For creative entrepreneurs, there’s always a tension between the creative projects we want to undertake, and the need to make it easy for people to understand the niche we fit into. It doesn’t make sense for us to be everything to everyone, but niching down is challenging because it feels like we’re giving up our creative fulfillment. Can we niche down and still have room for creativity? How do we know we’re on the right track when it comes to finding the right niche? In this episode,...

Joe Rogan is the exception that proves the rule. For every 3 hour episode of Joe Rogan, there's a podcast that is shortening up their average episode. And rightfully so, I think. We're going on 10+ years of long-form interview podcasts, and the format itself is no longer rare and valuable. So either your topic must be incredibly rare and valuable, or it's time to shorten your average episode to deal with shrinking attention spans. Here are my 3 best tips to shorten your average...

As introverts, it often feels like other people can’t relate to our inner experience. We feel awkward in social situations, and work really hard not to convey that awkwardness to others. Our extrovert counterparts can perceive our behavior as stuck up and antisocial, and advice to just “be ourselves” feels rich coming from naturally gregarious people. But what if more people share this experience than we believe, and what if there was a way to change our mindset and create the motivation to...

This might be an odd thing for me to talk about. I spend all my time helping entrepreneurs and experts become MicroFamous. So what do I know? Yet there are some really critical lessons we can all take from Rogan’s history. There is no original reporting or investigative journalism or exclusive interview here. But I am going to tie together the 4 big cultural waves that propelled Joe Rogan to being mega-famous. That way we can be on the lookout for similar opportunities in our own...

In today’s media landscape, it’s no surprise that all roads lead to video. It’s what we consume. It’s the beating drum of content marketing, and its platform agnostic because it applies to every industry including coaching and consulting. What is surprising though, is the kind of video content people are consuming and what drives them to take action. In lieu of advertising, organic, value-driven content has made a real comeback, and it’s centered around stories more than ever before. This...

One of my friends in the coaching space forwarded me Sam Ovens’ video on how he’s spent the last 2 years breaking down and rebuilding his business. If you don’t know, Ovens started a business that became Consulting.com, which helped beginner experts and course creators turn their expertise into courses and productizable consulting. At one point he was doing $30 million a year in revenue. However, in remaking the business he decided to discontinue Consulting Accelerator, their signature...

When I hear coaches and consultants talk about partnering, my ears perk up. Not because I’m a big believer in partnerships (as you’re about to see). It’s because I’m listening for the real reasons they want a partner. Most of the time I hear things like: We would have a lot of fun building something together We have complementary skill sets We have similar audiences Then in podcasting, there’s this one, We want to start a podcast together, so we need a way to monetize it. And there’s nothing...

On a consultation recently I found myself explaining something that I hadn’t quite articulated before. So I wanted to lay it out here in writing. Writing helps to get my thinking clear and integrates new concepts into my whole Point of View. I was speaking to a coach who is in a growing niche, with a good (yet limited) sphere of influence. They have a big decision to make, where do they choose to reach new people? Put another way, what ecosystem will they invest time and energy into...

We don’t often feature guests on the show, but when we do, it’s to spotlight authors, coaches and leaders who dive into introversion and why it’s not a deviation from the norm or a handicap - even in the world of coaching. There are many natural advantages to being an introvert, but they often get lost in the misconceptions, misidentifications and baggage people have about the word. How do we break out of the misconceptions and embrace the strengths of being an introvert? How do we build our...

There are two ways to find easy sales. One is a good long-term strategy, the other is a trap. Now we know from Richard Koch's work on the 80/20 Principle and his book the Star Principle... that the most likely way to build a sustainable, profitable business is to identify a niche with 10% yearly growth potential... Then build the #1 business in that niche. Just about every successful business can be boiled down to those two elements. NOW, if we start from there, that reveals a couple very...

Let's start with a little thought experiment: What is draining your time and energy right now? Not all tasks are equally draining. That leads us into our first big idea. 1) Go after the things that drain the most energy first, not necessarily the most time. Chances are, your business only needs a few key skills from you. And of all the other things in your business that you do, some of those things aren't a big deal, and some drain your energy. If you're like me and it hurts your soul to...

I spotted a question from an expert in a mastermind group and wanted to address it because it's a common one. Mostly I get this question from folks who've been on a few podcasts, know they enjoy being a guest, and can see the potential for their own show. Ultimately, I want coaches and consultants doing both. Guesting and hosting podcasts work together for best results. Guesting on other podcasts is the #1 way to get more podcast listeners. And hosting your own podcast is your best lead...

