How a Women’s Health Podcast Grew to 6 Figures with Karen Martel

Welcome to profits through podcasting, where we help health focused entrepreneurs generate leads and revenue for their businesses through podcasting. I’m your host, Joel Oliver’s CEO of east coast studio. And today we are hearing a success story that shows you the power of creating a consistent, valuable podcast in the health space. Our guest, Karen Martel heads, the clinic and product line offering bioidentical hormone therapy and a holistic approach to addressing hormonal dysfunction in women during Pirie.

And post-menopause her mission is to empower women with the knowledge they require to seize control of their wellbeing and thrive throughout every stage of life. Karen host the hormone. So retake. Karen hosts, the hormone solution podcast, which receives monthly download numbers in the tens of thousands and plays a huge role in her business.

It is her primary marketing tool and has led to steady sales for her company speaking gigs, and now sponsorships as well.

 Let’s talk about your podcast of it. First, you started in 2018. Did I get that right?

Yeah, I started first actually just doing YouTube videos. And then I was like, Oh, I, I could be smart of me to repurpose this content and move over to also doing podcasting, which thank goodness I did because my YouTube channel is terrible in comparison to my podcast. So it was definitely the way to go.

But I did start with the YouTube first and then moved over about a year later.

Okay. Good to know. Well, all of this stuff takes consistency and sticking with it. So yeah, maybe the YouTube thing, if you had have went down that path, you still could see results, but you opted for podcasting. You’ve been very consistent with that and you have seen great results here. So

now you’ve got over 350 episodes, which is great. We heard a little bit of history there about your shift from YouTube to the podcast.

What actually led you to start this podcast, like, did you have any specific reasons or goals, or you just thought I want to do something, it seems fun. Or I need to do something. What was that about?

I think it was a means of, of course, advertising for the business, but I had always had a desire to get into a public speaking role. I know podcast isn’t necessarily public speaking per se, but it was a close enough fit that it was like, Oh, maybe I’ll start with this podcasting thing and get used to talking.

And, I had been doing kind of live Facebooks and live, masterminds and stuff within my membership group. So I had been getting used to being. on the microphone. And so it was just this kind of natural progression of, okay, I think this is my next step is to kind of move to YouTube. And then it was like, okay.

Now let’s try out this podcasting thing, which super intimidating when you first start out, because especially like back then it was like, Oh my gosh, I would have no idea what I’m doing. I had like my first few episodes, which. are actually on the podcast, uh, which I should probably take down Joel because they’re so bad. I actually had just my, my phone, leaned up against some books. That’s, that’s what I recorded on for the first, I don’t know how many episodes.

You know, and if you see the videos, I’m not looking at the camera. It sounds terrible. I’m not very good at the interviewing. Like it was, it’s very intimidating. And when you’ve never done it before, it does. Absolutely take some time to get used to it and to do it properly. And I think a lot of people actually go wrong with that.

Like I was just talking to, uh, these two guys that are like super well known. And he started his own podcast and it was so bad because the audio like they were recording on their phones. It’s I couldn’t listen to it. I actually had to shut it off.

while I was driving because I couldn’t stand to listen to what they were saying because the audio was so terrible. So I think if I had some advice for people, it would be like, listen to people like yourself, get the books, take a course, a program, something, get a mentor. So that you don’t make those mistakes when you first start out that I made and that so many people I think make when they first start podcasting.

Yeah, that’s definitely something we chat about a lot is finding that balance between perfectionism and just getting started. You don’t want to be held back from doing anything. Like you mentioned, you want it to get that confidence for public speaking. So let’s say if someone, even if they don’t have an audience at all, they just want to get, get started with it.

Well, don’t get too hung up on being perfect. Just go and we’ll improve it all in time. But At the same time, you do want to be taken seriously to some degree, especially if you’ve got a bit of an audience already, you don’t want to go out there with some kind of embarrassing, bad audio podcast. Like it’s really going to stunt the growth.

