How to Start From Scratch, Find Your Niche, and Build an Audience
28 Jul 2026 · 16 min
Lori and Chris Harder outline how to rebuild a business from zero: create a specific, low-overhead product, post aggressively on social media four times daily, and leverage podcast guesting to borrow established hosts' trust. They call this "trust transfer" the fastest path to authority.
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Indeed is giving Earn Your Happy listeners a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Just go to indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on Earn Your Happy. What is something that you can solve for your dream client? Like they have this specific problem and you might be looking at it and saying, well, my dream client has a marketing problem, but when you break down what pieces of marketing they're struggling with the most, Maybe it is storytelling. Maybe it is yapping on social media as a form of getting that message across. Or maybe create carousels that convert. So it's these very niche problems that people have. This is what we're talking about, because now when it gets broad, we're losing people. And we're back with another episode of He Said, She Said.
Okay, we're gonna do something fun today. We actually got this in the DMs. Uh, we get it once in a while and I thought it'd be a really fun topic. What if we had to start over from scratch and we didn't have our current businesses, we did not have our current podcast, we did not have our current audience. For some reason, all that was gone. What would we do to start over from scratch? Any idea?
There's a couple things that I would do simultaneously. I know we're both gonna weigh in on this. But one of the biggest challenges right now is social media. It's one of the biggest pain points for people because if you're starting over from scratch, it's really tough to fight the algorithm no matter what. And so one of the things that I would look at outside of social, and I also, we're gonna talk about how we would show up on social, but I would start looking at ways that are untapped outside side of social, and I would start looking at how I could get in front of already existing audiences that are in my niche. So one of the things that I would obviously do that I'm talking about nonstop is to borrow other people's audiences on podcasts. So I would go and I would put myself on a podcast tour. Now, This is not only getting me in front of audiences. The key thing here that I want you guys to get is that these audiences trust the host already. And so what happens is that when a host invites you on or you get booked, something happens that is called the trust transfer. And that is when an audience already trusts, loves, and knows the host. And all of a sudden the host is introducing you, giving you credibility from the very top, and that trust transfers to you. It's one of the only ways to collapse time this quickly. And audiences need 7 hours of getting to know you and hearing you before they really, really trust you when we're talking about social media or when you're just out in the world. But one of the craziest things is that podcasting accelerates this even more because of the trust transfer. So not only do you borrow that trust of that host, it's kind of like the Oprah effect. So when Oprah back in the day had her show, they used to call her the star maker. And the reason that they would call her the star maker is because she would have an absolute no-name on, think of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. Nobody knew who they were before they went on that show. And the second she had them on, their careers were made forever for eternity. And so what happens is that the same thing happens when you go on a podcast of a trusted host. And so it's the fastest way. To collapse time. And that's what I would do. I would go on aligned shows and I would also be very niche in my topic of what I'm talking about so that it's like I am just specifically talking about that one thing to that audience.
Okay. So you right away, you went marketing.
Yeah.
But remember, we're starting from scratch. What would you do is go on podcasts and sell nothing. So that's why my first step is I create my niche product. Like it does no good to get out there and be omnipresent or any of that.
True.
If you don't actually have a product to sell. So my step one I would create a niche product, and I mean really niche, that is low overhead, easy fulfillment. So this would not be like starting Glossier, right? Starting Glossier takes lots of money upfront, production, packaging, legal. I mean something like sell and package air that helps other people's life. And I'm joking when I say it. What I mean is some form of coaching, some form of consulting, some form of skill training, something like that. For example, your brother's here visiting.
Yeah.
And he started a business recently. Where he trains people how to properly use pistols for self-defense.
Yep.
That's awesome. That's something that is very neat. Low overhead, fast to, you know, stand up, fast to implement type of a product. Another example might be, well, like Justine Jean, the way that she did the yapping as a product that is a no overhead, easy to distribute product, or what you're talking about a lot lately, the Million Dollar Guest. That formula is a product. It is a low overhead, meaning all you gotta do is just teach people on a recording or live. Mm-hmm. And you can deliver it to the masses, make sure it's scalable. So low overhead, easy to deliver and scalable.
Mm-hmm.
And be able to sell as many of them as you want with ease of fulfillment and not a lot of overhead. Yeah.
There's a lot of very niche things right now that are crushing it. So there's another guy online that I'm following and he is just so specific on teaching story telling right now, like literally just storytelling on social media, not story selling, just literally how to tell a story that is very clear in a short, specific amount of time. And so we're talking about solving really valuable problems for people who are, as Leanne Lopez Mosley says, she says like, you are high value problems for high value clients. So it's like, what is something that you can solve for your dream client, like they have this specific problem and you might be looking at it and saying, well, my client, my dream client has a marketing problem. But when you break down what pieces of marketing they're struggling with the most, maybe it is storytelling, maybe it is yapping on social media as a form of getting that message across. Or maybe you are like my social media woman who helps me with mine, and right now she's going so specific on helping people create carousels that convert. So it's these very niche problems that people have. This is what we're talking about because now when it gets broad, we're losing people.
Yeah. So a great example in our Mentor Collective Mastermind, one of our students launched a product where it's done for you social media for those that don't wanna show up on camera. It's not social media, it's done for you social media for those that don't wanna show up on camera.
That's niche.
That's awesome. And she's crushing it. Right? It's so cool. So that's what the first thing is for me is product creation. It's gotta be niche. It's gotta be easily fulfillable.
Mm-hmm.