A client asked me the other day about hiring a social media agency. An agency promising to get far more engagement on her content. The idea is for them to push out content across multiple pages and platforms. Lots of pushing. It’s a very appealing idea, too. Your content…everywhere. Who doesn’t want to be everywhere? Yet I think the days of pushing content on people are over, at least for the time being. And agencies are still selling the dream, mostly based on success stories from 3+...

Inside our podcast production agency, one of my big pushes over the last couple years was to convert to Scrum-style project management so that we could be working on 2-3 service improvement projects at any given time. So I wanted to give you a glimpse into that system and the projects we’ve run this year to improve our podcast service. If you’re a current client you’ll recognize some or all of these projects (not all applies to every client) and if you’re looking to launch a podcast this...

Years ago I caught an Uber and it was a nice newer black Infiniti sedan. Along the way, the driver explains that his day job is a financial advisor and he drives for Uber on the side for extra cash because he’s newer in the business. Now ask yourself, In that moment, was he an influential financial advisor to me? No, because I had already put him in the category of Uber driver. He couldn’t market and sell himself to me as both an Uber driver AND a financial advisor. In my mind, there’s...

We are only in control of our actions. So setting goals around things like podcast downloads are pointless because we don't have direct control over them. Let's set the scene with a couple stories to illustrate the core challenge when setting goals. A couple years ago a client of mine hired an outside marketing agency to run their whole marketing program. They came up with a social media strategy based on benchmarking and best practices, which is a corporate way of saying they'll copy what...

As lead gen costs continue to go up, and social media algorithms are optimized for rapid rising, negative emotional responses, it gets more and more difficult to put any kind of a direct response call-to-action in front of people on social media. That goes for whether you pay to play or not. I'll give you an example. Let's rewind to February 2020, the MicroFamous book just launched, got great feedback and reviews. So my idea was to run the free+shipping offer to build the email list, and...

Guests not sharing their episodes is one of the biggest frustrations of running a podcast. But is it the guest's fault? Not always. In this episode of MicroFamous we dive into 3 key mistakes podcasters are making right now that keep guests from even wanting to share their episode. And of course, we talk about how to avoid those mistakes and create an episode that guests are excited to share. Let's jump in! Mistake #1: We presented the guest in a way that adds nothing to their reputation...

A lot of the frustration I see in the expert/thought leader space has one root cause. So I want to give you some common examples of failure, and I'll build up the big reveal - the root cause and some potential cures for this horrible ailment. And if you think you're wrong in launching something that eventually failed, think again. Notice how many iterations of programs like Seth Godin's AltMBA, or Sam Ovens Consulting Accelerator, or Amy Porterfield's Courses That Convert. I've read various...

Coaches, consultants and thought leaders can get a lot out of building relationships with fellow experts whether you’re joining a formal mastermind, or starting your own informal peer advisory group. The question is - how do we approach masterminds so that we get the most value out of them, and how do we contribute to these relationships so that we’re also making the engagement worthwhile for other members? In today’s episode, I’m joined by the CEO of Profitable Relationships, Dov...

So I’ve been thinking a lot about the biggest challenge for us in the coaching/consulting space. I’m curious if you’d agree, but here’s how I’d describe it: If we don’t want to follow the Gary Vee model and chase free attention on social media, what’s the best alternative medium to put our content in front of people who don’t know us? There’s no easy answer, but when I look at the landscape of content marketing, a few things are high on the list Podcasts (both as host and as...

We’ve all heard the quote, If one person can do something, anyone can learn to do it. It might be a helpful belief, but that doesn’t make it objectively true. Especially when it comes to marketing. I had a client ask me if she should focus on Instagram, because a friend of hers grew a following of 100k in just 6 months. Of course it turns out their friend is a massive extrovert with a huge personality who loves social media. Once we identified that, it became clear that my client...

With Apple releasinghttps://podcasters.apple.com/878-subscriptions ( paid and freemium podcast subscriptions), there’s a lot of talk in the podcast world about this new option for monetizing podcasts. So this is a perfect opportunity to cover an idea I’ve talked about behind the scenes but isn’t in the MicroFamous book (at least, not this current version). There’s a big difference between a product that helps you build demand for you, versus a product that harvests demand that already...

Yes, I listened to all 3 hours of this episode so you don’t have to. However, there are so many fantastic nuggets, I still highly recommend it to any podcaster. We align on virtually everything, from his simple approach to gear, to handling guests and prepping for episodes. But like you, I was most curious on how Tim’s brilliance had been applied to growing his show. In some areas I was surprised, and I’ll give you my overall conclusions at the end, but for now let’s dig into the nitty...