So getting some kind of assistance, whether it’s a professional or learning from somewhere, how to get like a minimum quality is quite important. But, uh, that’s, that’s quite interesting that you had that thought about the public speaking, because those definitely go hand in hand. There’s a lot of people that especially on a stage will just freeze.

They can’t like if you just throw someone up there right now, they can’t talk. And that would include in front of a camera and a microphone as well. That’s a skill that you have to develop where you can just talk and talk and do that through a whole podcast episode confidently. How did that work out for you?

Did you actually end up getting the types of speaking gigs that you wanted? How did that progression feel in terms of your skill improvement? Mm hmm.

It took several years because it took several years to grow the podcast. It’s not an overnight success unless you got a lot of money to back you up. So it was the consistency and just, making sure that I got better and better at my skills as a podcaster. And eventually it was about two years ago, I was started to get asked to come and speak at these different events.

And then last year, it really took off. And I think I went to like six different events last year and between last year and this year. Uh, and now I’ve been, you know, it’s been slowly growing and so it’s been great. And it’s in the podcasting, I can’t tell you how much that has helped with the public speaking because I was so nervous.

I mean, public speaking is terrifying. And I just kept telling myself, you can talk. You are a great podcaster. You can speak well, like just hone in on that. Remind yourself that you are good at this now. And because I had done 350 episodes now or whatever, like, and been on probably a hundred Over a hundred different podcasts being interviewed.

I just kept relying on that and those skills to take me into the public speaking, you know, arena, and it’s absolutely served me well and I did great and I just, I love it. It’s, it’s still terrifies me. But every time I do it, I’m like, yes, that was so awesome. And it was like, I’m always told, oh, you have one of the best talks of the weekend, you know, at these big conferences.

And so it’s really confirming for me that, okay, I’m definitely going in the right direction with this public speaking thing. And, and I do want to. Like continue to hone in on the podcast skills though, too. Like that is a constant thing for me, which you and I have talked about, you know, you and I met because I wanted your opinion

and it’s interesting to me how many podcasters don’t do that. Like I just talked to a good friend of mine who’s got a podcast and I was telling her. That I listen to other podcasters, not really sometimes about what they’re, to listen to what they’re saying, but how they’re speaking like big podcasters.

Um, I’ll listen to them and try to really focus on how they’re speaking and how they’re presenting their information. And what is it about them that makes me, um, Want to listen to them because they have a good tone of voice. They’re speaking well, and the girl was like, really?

She’s like, I have never done that before. And she was like, you know, and I was telling her how I prepare for an interview. She’s like, Oh, I don’t do that. I just wing it. And her podcast isn’t growing. We have to always be trying to improve our skills as speakers and podcasters and YouTubers and because that’s what’s going to make you stand out from the crowd.

 Really be good at what you’re doing. It’s not just like, let’s just go and chat on the podcast. And you know what I mean?

Yes. Yes. It’s like that. Not just taking action, but right action. So we mentioned there a bit about starting just doing something, but if you’re never even looking to yourself to see how you can improve or seeking external, assistance to try to learn about that, then yeah, it’s going to be difficult to get better.

You might to some degree, but you’re really not aware. Uh, like you mentioned that example of someone doing a podcast where the audio is really bad. It’s possible to just not even realize that that’s a thing. And bad audio is one of the biggest, like the top reasons why people turn off or don’t listen to music.

Do a podcast as you, you know, gave a great example of. So if you’re not even aware that the audio is bad or that people even care, and you just do that forever, well, you’re really going to have a problem with growing the podcast you want to get that insight so you can learn why isn’t this growing.

Um, so yeah, you mentioned a great thing as well. The, the many, many interviews that you’ve done appearing on other podcasts. That’s a huge, like, that’s Huge amount of practice, uh, in addition to hosting your own gets your name out there. And I love that you were seeing these speaking gigs roll in as invites.

This is a great example of where podcasting can take you because you’re, you, you focus on that, you do the work and you’re actually getting invited to these events. So things are just getting easier and easier for you. It sounded like in terms of your exposure and, and getting invited to both podcast interviews as well.

Correct.

