Building A Podcasting Platform With Joan Sotkin of The Prosperity Show

Wish you were one of those influencers with raving fans who binge on your every word, consume all your content, buy everything you have to sell, and demand even more. Then stay tuned while Authority magazine columnist and buzzfeed contributor Tracy Hazzard shares strategies, tips and tactics from top videocasters, podcasters, authors and social influencers on creating that bingeable factor. Now let's join Tracy as she explores how to rise above all noise with the binge factor.

Hey everyone, welcome to Feed you'd Brand center of Influence I'm Tracy Hazzard and I have got another great interview of a podcaster. I've got Joan Sotkin today. She's the host of the Prosperity Show Podcast and she has been podcasting for quite some time. She started podcasting in 2005 with her first show and the Prosperity show has been running and she has well over 350 episodes. For over 30 years, Joan has been guiding entrepreneurs and practitioners to resolve their long standing money issues. She's the founder of the popular website ProsperityPlace.com Prosperity show podcast, of course, is hosted there and she's the author of the award winning book build you'd money muscles 9 simple exercises for improving your relationship with money. Joan is very insightful and she understands the connection between money and emotions, how family of origin experiences affect a person's ability to succeed in business and financially. And she has a holistic approach to combining brain science, health, nutrition, and 40 years of personal and financial growth to help her clients develop a healthy relationships with their money and themselves. I met Joan through the Danes group, Megan Konter's group out of Denver. There's a virtual platform on there, so we get together and Joan's out of Santa Fe and I'm out of Orange County, California of course, and the two of us connected right away on our mutual love of podcasting. So I decided to invite her here today to talk to us about some of her experiences because she has a broadcasting background, so she had kind of a little bit more comfort zone than most people starting out with podcasting and that might be your experience too. So I wanted to bring you different people to learn from and see which approach and which ideas might make your show amazing. So without further ado, I'd love to bring you Joan Sotkin.

Joan, thanks so much for joining me. I'm so excited to talk podcasting with you.

It's a pleasure to be here.

You know, you've been podcasting quite a while. What number of episodes are you at right now?

Well, this podcast, I'm up to 389.

Wow.

And I did 88 of them on my podcast that ran from 2005 to 2007.

So you were podcasting way longer than I have, and I love that. Have you felt it get easier over the years?

Well, it was never difficult for me. I've been in broadcasting for a long time. I was producing one of the original talk radio shows in the early 60s in Washington, D.C. and then the show moved to LA and so. And the guy didn't like to interview the kookies, the UFOs, and the psychics, and that was fine for me, so he let me do the interviews. In order to do that, I had to lose my Brooklyn accent. I had to stop saying Toyman office. And then I worked in tv, so I've been around microphones forever, so it was the easiest thing for me. And I figured out how to edit audio a long time ago. So this just was sitting in front of a microphone and talking, which is perfectly natural for me.

I love that. What's some interesting things that happened when you started the podcasting? What did you find the difference between broadcasting and podcasting? And did you find anything interesting that you were like, well, this is so much easier. This is better?

No, I kind of accepted it for what it was. In the beginning. I didn't do interviews. This was really the beginning. In 2005, there were not a lot of podcasts and there were a couple of people who were doing coaching, and I did a session or two with someone to find out how to promote the thing. So the promotion was really something I had to learn more than the actual production of the podcast.

I'm so glad you say that, because so many people skip the promotion part. They think I'm just going to put it out there and then that's good enough. Right?

Right.

I've had my website since 1997, and so I've got a following and I've been around if you search for my name, and I'm the only Joan Satkin in the entire world, if you search for my name, you'll see endless interviews and articles. And I also had a bit of a platform from the very beginning because I've been around for a really long time.

So I'm so glad you also said that, because platform, I think, is one of the greatest things that podcasting can grow for you. If you didn't start as early as you. You didn't have that depth already, it can really give it to you quickly because you do so Many shows you do interviews. It gives you a quicker way to build a platform.

