1: people that you could have, you know, have built a
Speaker 1: deeper relationship with and monetize all that all that time
Speaker 1: that could now be even more you know, have even
Speaker 1: more trust for you and be more on your side
Speaker 1: and jumping on products that you're offering, like you're kind
Speaker 1: of leaving that on the table, and then you're just
Speaker 1: not ready either. Then it's like, oh wait, I need
Speaker 1: a strategy and it's like and it depends what you
Speaker 1: doing the table.
Speaker 3: I have a pod like No for Sure, who gets
Speaker 3: easily two hundred and fifty thousand an episode on a
Speaker 3: regular week right then I also have pods like chinoona Revolution,
Speaker 3: which is Erica Cruz. She's a business coach. Essentially, she
Speaker 3: has his community, so we use it as a lead generator.
Speaker 3: She just had to launch ninety thousand dollars launch and
Speaker 3: everybody's like, oh my god, but she's her pod is
Speaker 3: not like crazy. Her social media I think she only
Speaker 3: has like twenty some one thousand followers.
Speaker 2: How does she do that?
Speaker 3: She keeps showing up and we produce her stuff and
Speaker 3: we have ads in her podcast and she has extra
Speaker 3: many episodes with testimonials. We have so I used to
Speaker 3: be people will be like, oh, you're a podcast coach.
Speaker 3: I really consider myself a podcast strategist. There's a strategy
Speaker 3: behind all of this where it doesn't people don't even
Speaker 3: realize that.
Speaker 2: They're being sold to.
Speaker 3: And I think that's the gift that I was giving,
Speaker 3: is being able to sell something without making it feel
Speaker 3: salesy and finding what works for you and what's successful
Speaker 3: to you, because to some people is two hundred thousand
Speaker 3: downloads to other is five hundred, but making ninety thousand
Speaker 3: in a launch, yeah, and investing twelve hundred a month.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I to your point about, you know, whether
Speaker 1: you work with people or you sell ads on your
Speaker 1: own or something like that, Like what's your take on
Speaker 1: that when it comes to because I've heard from some
Speaker 1: podcasters who don't have a network and they're selling six
Speaker 1: figure you know, you know, deals with partners, and it's
Speaker 1: almost like the beauty is that there's no rules, Like
Speaker 1: you make up the numbers that you want when you're
Speaker 1: doing it yourself.
Speaker 2: Zero rules. So I've never been with a network as.
Speaker 1: I have shows my network shout out to Cumulus and
Speaker 1: New Westwoodin and you're great, but you know, thirty five
Speaker 1: sixty five split, you know what I mean, Like they're
Speaker 1: thirty five are sixty five? That's pretty standard. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you know then tip and I split that, you know,
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty from there. But yeah, the sky can
Speaker 1: be the limit, you know when you're doing on Absolutely there's.
Speaker 3: Probably beauty podcasting is that we're an untapped market when
Speaker 3: it comes like music industry that even streams in the
Speaker 3: music industry is like it's split this way, blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: There are no rules to podcasting. There's no right or
Speaker 3: wrong way. You choose what your value is essentially and
Speaker 3: what you want to charge, so you know, success will
Speaker 3: look very different to everybody in this space. I've never,
Speaker 3: like I said, I've never been part of a network,
Speaker 3: and I choose the price for my stuff. I say, well,
Speaker 3: look at my conversion rate, especially with affiliate links. Look
Speaker 3: at what my conversion rate is every time I talk
Speaker 3: about it. Well, now I want X amount and get
Speaker 3: that done. And there are deals where it's completely exclusive.
Speaker 2: There are non.
Speaker 3: Exclusive deals that I also work on where it's like
Speaker 3: it's a small split, but we can still bring in
Speaker 3: whatever we want. You can do whatever you want with
Speaker 3: your podcast. Just have a strategy where it doesn't look crazy,
Speaker 3: where it works.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well we could do this for hours and
Speaker 1: hours and hours. But Carla, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: sharing your insights and from one self made woman to
Speaker 1: the next. I think your story is super inspirational and
Speaker 1: I appreciate you sharing it with broad ambition. Where can
Speaker 1: people find you and find out all the amazing work
Speaker 1: that you're doing.
Speaker 3: So Carla will Maris and I know what the name
Speaker 3: the last thing would have been even worse.
Speaker 2: Carlo.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh the madis mad, Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 2: Well madis with madis Yeah, girl, go that exactly what is.
Speaker 3: So, Carla will madis on all social platforms. I have
Speaker 3: my podcast Pivot with Purpose, where I speak on you know,
Speaker 3: weekly every Monday, we have an episode Tuesday comes out
Speaker 3: on YouTube. I am on the radio if your local
Speaker 3: fly on all three to one, and we have an
Speaker 3: app as well, so I get in the morning show
Speaker 3: and get in trouble once a week for things that
Speaker 3: I say. But they knew what they were getting themselves into.
Speaker 3: And if you're looking to launch a podcast on your own,
Speaker 3: I have a self paced course, or if not, you
Speaker 3: can do a consultation with me as a twenty minute
Speaker 3: console and I kind of I'll decide, or we will
Speaker 3: decide if we're good for each other.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: If you have an idea and I don't feel close
Speaker 3: to it, I won't work with you. I would love
Speaker 3: to take your money, but so many times I'll be like,
Speaker 3: you know what, I just don't think we're a good
Speaker 3: fit or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2: Maybe you should try and this instead.
Speaker 3: I'll give you an idea, but I don't take on everyone,
Speaker 3: but we can do a constant and say, hey, this
Speaker 3: would work for you.
Speaker 1: Amazing. All right, so you guys know where to find her.
Speaker 1: We're gonna put links to all your good stuff in
Speaker 1: our show notes as well. All right, BA Fam again, Tokarla,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for sharing your wonderful insights Pivot
Speaker 1: with Purpose. Y'all go check out that show asap. I
Speaker 1: know I'm going to. Hey, ba Fam, we could not
Speaker 1: do this show without your support or the support of
Speaker 1: our team behind the scenes. The Brown Ambition Podcast is
Speaker 1: produced by Imani Crosby and Dennis Deplinsky is our in
Speaker 1: house tech guru. I am your co host Mandy Woodrif Santos,
Speaker 1: and we will see y'all next week. BA Fam.