Yeah. And that’s, of course, as you’ve probably talked about lots, it’s one of the best ways to grow your own podcast is to get on other people’s podcasts. And the podcast itself, it’s, it’s served me so well, Joel, because in the first, you know, up until um, Just last fall, so a year ago, I wasn’t making money off of advertising or anything on the podcast.

Um, a little bit here and there, but really the focus at that point and for all those years preceding it, it was really about It was the best way to advertise for my business. And I think that a lot of people start podcasts for that reason is to grow their business. Some people don’t, they just think, Oh, this is going to be fun and let’s just do this, but, or, or they think they’re going to make all this money from podcasting, which, you know, is.

isn’t usually the case, at least not for a long time, unless you’re an overnight success. But it was the, it is still to this day and always has been my number one form of advertising for my business because people get a chance to hear your expertise. They, and they connect with your voice. They connect with who you are.

They get to know you as a person. Like people will always tell me when I go to these events, it’s like, Well, we just, I feel like I know you, you walk with me every Saturday morning, you know, and so it gives people an opportunity to connect with who you are and then that makes them go, Oh, I think I want to work with this person.

She’s super knowledgeable or, you know, whatever it is that you’re, you know, promoting, but it is the number one way. To get business through the door. I really believe that is a being a podcaster because, and I remember hearing when somebody saying like, even if you have an audience of 10 people or a hundred people,

that is still amazing. That’s a hundred people listening to what you have to say. And some of those people are going to turn into clients. And so then it’s worth it. Right. And so I think that it, you know, it doesn’t matter if you have a small audience to begin with, it’s still a really great way to advertise for what it is that you do.

Absolutely. And we can easily forget that when you see, you look at a YouTube video with thousands or tens of thousands of views, and you think you need that. But if we had a room full of a hundred people to talk to, and only a fraction of those became your clients, most of us as entrepreneurs, that that’d be pretty good, you would appreciate that.

Good ROI, right? It’s an hour of your time podcasting, let’s say for maybe one client that would, you know, that would become a lifelong client or have several sessions with you or whatever it is that you’re selling or, you know, what they buy from you. So I think it can be excellent ROI.

Especially if you’re repurposing, which I know is something that you wanted to do. You’re not just doing that episode. Other forms of content can come from it. It lives online forever. And that connection that you mentioned too, is so important. It’s easy to even forget that, but people are forming this relationship with you.

Even if you don’t necessarily know who’s listening until you meet them in person and they’re hearing you every week. They feel like they know you. So that is extremely powerful. You mentioned it took quite a while for this to all come together. Come to fruition, like the results you were seeing from your podcast. If you had given up on that podcast sooner, like after a year or two and just quit, it sounds like there’ll be a lot of things now, a lot of success you’ve seen that would just not be present, or at least it wouldn’t, maybe it wouldn’t have come from the park, we would have to find it somewhere else.

So how long was it? After you started doing the podcast that you felt like you had an actual audience there, some people start with a social media following, for example. So when they begin their podcast, they’ve actually got some people engaged already that can go in and listen. Other people, they don’t have any sort of following at all, really.

So they’re starting basically from zero. And it can be, it can feel like a struggle sometimes. Like no one’s listening to this. Maybe they won’t ever. So how long did you have that feeling before you felt like, okay, the podcast is a substantial part of my brand and my business now.

a while, like I had a small social media following, following when I started. And so I was really just promoting the podcast to clients and, you know, my little social media following, and that was probably the case for. A good year to two years, I would say where it was, you know, very slowly kind of moving up in the world.

And I mean, I changed the name. I’ve changed the name three times actually in the 350 episodes. Yeah. Um,

that

Yeah. Uh, so I can say confidently that very quickly I saw an increase in business like in people listening to me on the podcast or the YouTube channel. And from that coming to my business and either buying a program or coming into my membership.

So I think fairly quickly, it was helping me to generate business little bits and it, you know, just very slowly grew from there. And then it was like, you kind of hit this mark and it happened about, probably 2021, somewhere in there, it was like I hit a certain place with my downloads.

