MBA1075 Q&A Wednesday: Should I have a co-host on my podcast?

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Hey O welcome to the Home $100 MBA Show. Daily Business coaching delivered straight to your ears every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the Hundred Dollar mba, a complete business training and community online and today's episode is a Q and A Wednesday episode. On our Q and A Wednesday episodes I answer a question from you, one of our listeners. If you have a question you want to ask, just email me over@omar00mba.net Today's question comes from Donald and Donald asks, should I have a co host on my podcast? I really like this question because having a co host or not having a co host is all a part of the value that you convey and offer your audience. The host or hosts on the show are pretty much characters, characters that people get used to and enjoy and can relate to. There's a connection that happens between the host or hosts and the audience and if the connection does not happen. So adding a host or hosts to your show will influence how the show is perceived and what the show becomes. In today's episode, I'm going to give you my advice when it comes to choosing a co host. Give you some great examples of podcasts that have Co hosts with a great dynamic and how each dynamic adds a certain value. I'll also advise on some of the things you may want to keep in mind when choosing a co host. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. So Donal asks on today's Q and A Wednesday, should I have a co host on my podcast? Well, let's start first with the podcast format. The format of your show is a part of the value you're going to be conveying to your audience. For example, this show is a lesson based podcast. Every day I deliver a lesson or we have a guest teacher deliver a lesson. But that's the format. There's no interviews, there are no like, discussions or banter. So having a co host for this type of show and may not lend itself to adding value. Having a co host with a format that's more of a discussion show. Now there is some value to be had there. If you're discussing matters, topics, debating things, having a co host or co hosts can really add value, can really add a certain dynamic to the show. There's one podcast that comes to mind, it's called Listen Money Matters. It's a personal finance podcast. And the current two hosts, Matt and Andrew, I actually know them personally. It's a great show, it's a lot of fun. It's a very successful podcast. But the show's premise is discussing personal finance and investment topics and their dynamic really works. Why? Because Andrew is kind of the experienced and knowledgeable personal finance investor and Matt is the learner. In the last couple years he's become better with his money, but beforehand he was a wreck. I mean, this is not my words. He admits it himself in the show. But what's great about this dynamic is that you're not only getting somebody who's giving advice, who's Andrew, and discussing things that are difficult or frustrating in the personal finance world. You also have the counterpart Andrew, who is sort of representing the listener, asking the questions and giving his opinion of things that the common person would normally say. So their back and forth discussions are quite fruitful because they're opposing arguments sometimes and through those discussions they get to some certain clarity on each topic. Now, they have a lot of fun and they have a lot of jokes and they're friends. So it works out, actually happens organically. But see how that format of the show, the discussion podcast, really lends itself to a great one, two combo. A co host. There's another podcast called Fizzle and they have more than one co host. They have Three hosts. Now, this is a business podcast, a good podcast, if you're an independent creator, and the three hosts are basically the people that work for Fizzle. Now, when you have more than two hosts on a show, you have three or more. There is a huge risk here. We're talking about audio here. So it's going to be confusing. If people's voices on the show are not very different, you need to easily recognize who's saying what. Now, for a podcast like this, it's easy. I'm the one who's talking. But let's say I had a co host on my show that had a similar voice as mine. You wouldn't be sure when I was talking or when the other person is talking, and it would get kind of confusing. Luckily for the team at Fizzle, all three people have very unique voices. One of them is Steph, who's a woman. So naturally, her voice is going to be different than the other two co hosts who are men. Now, the other two guys, Chase and Corbett, they have very distinct voices, and they're very different. And their overall energy is different as well. Corbett's more measured and calm, and Chase is full of energy and sometimes even bombastic. But that's good because it really differentiates him from Corbin. So that dynamic works because they discuss business topics, struggles they had in their own businesses, and sometimes they do have guests. So when it comes to choosing a co host, you gotta ask yourself, what do you need on the show? And one of the ways to find out what you need is to write down your skills, your strengths. That way you know what you have covered. You're like, okay, these are the things we have covered on the show. This is what I can offer. What else would I like to offer to my audience that I can't offer? You want your co host to be complimentary. If you like to crack jokes and have fun, then having somebody else that does the same thing might be overkill. Vice versa is true. So if your show's format and purpose lends itself to having other than one host, having co hosts, then I would go for it, because it does add a certain dynamic and energy to the podcast. Now, I definitely would try to find somebody that you know somewhat, you know, like a friend or at least an acquaintance, somebody that you can get to know over the show. There has to be some sort of chemistry, because if there's no chemistry between you two or three or more, the audience will feel it. It will feel awkward, it'll feel strange, and you don't want that on Your podcast, you want people to feel like they're at home, they're amongst friends. Now, if you have an interview show, having a co host can work, but you have to be mindful of the fact that now you have two objectives here. One, you want a cohesive discussion, right? You have three voices now and obviously the guest is the person that should be talking the most. You want them to give you some great nuggets of knowledge, right? So the interviewing duties need to be shared amongst you and your co host and that needs to be organized so that way you're not talking over each other during the interview, you're not interrupting each other. Typically when you see an interview on tv, it's one on one that prevents, you know, people interrupting each other. But I've seen interview podcasts with co hosts that, that do work. The podcast that comes to mind is Business Addicts, hosted by Lauren and Fiona. These two are great. They have a great chemistry, they have a lot of fun with their guests and they're organized, they know what they're doing when they're interviewing. I was a guest on their show, so is Nicole. So we have firsthand experience how it is to be a guest on the show and it's well done. So if you're interviewing and you want to have a co host, check out that podcast for a great example. Thy ticket lady, Jennifer of Coolidge. Well, many thanks, good sir. Here is my Discover card.

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So to wrap up today's question from Donald. Should you have a co host on your podcast? It all depends on the goal of the podcast. If you feel like the co host is going to add to that goal is going to get you closer to that goal will add value to the show. Go for it. Use the tips I share today in choosing a co host and have fun with it. The best co hosted shows are the ones that are having the most fun, that are enjoying the process and just being themselves for their audience. Thank you so much for listening to the 100 MBA show. If you have a question you want to ask here on Q and A Wednesdays, just email me over at Omar MBA Net and we'll get your question answered right here on the show. That's it for me today, guys. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. The best podcasts experiment and grow. They're always changing. They're always trying new things. We've tried a whole bunch of different things throughout the course of this podcast. We've been around for over four years now, so it's okay to try out having a co host to see how it goes. That podcast I talked about, listen, Money Matters. They've had different co hosts. Matt started with Andrew and then Matt left the show and for a long period of time another person stepped in. Thomas. Thomas Frank co hosted with Andrew and then now Matt's back. So it's fluid, it can happen and your audience will adjust as long as you're still adding value to your audience. All right, thank you so much for listening. I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. Take care.

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