Yeah. And one of the ways I built my platform was going on other people's podcasts. I actually just came back from taking two years off from doing a lot of it, but I had done over 150 interviews before the last two years, and I got a lot of my clients from that. And people found my podcast because I was going on other people's podcasts now.

Right. It's such a great way because you already have listeners. Right. That are out there looking for new.

Shows now I'm looking into networks. What networks can I be part of that will up my listenership? And I think you have to start doing stuff like that. I mean, I've been online since 1995, and.

Me too, so you and I both. Yeah.

And the online world has changed so dramatically in that time, and doing business online has changed, so you have to really keep up with the trends and what people are doing in order to promote themselves.

You. So. So do. Thinking back to when you were starting out, you know, what were some of the funny things that happened? The interesting first guests, when you started adding guests on, what are some interesting stories about. About your adventures? Podcasting?

Well, the thing I love about doing guests, which I didn't do with the first podcast, and now I do two interviews a month. And for me, what I love is being able to talk to people who I like and admire and I wouldn't meet on the street, you know, how else could I meet them? And I've made some wonderful friends through it. And I don't know that it's funny. It is fun.

Yeah, that's right.

It doesn't matter what's going on in my life. I'm gonna do that podcast once a.

Week, no matter what.

I mean, on Fridays, I post. In more than five years, I've only done replays, I think four times. So, I mean, I'm not into repurposing the content. And for me, again, I've been interviewing people since the early 60s, so. And writing show notes. So.

You got this covered. Right?

Right. I mean, when I was working in tv, we didn't. I wasn't interviewing people, but it was network TV show, but I wrote the show notes. So all of this is kind of secondhand to me. I just do it. And I have this thing where I love speaking either in a microphone or in front of a group of people. I don't understand getting scared when you're talking to people.

I don't either. Oh, you And I are the same that way. Yeah. My daughter asked me, my youngest, my five year old says to me, mom, how do you do it? I don't want to talk to anybody. I'm shy. And I said, vanessa, first off, you are not shy. I know you. You can talk up a storm that's in your head. But I was like, I don't. They're just people.

That's right. What I say is, when I was born and the doctor slapped me, I did five minutes.

Oh, Joan. I knew we were going to have fun today when I first met you. So we met at the Dames.

Yes.

Which is a wonderful group out of Denver. Well, a virtual group, because I'm not in Denver, obviously. Have you found that sharing your podcast in those type of groups and reaching out to them has grown your show?

Well, my thing is connection. I feel that there are three things we have to do. Love, yourself, let go, and connect. And the connect part is the most important. And so if connection is on the top of your mind, then you're going to reach out normally and you're going to build the network. And I believe in following my intuition.

Yeah.

And I get the urge to do something. It's like, I'm not in Denver either. I'm in Santa Fe.

That's right.

Through a roundabout way. I met the woman who owns the Dames and knew that that's what I should do. So give me a tribe and I'll show up and see if it's the right one for me.

I love that. Well, let's talk a little bit about your show. Okay. So the Prosperity show. Love the name. And it's pretty bingeable. That's what we like to call it here. It's pretty bingeable because it started with just a couple episodes to sort of listen to your show and your style. So I could prep for this call, and before I knew it, I'd listened to six of them and I'm like, whoa. So what I love about your show, so I'm just going to put my. Is the way you approach your lesson episodes, the ones where you're sort of teaching something in, is that they come from a deep personal experience. You're always sharing something very personal. You don't say, this is how you should do it. You say things like, I believe this and I'd like you to consider it. And I thought that's such an interesting approach to the way that you share your show.

Really?

Because I think should is a dirty word. Should, ought, and must use those words. Go wash your mouth out with soap.

I'm the kind of person, don't tell me what I should do. I've been a rebel since kindergarten, you know, don't tell me what I should do. And so I know if I don't like it, then other people don't like it.

With the solo episodes that I do.

Twice a month, I don't prepare anything in advance. I usually pick the topic about five minutes before I start talking. And I just sit in front of the mic and talk.