And then it was like the algorithm may have picked it up or, or maybe it was just like, because there was enough people listening to it, that they started telling others about it. Yeah. Yeah. But I feel like there was this kind of like point in my download numbers where it was like, okay, now you’re going to start to really pick up the pace here of listeners, listenership, which is then turns into clientele.

And so it took a couple of years of consistency to get to that point. And then it kind of really started to move up and it went quite quickly until last year. And we were Almost at 50, 000 downloads a month. And that really, like it really jumped in that year

 Okay. We, we got into your business a little bit there.

 Tell us who your ideal client is with your business specifically. What are you offering them? Like, what are you selling and how you deliver it? Let us know about your actual business.

Mm hmm. So I run a telemedicine clinic for women in midlife that are going through perimenopause and menopause. Uh, we do prescription, um, hormone replacement therapy. We can prescribe in every state. Uh, so that’s, one part of our business. And so that’s, Private coaching, they, you know, see a nurse practitioner and, you know, we do all their hormones and come at it from a very functional perspective.

So we meet with women, we go through a whole bunch of different lifestyle factors, diet, stress management, and, and come at it from a functional viewpoint because there’s not a lot of hormone clinics that are doing that. So we’re really trying to offer something different to women

that’s kind of one business. And then another business is that we have, uh, two membership groups of about 450 women in total. One’s a weight loss group, and then one is for women in perimenopause and menopause group coaching programs. And so it’s, um, it’s, um, much more affordable option for women.

So we’re just trying to, we’re trying to make our services available to all women in, you know, at all price points. So it’s like, if you can’t afford the expensive private coaching, no problem. You can come in and you can be part of our group coaching program and that’s been going for Seven years, that one. So it’s been, it’s been really successful and that’s why I started the podcast was really to get the group membership stuff off the ground and to help fill it. And it’s done really well for that. , so the membership business is kind of once again another business and then.

We just launched a product line at the beginning of this year with over the counter Performance creams which actually contain hormones which are available over the counter for sale in the United States Not in Canada, but in the States you can buy hormone creams hormone containing creams over the counter so we created our own line of Like a progesterone cream and an estrogen cream and another cream that contains hormones.

And that’s really taken off. And the podcast has been awesome for that because basically I have spent zero money, 0 on advertising for those creams. I’ve only. Talked about it on the podcast and we have sold out so many times. It’s just like every time I make an order, it goes up and up and up.

 So it’s really taken off. And so now we’re going to do a supplement line. And so I just think like, wow, if, if I can do this well on just my own podcast advertising, imagine if I start advertising on other podcasts, and getting myself out there to be interviewed on other podcasts. So now that’s.

Now become another segment of the, the overall business. And then I’ve got the public speaking, which isn’t paid yet. It’s mostly, you know, you go down and you get to be part of these conferences. They don’t pay a lot of, a lot of their speakers. So unless you’re a big headliner. So eventually I would like to start getting paid and that’s going to be another business in and of itself.

And then the podcast. Selling advertising on your podcast in the last year that in and of itself now has become another business because it’s generating so much income. So we’ve got a whole bunch of different kinds of businesses under one umbrella, which has been amazing.

So we have all these different kinds of revenues coming in, which is really what I wanted to set up from the beginning. Um, when you’re talking about from a business stance, we’re really able to help so many different women in midlife. Uh, but at the same time, business wise, we’ve got multiple streams of income, which, uh, was always my goal.

Mm hmm. That’s fantastic. I love hearing those stories. I mean, I know, like, from my perspective, I’m working on episodes for yourself and other clients, but I don’t always get to see this full picture of just how it’s affecting your life and how you’re able to serve other people. So I always love to hear that.

 Could you tell us a little about team that you’ve got in place

 How does this all run?

Yeah. Oh, I need to hire more people. I’ll tell you that right now because I need someone to do like this whole supplement thing and cream thing. And then the affiliate marketing and the, the advertising on the podcast is takes up a lot of time. So I, I have hired out. And so right now we have a staff of five of us, five women.

