How To Start & Grow Your Podcast By Inviting Guests (Podcasting 101 - Tips) My First Million Podcast

I want to give you feedback that I got from, from listeners, Sean. You ready?

Am I prepared for this? Is this harsh critical feedback? I need to— okay, great.

No, okay, so what I'm noticing with this podcast is we have a similar amount of views each week, and I think it's the same people over and over. I think we're like part of people's routine, which is cool. And the— I think one of the secrets to growing a podcast is you have to have guests. So when we had Andrew, he shared it. So all of the people who like him came and listened, and I hope we've got them hooked and they're going to listen from now on. And so the way that we're going to do this is we're just going to get more guests. But here's what people keep telling me, and this— they weren't saying this about Andrew, but they like it when it's just you and I riffing and just making shit up on the fly.

Yeah, yeah, I've felt that. And I think it's even more on these Zoom calls because the Zoom call pace is a little slower. When we're in person, it's a little bit better, I think, to have that third guest on the seat. And it definitely depends. The third guest's got to bring the, bring the energy. You can't just be successful and smart. That is not enough. You have to bring energy. You got to know what people want to hear about and get to the point. And so, you know, that's the, the rubric for guests, which is hard when you're also trying to find famous guests because they help the show grow.

And just for the record, Sean and I have recorded with— I think we've done a bunch of times. I personally have done it a bunch of times and it was wonderful people who I like and it just turned out to be bad and we just don't publish.

Yeah, we throw it away and we don't even tell them, we just throw it away.

Yeah. And I've done it a couple times with like, for throughout the years for whatever. I don't even remember what I was recording stuff for. I've interviewed someone who was like an amazing operator and the content was whack and I'm like, well, trash. Um, and so anyway, the feedback that we're getting, Sean, is that people like us because they say that I'm more optimist and you're more, uh, like down to earth and, uh, that we riff and they love that and that they can't get that anywhere. But you and I are like, let's go get more guests and people don't like the guests. Unfortunately, that helps us grow.

Yeah, well, we'll keep mixing it in. Uh, dude, I had a call yesterday that I was like, if I had just recorded this, this would have been like one of the dopest podcasts ever. It was just me and Furkan. We have a call every once a week now that's just called Cool Shit, and he lives in like the edge of like technology. He's like in the dark web basically, not in an illegal way, but sort of like he's on the forefront of what's interesting, just like a He's just a nerd.

He's just like a very typical Silicon Valley engineer, just—

yeah, but he knows—

out of touch with reality in a good way.

He knows me well enough, and also he loves money enough where he knows how to take that stuff and bubble up the bits that are interesting, the bits that are relevant, and not just get lost in the weeds of technology. So, uh, that combo was amazing, but unfortunately it didn't record. The other thing I was going to say about the guests is, uh, being guests on other people's podcasts is the other way to grow. So I had Eshaan yesterday reach out to like 50 podcasts and just be like, hey, I'll go on and talk about it, right? Like I'll go on, I just sold my company, I can go on and talk about that. Hey, we built a podcast that did a million downloads in the first 6 months. We could talk about how we did that. And, um, so I think guesting on other people's podcasts might be a good way. You did this with Gary Vee, with Pomp.

Uh, so yeah, I've probably, so there's a caveat there. I've, I've probably been a guest 100 times. And there was a period like over the trailing 6 months, I have it set on my calendar from 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock. That's only guesting on podcasts. And I would do it and some of the small ones just drove nothing.

Right.

Like it was total hit or miss. And so I would spend like 3 weeks doing it and it's almost like, and you probably like this, it's like being a comedian. You just say the same shit over and over and you kind of figure out what hits. And it's fun. It's almost like therapy. You just talk about yourself. It's cool. But, uh, it definitely, it gets a little repetitive and it, the results are not always there, but they are sometimes.

Yeah. And you know, the thing you said at the beginning, which is, um, for podcasting, you get this base and it's the sticky, sticky base of people who want to, who, who listen to it all the time. It becomes a part of their routine. They start to really love you, that sort of thing. It's very different than other products I've built where I'm like, all right, I want to get millions of users. To just visit this page or like just use this once a week or subscribe to this and kind of forget about it. Like that's been a lot of the products I built. This is the opposite. It's like an army of 100,000 people who will like go to war for you. I think there's people in this group that would, if I said, hey, I need you to beat this person up, they would go beat that person up. Like there's people who really have your back. And when I started this, I remember I was talking to Suli, who was the very first guest on the pod. And he was like, you know, what are you thinking next? You just sold the company. And I was like, you know, I really like this podcast thing. He goes, okay, like, is that a business? Like, in some ways it's a step down, right? It's like, I'm gonna make way less doing this than I did my last business or any other business I want to do. And I was like, look, I want to just be in like a million people's earballs every morning. If I did that, I just know that that's a good thing. And I don't know how to get there, but I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna get into a million people's earballs every morning on their way to work, on the way to work. I think that's powerful.

Yeah. I mean, it may or may not be a business, but it definitely will lead to way more opportunity. I've had a lot of— I mean, I've been doing the content thing a little bit like before the podcast, so I kind of understand it. But the podcast definitely is different. I remember I went to New York, Sean, and I just tweeted. I was like, we're going to be over— I'm going to be over here because I was there for Hustle advertising crap. and I just tweeted. I was like, yeah, we're gonna be here. I had 200 people want to come. And so we only let maybe 20 come. And because we're in people's ears, dude, like these people, this kid Ryan said something to me and he's like, yeah, you know, cuz you said how much you like this thing. And I was like, I don't remember what you're talking about. And like, they, they think they know you. And it's funny.

And you know, the other thing I like is that people are, the people who listen to this are actually pretty, they're really smart and successful, you know? I think a lot of podcasts that are about business, they cater to kind of lowest common denominator. So it's like, oh, the wantrepreneur is their core market. And you know, in our Facebook group for this podcast, I posted something saying, hey, I'm doing something cool for people who have a business that does over $1 million a year. And there's like 100+ replies just in that Facebook group of people who have businesses doing over $1 million a year, right? So these are not like, kind of like the wantrepreneur who's, you know, at their 9-to-5 job or a college kid or something like that. Like, of course there are people like that, but the audience also is mixed with a lot of interesting, successful people. There's a bunch of VCs that listen to this. It's crazy. Um, so anyways, enough about the podcast. Let's give people some, uh, some other topics or ideas.