I mean, so you can't tell that because, Joan, I have to say, it felt like you had. It feels like you have an outline because you know your content so well, that it's real. I mean, you must have told these stories before. You. You mean, it feels so natural, the way you flow from anything. It doesn't feel like you sit back and you go, hmm, let me say, what should I say next? It doesn't at all.

Well, I've learned not to censor myself. I mean, there are times when I finish an episode and I'm feeling a little contracted, and I say, should I do that over?

And the voice inside.

Oh, there's that should.

And the voice inside says, absolutely not.

Actually, recently I did.

I've kind of been looking for my new voice because I've been through some more personal development, and I did two episodes, and they felt too preachy to.

Me, and so I didn't use them.

Because I really just want to be a person, just like you, who goes through stuff. And my theory is, if it's true for me, it's true for at least 100 other people.

And I don't think we do anything.

That's just us. I mean, each of us has a.

Different combination of thoughts, beliefs, and emotions.

But I know what emotions are.

And to me, that's my strong suit, is that I'm not afraid of anyone else's emotions. Done so much work with mine. And so that's what I'm dealing with when I talk, is I'm getting to that.

That very authentic place.

And I let myself talk from there.

And figure I'm never going to run out of things to say, because I never have.

I know people ask me that. I was like, I don't think I could run out of things to say either.

No.

And, you know, I know that as.

A speaker, you tell them what you're going to tell them. You tell them, and then you tell them what you told them. So even if you veer off the topic, as long as you come back to it by the end of the show, then you've done your job.

And I just have to remember what.

I'm supposed to be talking about. Whatever I say in the beginning of the show, I have to come out somehow get back to that.

I love that. And a few of the episodes that I was listening to, you mentioned coming out of the Woo Woo closet.

Yeah.

And so I assume it happened sometime over episodes that I didn't hear. But how did that feel for you? Was that. I mean, sometimes getting so personal or sharing something like that feels intimidating for a lot.

Well, it's been a really long process. I started doing. What I was talking about was these energy tune ups. I'm calling them now, energy tune ups that I do. And I had started doing them when I had a crystal business in the 1980s. So it's something I've been doing.

And so that doesn't sound like you were in any kind of woo Woo closet if you were out selling crystals. In the 80s, I had the first.

Crystal business, that first nationwide crystal business. And I had a line of stones called Jones Stones that were in 600 stores.

No, I love that.

And in those days, it was not proper to use the word spiritual in business, but I built this huge business that made a lot of money, so I had credentials in business. And then when everybody else started selling crystals, I didn't understand the whole competition thing. And I also didn't know how to manage cash flow, so I got out of the business. But when it came to doing the podcast, I've interviewed a lot of people who deal with quantum realities and people like Lynn McTaggart, who wrote the book the Field a long time ago. And I've been into metaphysics since the 1960s, so that other dimension is very common for me. But it wasn't popular. No one was talking about it. It's like the crystals. You know, when I first started talking about it, everybody thought I was nuts. I just have agreed to be nuts. I'll go first. But then when I started coaching heavy duty business people, I didn't want to seem weird. It's like hiding the fact that I'm weird.

And then I started talking to people like Shoshana French, who's in the Dames, and she makes her living doing intuitive readings with business people. Okay, time to. And she was the one who gave me the term the Woo closet. And so I decided.

She said, time to start.

And I had already done. I had in 2017, I did a whole bunch of online energy adjustments where I'd have 25 people, and I would do the hocus pocus, and everybody felt good afterwards. So I decided to start doing it again. And I'm just willing to be Joni Satkin now. Who's. Yes, weird, but that's okay.

But has fun doing well, as long.

As you can laugh at yourself. I think whoever running this show has a great sense of humor. My brother was a comedy writer, so we told a lot of jokes in our house.

But that's good, right? You have a basis for that. I love that.

So how has the podcast shifted? You talked about having a great platform already and. And a deep authority, but how has it shifted? Has it improved things? Has it just made it easier for you?