And so we’ve got like a nurse practitioner does the private coaching and some of the group coaching. And we’ve got, you know, I’ve got a couple of VAs, um, and then contract wise. I’ve got you, I’ve got my advertising team, that gets the people to pay for the ads, you know, on the podcast and they run all of that.

And that’s called category three, which you’ve just had the owner on Bev. So Bev from category three has just been like instrumental in growing my podcast and getting me. Money for the podcast, which has been very exciting. It’s like, Oh my gosh, I cannot believe what I’m getting paid to do something that’s so fun and that I love so much.

Like, it’s just, it’s crazy to me. And just even in the amount of stuff that I get sent to me, which we, we should talk about that because this can be a good incentive for people to keep plugging away at their podcasts. Because I am considered an influencer now.

So we’ve got that. I’ve got a guy on Fiverr that works on my website. I’ve got, Lots of different software systems and to help me run things and, but we’re definitely going to have to grow. Like we do no marketing outside of the podcast to grow my business.

And it’s crazy how much it’s grown. You know, it’s, Six figures, and I haven’t paid for any advertising. So that just goes to show that my main advertising thing is my podcast. How much that’s helped me. And being on other podcasts, both that’s, what’s been the biggest influence on growing the business.

Great. Yeah. I love hearing that.

We are going to talk more about the sponsorship stuff, but okay. Something you mentioned that you rebranded or changed the name of the podcast multiple times. So it wasn’t always the hormone solution podcast. Can you tell us about that journey?

Why tell us about the names that it was and why you made the decision to change?

this business that I’ve been in that right now is, has been going for about 11 years. The membership group that I have for the hormones is called on track. So when I started the podcast, because it was, I really set out to start a podcast to bring people into the group, I thought I’m going to call it on the on track podcast.

And so for the first bit, it was called on track. And then I was like. That’s a really stupid name for a podcast, I realized, and that just says nothing about what I’m talking about. So then at that time, my focus in my business was around, female weight loss and, and, and, weight loss resistance and kind of that, cause my history and why I got into this was I had a lot of unexplained weight gain when I was, after I had my daughter in my early thirties.

And it was like, I was doing everything right. And I just kept gaining more and more weight and couldn’t figure it out. And I was working out and I was calorie counting and calorie restricting. And I just kept getting fatter. And I was like, what is going on? And it finally, after a bunch of things happened, I figured out it was hormonal.

There was times where I was eating 800 calories a day and I was just gaining weight. And so that whole model of calorie in calorie out is broken. And I was like, there’s gotta be more women out there like me. And that’s kind of why I started this whole business was I wanted to help women that had weight loss resistance And I wanted to educate the masses on the fact that there’s another side to losing weight that’s beyond calorie counting and fitness.

And so the next name was the other side of weight loss. And so it was that for up until. Last year I changed it. Because I did so much around hormonal weight loss resistance, and then started myself to go into perimenopause and menopause. My business took off in that area that was my niche that was just kind of pulled me in and I became a hormone specialist.

I took all these courses and I became a leading advocate for menopausal women and just like that my business, my business grew, my podcast grew. And so I was like, it’s time to change the podcast name. Again, because the other side of weight loss, people could think that it’s like, Oh, this is the other, you know, this is after you lose weight, what’s the other side of things.

And so it could be misinterpreted. And so it was like, I got to do something with the title that has something with hormones in it. And so it took me a good year to figure out the name. And I know it’s like, Oh, kind of boring, the hormone solution. But I, I just wanted it to be super straightforward, like.

this is what I talk about, hormones. And it’s been, it’s been great ever since I changed it. It didn’t hinder me at all. It didn’t change my download numbers. My download number still kept going up.

Great. Yeah, it can be a simple name. The name should reflect what the podcast is about. should be very clear to people. And we see that a lot in that journey where you realize, Oh no, I picked a name that has no significance about anything. Like you can’t understand what this podcast is about from the name.

So it’s common to start like that, then change it to something else. And you know, businesses evolve, your branding evolves. So that’s natural to see that change. So I appreciate you sharing that.