It has to be scalable, right? So you're not just trading your time for money. And it also has to be very low overhead to start. Yep. That's what I start with if I'm starting over. Then for me, cuz you jumped into marketing, right? It's a two-pronged marketing approach. It's hitting the socials nonstop, knowing it's all just Feedback, feedback, feedback.
So not a collection, right?
So I'd start yapping to see if yapping works for me. I'd start meme pages to see if meme pages work for me. I would start, you know, stealing trends to see if stealing trends works for me. I would take every single thing I could and start throwing it at social media to see, oh, from my personality. Mm-hmm. And from my subject matter, what do people seem to respond to the most? And I'm telling you, cuz remember you start from scratch. 4 posts a day. I'm not kidding you. If you're starting from scratch, what excuse do you have?
Mm-hmm.
4 posts a day to get this feedback as quick as possible.
What I'm working towards most days.
Yeah. Right. That's the first prong of my marketing approach. Uh, and by the way, it's an obligation. You have to get good at social. I don't care if you, if it's not your thing or whatever, if you're starting over, you gotta get good at social because it is the still to this day, even though it's got its challenges, the best free reward you for your energy and experimentation sales channel that there is.
It informs everything you have. It says this is what people want from you and this is what people aren't interested in. And so that's why it's like 4 posts a day, you guys, just collapses the time of figuring out what in the hell you should talk to your people about.
Oh, I mean, here's a good example. If a lot of you're like, well, I'm doing one almost every day during the week, so I'll say you get 4 out a week versus 4 a day. Here's the difference. In a month, that's 120 posts if you do 4 a day versus if you're like, oh, I'm doing about 4 a week. That's a measly 16. Which way do you think you're gonna get the fastest feedback? Which way do you think you're gonna get the, the best skills? Which way do you think you're gonna get the most data? If you do it 120 times out the gates in a month or a measly-ass 16. And the problem is when people are starting from scratch or they're trying to get their business going, they're like, it's not working. How many times you posted? Oh, 3 or 4 this week already. That is not an acceptable effort if it means something to you to get your business off the ground.
Yep.
So that's the first problem. And then the second problem is what you brought up, in my opinion, complement it and accelerate it. So I consider other people's podcasts an accelerator.
Yep.
I like how you talk about the trust transfer. To me, it's an accelerant. Like you put the, the fuel in the flames and now it turns into a raging fire. Because they work together. Yep. Your efforts on social media are amplified when somebody hears you on a show and they go and check out your social media. When you're on the podcast, people are going and following you when they like you and all this stuff. So one hand literally helps the other. One hand washes the other when it comes to that. Okay. But there's not a faster way to position yourself as an authority. And this is what people have to understand. In order to support your niche product, you must be an authority. You think of Justine Jean, she's an authority in yapping. What was yapping before her? Nothing. Yeah. It existed, but it didn't.
It's just face to camera.
All it takes is 30 days of you telling the world through your content that you are an expert and people start to see that way. And then maybe 60 to 90 days of being on show after show after show where other people are telling the world that you're the expert. See how those go together? Mm-hmm. You're telling the world that you're the expert by putting out the content at nauseam., and then other people that already have trust by having you on their show. Now they're telling the world that you're the expert.
Yeah.
So in 30 to 90 days, you are now considered one of the experts. You've got cus— plenty of customers showing up and you're borrowing other people's audiences.
Mm-hmm.
No.
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Yeah, you crushed it.
They were literally incredible. And one of the biggest questions is like, when should I do this? Like, if I've never been on a podcast before, if I already have a business, like, when is it right for me? It is right for you from the very beginning, or if you already have a business or a product, because you want to be building audience from the get-go. And going on other people's podcasts is one of the fastest way to build an audience. So even if you don't have your product yet, which means I want you to focus on what that product that Chris was talking about is going to be. But what a lot of people do, even if they don't have that business fully formed or the product yet, is that you go on podcast talking about topics that transform people's lives. So you can start talking about ideas and topics, and from there you can create that niche product, get feedback, and then that's when you also wanna continue to go on more shows with that niche product.
So your cart is closing soon, meaning people are gonna miss the chance to be able to learn from you. Yeah. How to get on shows maybe bigger than they thought they could get on.
Mm-hmm.
How to get booked on lots of shows. And all of that is just the tip of the iceberg. More importantly, How to create your signature story that works no matter what the host asks you.
Yep.
And sneak in your call to actions to take the host's audience from an audience that you're borrowing into an audience that you own and converts into sales. And this works like one of the people on your show, she made $25,000 the first day her interview on your show came out. Another girl, she made over 6 figures in the first 30 days directly from your show when her episode came out.
Jillian made an extra 50K, an extra $50K when her episode came.
Guys, these happen over and over and over again. So where can they go and where can they get this training?
So you can go to milliondollarguest.com and right now that is just, cart is open, you guys. Like we are ready to roll. We're gonna be starting our first session. It's a 5-week accelerator. We're gonna be starting our first session on August 12th. There's the most incredible group of people that I know you guys are going to be not only learning together, but this is gonna be a group of people who like who go on each other's shows, who go out there and hold each other accountable to getting on a podcast tour. Like, this is gonna be a next level group of people that you wanna be a part of.
Yeah, but they can't wait till August 12th because that's when the training starts.
That's when the—
there's only a few more days of the cart being open and there's only a handful of spots available because it's live training.
Yes.
So where do they go again?
MillionDollarGuest.com.
MillionDollarGuest.com. Hit stop right now. It's the end of the episode. MillionDollarGuest.com. We will see you on the live training so that you can get on any shows that you want. And convert their listeners into your customers.
We'll see you next week.
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