What the podcast has done for me personally is given me a place to express myself. I'm not afraid of who's listening, and I don't check my stats very often because I'm just doing what I have the urge to do. The theme of the Bhagavad Gita is do what you have to do without regard to the result. And I have to talk. It's just like eating for me. If I don't eat, I'm gonna get sick. If I don't talk, I'm gonna get sick. So I have to do it. And so the personal effects for me have been greater than anything else. I can measure the people I've met. I have a friend in England who was teaching how to do online courses and things and had a podcast. And I was on his show, and I worked with him about three years ago. We still talk every two weeks. There's someone in Nova Scotia, another one, and there's a couple in the United States that I talk to on a regular basis. So I live in Santa Fe, which is a pretty small town, and there aren't a whole lot of people who understand what I do. And certainly the podcasting, I mean, I've been doing this a long time. And so by doing the podcast, I get to meet people who satisfy me. So I don't go at it with the idea of I'm going to make some money doing the podcast. I have other ways of making money. And yet I do make money through the podcast because I get coaching clients, and people get to know who I am, and it's been wonderful. So I really measure it by what it's doing for me, and I don't count the dollars. I think that's a waste of time. I don't want to do a lot of commercials on my show. I mean, I've Listened to shows where every 10 minutes they do another commercial. And that doesn't interest me. It really doesn't. I don't like to listen to commercials. I don't even watch much regular TV anymore because I'd rather do Netflix or something that has no commercials.

That's right. I still get frustrated when they have more than 30 seconds at the beginning.

And I try to keep it to that. Yes. Yeah, I mentioned one of the events I'm doing or my coaching, and I tell people how to get in touch with me. That's enough.

No, but I think that's. So. I don't think that's a commercial. I think when you've served as long as you have, with as many episodes as you have, you earn the right to be able to say, hey, I've got this if you're interested. But, you know, I find too often that there are many podcasters out there who wait too long to even mention that. And people are like, where are you? Where can I find you? I need. You know, I want more. And so you're not putting that out there.

Right. And so in the beginning, I always say that my site is prosperityplace.com and I hope you'll drop by and download stuff. So I tell them right away how they can find me, and at the end, I tell them where the show notes are. So if you like what I say, and like today, I just did an intro where I said, you want to talk to me? Fill out the form@the prosperityplace.com call and.

I'll talk to anyone.

Because most people are afraid to call podcast hosts. They think they're in some ivory tower or something. And I'm just Joni Satkin. He's sitting here with my dog.

We're all sitting on the beach in Puerto Rico, unwilling to take calls.

Right.

You know, I mean, when you're a podcaster or you're an online entrepreneur, you need people. You need to connect to people. I make sure every day to get out of when I walk my dog, I go to places where there are other people, and I think that's a necessary part of life, is to connect to people. So call me, talk to me. I'm fine.

Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about our. About some of your lessons that you could share, because you said you took a little bit of a course from someone in the beginning, but you've learned a lot over time, and you've gotten really good at certain things. So I have these five things that I'm Going to. I go over with every podcaster and we start to see a lot of patterns emerging and I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. Okay, so what have been some of the best ways you found to book great guests?

I live this very strange life, as I said, and I figure whatever is supposed to happen is going to happen and I wait to see who shows up. I don't book now. I have all these PR people contacting me and I, every once in a while I say yes. And every once in a while I meet someone that I want to interview. So I don't stress about it. I really don't. And like the other day I didn't feel like doing a solo episode, so I put two interviews together. There are no rules.

That's right. It doesn't have to be a formula.

No, we make up the rules as we go along.

It can be as long, long or.

Short as you want. I mean, so it. I think a lot of people stress over what they're doing and I don't like to do shows to meant too far in advance because what I'm interested in changes. So if I do a show in January that's going to air in March, I could be over that already.

I like that. I like that approach. I, you know, I feel the same way. I'm kind of impatient, especially my solo episodes, the interviews I get because of how I block them. So I do a bunch at once. They are going to filter out over time. It's just the way it works. But my solo episodes, I'm like, I'm anxious for that one to get out there because I just, I said it. I'm ready for people to have that information.