I think it’s super important for people podcasting. To hear that too. It’s just like, you know, when they talk so much about niching down in your business, same goes for podcasts. When people go out and search for a podcast to listen to, they’re looking. Yeah. to find something that’s going to talk about their problems. And so for me, it was my, my market niche is women that are having hormone issues. And so when somebody sees that name and they’re trying to find podcasts about hormones, uh, hello.

Right. But if I was just like, Hey, Karen’s health podcast, because I want to talk about everything, you can still talk about a whole bunch of different things, right?

Like my podcast, as you know, Joel, like I don’t always talk about hormones. It’s like my umbrella. And so that’s like, people come to me because. Um, but then I talk about a whole bunch of different things that have to do with aging and weight and, you know, like spirituality and so, because that can all fit under there because it applies to women’s health.

Right. Yeah. Still of interest and relevance

Yeah.

ideal audience. So

Yes. Yes. Yeah.

We’re getting towards the end here, so I do want to make sure we touch on the sponsorship thing. Cause that’s a, that’s not something that everybody does. As you mentioned, you’re not just generating revenue through your own business, but you’ve added in sponsorships as well, which our friend Bev is helping you with.

So talk about how that experience has been for you, you mentioned it’s going quite well. You’ve been able to significantly increase revenue that the podcast generates. You mentioned you get some things sent to you. So tell us how that even came about the idea of adding in sponsorships and how it’s all going.

Mm hmm.

So when I started doing it, I did have a couple companies that, were placing ads with me and I was charging what they recommended charging that you will find on Google and podcast websites. so I was charging, you know, a hundred dollars an ad because that’s what, you know, my numbers, what they said I should be charging. And so I had a little bit of sponsorship. I was making a few hundred dollars a month on the podcast and thought that was really great. And then I met Bev, from category three, who. Had a lot of experience with a very big podcaster. And I remember Bev saying, podcasting is the best, one of the best forms of advertising right now.

And the landscape’s changing rapidly. And she said, it’s now looked at like it, you would look at a magazine or a newspaper. And when you’re wanting to place ads, in those that they cost a lot of money. And she’s like, podcasts is like one of the best ways that all of these product companies are now using way over the, the magazines and the social media ads, and I’ve now talked to many big companies who have sponsored me.

And they’ll say across the board, their best form of advertising now is to either number one is to get an interview on a podcast. And number two is to run ads on podcasts. And she proposed that I start charging for Interviews for product interviews. And I was like, what, like, oh my gosh, great idea.

Right. And I’m thinking like, oh, well, what’s, what does this look like? Because you don’t want to become too salesy. And so you, you do risk that I have a very heart centered business. I don’t want to be this like sleazy saleswoman. Uh, so that was important to me. And so I only will advertise for products that.

I really do align with and that I believe work and are a good product and I feel confident about advertising for them. And that same thing goes for interviews and I’m very, very specific about the interviews that I choose. I’ll only do one, uh, sponsored episode a month, but. She charges 3, 000 per episode for sponsored interview.

And that sounds like a lot, but you start talking to these bigger people that have really big podcasts and they’re charging 10, 000 an episode because. The ROI on that for these companies is that good because they get a chance to talk about Their product in an hour interview you can’t get better than that No magazine or newspaper article is gonna give you that Where you get to hear the person you connect to the person who makes the product and I don’t know I get suckered right into this.

Like when I listen to other people’s podcasts and they’re like, they talk about a product or they interview somebody about their product. Usually by the end of it, I’m like, Oh my gosh, that sounds so amazing. I think I need to go buy it. It is. It’s very convincing.

Yeah, you made a very important point. There was that you are very strict about who you would actually bring on to do this because that trust that you’ve developed with your audience. The results are coming because they trust you so much and you’re having someone on.

Whose product you believe in, it’s not just there for the money. So that’s a huge part of it. You can’t just invite anyone on and, you know, trick people into buying stuff. This is all run through your filter of what you believe in and what you are doing and serving your audience with.