Right.

I mean, I did an interview two weeks ago. My team is used to the fact that if it airs on Friday, they'll get the information by Thursday.

Get it together. And I did an interview and it went out that Friday and I wanted to do a follow up interview and comment on what the interview was about. So I find it really hard to plan a whole lot of stuff in advance.

Well, that's great. You've talked about maybe joining some networks and other things. What are other ways that you've been thinking about or found to increase listeners?

Well, you know, in the beginning I did that whole thing with News and Newsworthy on Apple podcasts and I mean there are some very traditional marketing ways. I send out an email once a month to my list that lists the last four podcasts and I'm finding that that does punch up the Stats a bit.

Right. Because then they actually go and listen to them. They're like, oh, I missed that.

Right.

And all we do is we put the title and the little blurb from the beginning of the show, and people follow it. Because not everybody on my mailing list is a podcast listener. So I'm finding that reminding them what I'm doing.

And.

And I've seen other podcasts do that a lot, where they keep saying, here's the latest episode. But I don't want to do that too often because I don't like to mail my list more than once a week.

Well, I agree with you on that.

One, because I don't want you talking to me. More than that.

Getting it out there.

And for me, going on other people's.

Podcasts has been a very valuable way to increasing my listenership.

Wonderful. What about producing in a professional way? You say you have a team. What's important to you?

Well, I have.

First of all, I don't want to.

Do it all myself. I can do it all myself. I know how to edit audio, but I don't want to do that. So I have someone in the Philippines who has a degree in audio engineering who takes care of the. I actually go through the episode myself in order to write the show notes, so I can edit out the stuff that I need to, or if I have to start and stop, you know, I know how to do basic editing, but she puts the front back and does the normalizing and all the nice sound levels. Right. She gets it all sounding wonderful. And so I have that person. Then I have another person who posts the show notes and the picture and everything and puts it on my site, gets it onto Libsyn, or I will be putting it on your platform soon.

Well, thank you, Joan. Love that.

And so it's pretty simple. And when I got into podcasting, there wasn't all these extra costs. I mean, it was pretty inexpensive. Then when I started using a booking agent, it was like $200 a month for four interviews. Now they're charging 7, $800 a month for four interviews. That's ridiculous. And although some busy podcasters are doing it, I wouldn't pay that much because it just is ridiculous.

So I agree. I have enough people reaching out to me. I'm not worried.

Right. And if there's no guest in a slot, I'll do two solos.

No worries.

I love that we're not going to.

Run out of things to say.

So now that you say you have places for people to call, you, talk to you but how do you encourage them to engage with you?

I just do a little blurb during the podcast. It's funny, podcast listeners are not necessarily product buyers or joiners. When I was in the mail order business, when I was selling crystals through the mail and I was sending out 50,000 catalogs at a time, this is before the Internet. And the rule was you never know that people who are mail order buyers are not only mail order buyers by mail order. And the Internet is the mail order business. If I want you to buy from something from me, sign here, please don't delay. It's all mail order stuff. So not every podcast listener is a mail order buyer or someone who wants coaching or. So you can't be attached to the results of your podcast. Do the podcast because you need to do a podcast. Not because you need to make money.

Not because you need that feedback and that engagement.

Exactly. Just say what you have to say. Because when I used to go to Codependents Anonymous, I learned what you think of me is none of my business. And.

I think that's a good rule. It is. I do this group and at the last group, there was a little stuff going on because someone felt she was being ignored. Well, one person thought how I handled it was great. Another person thought how I handled it was not great. And you can't please everybody. So please yourself. When you do a podcast, don't do it because you're really attached to the results. Yeah, in the beginning I looked at my stats almost every day. Now I hardly ever look at my stats because what difference does that make to me? I'm going to keep on doing what I want to do and I will look on occasion to see what the most popular episodes are and who's getting attention on a regular basis. So it gives me an idea, but the number doesn't matter. In other words, when I say that the most listened to podcast has X number of downloads, that's just a fact. I don't get emotionally attacked. It's just a fact. It's what is. But I live my whole life that way. I don't see things as good or bad. They just are what they are and deal with it.

I love that. So you talked about monetization. So the last one that the lesson that I asked for is the best way to monetize it. And you mentioned some of doing it within your core business. What are some of the things that have grown out of people have asked for that you decided to develop because of your podcast?

That's a tough question. Only Thing I've seen is, for example, okay, here's a couple. I did really well as a guest on real estate podcasts because I talk about money and I talk about your relationship with money.

Okay.

And so that gave me an idea that one of the places that I should market my coaching is to people in the financial industry, people who deal with money on a regular basis.

You said something on one of your shows is that, like, people who nurture money or love money make more of it. Right.

Money goes to people who love and take care of it, just like people. And the thing that money loves best is to be counted. Oh, she's counting me.

I'm going to tell my friends.

When you said that, I was like, that is. That's so on. That is exactly my experience.

And so many people who want to make money say, well, I don't care about money, then you're not going to make any money.

But what I find is that by not obsessing or thinking a lot about how I'm going to earn money from the podcast, that works best for me because it allows whatever's going to happen to organically grow rather than my trying to make it grow.

Yeah. So I like that. Best way to monetize organically, letting that happen. I love that. So last thing, we just really. Someone's out there. There's a lot of people out there saying, oh, I should start a podcast. Should everyone? And what's your advice for those that are starting?

Well, 750,000 people have decided to do it. And I understand the average length of stay of a podcast is 10 episodes because you gotta be committed to it. It's not like a cool thing to do for a couple of weeks if you're gonna do get. And people are in a hurry these days. Now, I'm old enough. I'm not in a hurry. What am I in a hurry? Do we get to the end? No, I'm going to slow down. I was thinking of doing a podcast on slow living, which is a whole.

Lot like slow eating. I love it.

Slow living.

It's a whole lot healthier than push, push, push. You're going to destroy your adrenal glands.

So you might as well slow down.

You probably shouldn't. If you're wondering if you should, because this is my point of view. I've got to talk or I'm going to get sick. If you don't have to talk, don't talk, because you're going to get tired of talking. I've been talking all of my life. It's what I decided a long time ago, that I was going to make my living talking because that's the thing that I do best. And so if you're afraid of talking, if you don't like doing interviews, do you know how to interview? I mean, I've been doing interviews since the 1960s, so it's the most natural thing for me to do. Learn how to do interviews, listen to thousands of interviews or hundreds of interviews before you decide to do it. Because most people are just boring. Don't be boring. I have a thing about life. It's don't be boring.

I love that.

Joan When I was working for network.

Tv, I was booking guests on it.

Was a show, the Joey Bishop show that was opposite Johnny Carson. And if you could sing, dance and do impressions, you got better bookings.

Don't be boring. And don't think you're going to make.

A lot of money.

Don't do it for the money. Do it because you have to do it.

I love that. Well, Joan, thank you so much for joining me today. I've enjoyed our conversation. I've enjoyed your show, the Prosperity Show. Don't miss it. It's got some brilliant, brilliant insights into various, into things that I didn't think were associated with prosperity. So you really enlightened me and opened my eyes to and my ears to some of the ideas.

All right.

Well, you know, this is stuff I've.

Been living with for a long time.

And I'm so glad people are finally tuning into it.

That's right. That's right. Well, thank you so much, Joan. We really appreciate it and we'll be sure to make sure everyone knows how to reach you. The podcast show notes for this episode will be at FeedYourBrand Co and you'll be easily able to find out how to connect with Joan, how to find prosperityplace.com, how to get into our programs, get into her show and start listening. So thanks everyone for listening. This is Tracee Hazard on Feed you'd Brand.

You've been listening to the Binge Factor Podcast for more information. For more information on podcasting and videocasting success tips and tactics, please go to thebingefactor.com and be sure to listen to our other show for podcasters called Feed you'd Brand. If you'd like to be interviewed on this show as well as featured in Tracy's column, please go to thebingefactor.com guest and apply.