Yeah. And that’s hard. It’s hard to do that because you see the dollar signs and you’re like, what? Somebody’s wants to pay me. And I’ve turned several companies down who’ve wanted to pay me 3, 000 for an episode. And I’m like, I can’t do it. Sorry. I didn’t like your product. So yeah, it’s, it’s tough, but yeah, but once you get to a place where you can pick and choose.

Because. Also, you know, I have other options now. I have a lot of options. And so I can be picky and choosy about it. But I think that that’s, that’s important because then your audience trusts you. And I think that that’s a big thing is that you do want your audience to trust you and trust the work that you’re doing and what you’re promoting.

And I think that that’s, yeah, it’s just super important.

Has, have you noticed, is it detracted from the sales to your own business in any way? Or have you basically, you know, money aside, it’s a net positive adding the sponsorship to your podcast?

That has been a bit tough and I’ve talked to other clients of Category 3 because I have several, people in the industry with me who also work with Category 3 and we’ve discussed that as being tough, you know, now you don’t have room for your own advertising. For your stuff. And so once in a while, if there’s a slot open, I fill it with my own ads. then I try now to, when I do my solo episodes, I will still promote my products or if it has to do with what I’m talking about. So if I’m talking about hormone replacement therapy, I’ll throw in, of course, into the episode, Oh, Hey, have you checked out my over the counter hormone creams?

You can buy these without prescription, you know, check it out over here. So I will still try to put my own in there, but yeah, it does take away from that a little bit, for sure.

Okay, so thank you for the insight there. You mentioned to you about the getting a lot of things sent to you I’m curious to know about that now. How many products are you

What do you got? Um, let’s see. I got this recently. Ultra human. So this is a tracking ring, a health tracking ring, sleep tracking ring, which has been used.

Yeah. Very interesting. I like that. And so I’ve been using this now for a few weeks. I just got this is a 800 sun lamp it’s a red light therapy lamp, but also it gives you vitamin D and it’s the only lamp that does. So it actually raises your vitamin D levels, which is super cool.

I did an exchange with Sunlighten Sauna, and so I got a 12, 000 sauna in exchange for a couple interviews about saunas and, some ad packages, newsletter stuff, social media.

So that was probably the biggest ticket item I got a whole supplement store now in my kitchen, like hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of supplements sent to me to try. And it’s like that, that to me is just so exciting. I got an eight sleep mattress cover that was worth a few thousand dollars.

And then on top of that, they also bought ad slots. I get stuff on a weekly basis, Juul . So it’s like Christmas. Every time I go to my mailbox it’s like, what do I got this time?

Who doesn’t like free stuff. I’m kind of I want I want that

light I want to try that out. So that is so cool. And You I guess thing that we’re talking about here today is a lot of this is because of your podcast success. You just, you hung, you started it, you consistently did it, you hung in there.

And it’s not, it’s not like there was luck or some, something completely special. You just did the work that you were supposed to do. And I think this is replicable among other people as well. So I I’m thankful that you gave us that insight to see how, how it all looks and the success you’re having.

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, if I could give anybody advice, it’s a, the consistency, but also because there’s so many podcasts now, you really have to make an effort to stand out amongst the masses. People are definitely wanting to take deeper dives. Our audience is getting smarter and smarter.

And so they don’t want the surface stuff they want. Like, what can you tell me that a million other podcasters aren’t telling me? You know, you want to get those really good guests. Uh, two years ago, I started doing round table discussions because nobody was very few podcasters do that.

So I’ll invite, you know, two, three guests on. and have a conversation. And that’s always fun because the dynamic completely changes when you do that. And so different things like that, or if you want to do live podcasts or, just shaking it up a little bit, bringing the audience something different that they’re not seeing from every other podcaster.

And I think if you can kind of start going outside of the box, I think that that could really help to grow a podcast.

Great, great advice. Okay, so it’s, uh, karenmartell. com, the Hormone Solution Podcast. We’ll include all of your web and social links in the show notes. Is there anything else, anywhere else people should find you?

Uh, Karen Martell Hormones on social media. That nails it.

Well, I love the insight. Thank you so much for your time.

Thanks for having me.

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