
Are you following all the advice from podcast gurus but still not seeing the growth you really want?
How come some podcasts hit millions of downloads and others are doomed to obscurity forever?
Growing a health and wellness podcast to over 5,000,000 downloads doesn’t typically have jail time as a springboard for getting started. But that’s exactly what makes Melissa Monte’s journey so unique. Through sheer determination and a commitment to authenticity, Melissa channels her experiences into creating the Mind Love podcast, which centers on mental health and the power of the mind.
Melissa’s amazingly creative strategies grew her podcast so quickly that she was speaking on stage about podcast growth mere months after launching! The best part? You can apply her techniques to your podcast immediately.
We’re sharing the how. All you need to do is listen to this episode and then get to work!
Today’s episode includes:
- How Melissa’s commitment to mental well-being resonated with millions.
- Creative strategies Melissa used for podcast growth, including guerrilla marketing.
- How much does “magic” factor into a podcast’s success? Do some podcasters simply have it and some don’t?
- The importance of personalized outreach and relationship-building in successful guest pitching.
- Why the intimacy of podcasting is highly effective for audience engagement.
- Why fundamentals are important, but not alone sufficient, for podcast success.
Are you pouring your heart into your podcast but still not seeing the growth you deserve? Download our free guide to unlock your podcast’s full potential and expand your impact: https://eastcoaststudio.com/5mistakes
Mind Love website: https://www.mindlove.com/podcast
Mind Love on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mind-love-modern-mindfulness-to-think-feel-and-live-well/id1318485592
Mind Love on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4OVK5npjxhDawRy5AUhoTr?si=102eea70f93b460b
Melissa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindlovemelissa
Our LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eastcoaststudio
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecpodcaststudio
View unedited episode transcript
Today’s guest hit a million downloads within her first year of podcasting and is up to over 5 million at this point. She’s here to tell us all about how it happened. This episode is packed with knowledge that is not your run of the mill podcast growth advice. Okay. Melissa Monty had no preexisting audience, but she was able to start a podcast, build a business around it and then quit her job four months later.
Her podcast. Mind love focuses on mental health has over 800 five star reviews on Apple. She’s been featured in Forbes and Melissa became a well known voice in the podcasting industry, even speaking at podcast movement to empower audiences with knowledge on how to build something meaningful, profitable, and aligned with your purpose.
I’m Joel Oliver, and this is profits through podcasting.
Hey, Melissa, welcome in.
Thanks for having me. I’m honored to be
here.
So most times what we hear from, from people, they have a business then they launch a podcast to try and serve as a marketing tool, something interesting or a bit different about your story is you actually started the podcast first, right?
Oh yeah, I was, I was just flailing around trying to see what fit.
Mm hmm. Okay. That’s, that’s a good, uh, yeah. Foreshadowing to what we’ll get into. And we are going to break down all the details here, but I’d love to start with the very basic is, could you just tell us briefly, what is the mind love podcast all about?
Mind love is all about?
giving your mind a little love. And if I’m being totally honest, I’ve learned a lot through this journey and what that actually means to me has evolved over time. I used to, I still am, but my main focus was all around the power of the mind, like really getting into the mindset to believe you can do ever anything. While that is still the case, what I’ve learned through the journey is that most often the way to access that is actually giving your mind love so that it quiets down and you can listen to your inner wisdom, listen to your heart and let that lead rather than just what’s going on in your mind. Because if most of us probably realize. What’s going on in our mind if we haven’t been purifying it tends to be all the noise. It’s our programming. It’s what we’ve adopted from other people, the identities, the ideas, worldviews that we’ve collected. And so, just like my podcasting journey, my understanding of what I teach has evolved and clarified over time.
Before you started the podcast right before it, what were you up to in life and what led you to actually get this idea and start it?
I’m going to give you the succinct version that’s probably going to leave you with a lot of questions. But, um, I had an epic downward spiral and it was prompted by things out of my control. And then. Made worse by things I could, and I had lost myself. I didn’t really know how to find that inner voice.
And so after a series of traumas, I ended up in a horrible relationship. And long story short, I went to jail for somebody else’s crime and got a felony conviction and I thought my life was over. And so I knew I couldn’t explain the crazy story on two lines of a job application. And so it. Pushed me into entrepreneurship.
It left me with the one path that I was too scared to consider before. And for years, I still had no idea what I was doing. I was listening to things like smart, passive income and these other, um, well known. business podcasts. And finally, when I just got sick of feeling stuck, I got sick of like I had one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake because nothing was really aligned with who I was. And so I went back to the drawing board and I, And I thought, I’m actually going to do the work instead of just reading about it or thinking about it. And so I got out a journal and I started writing down the things that books would prompt me with or podcasts would prompt me with. And that really helped me see what was in my head, see what had brought me to this. And so for a long time, I was wondering, what can I do despite my past? How can I hide it? How can I keep it from affecting me? And then, um, Over time, as my inner world started to shift, so did my questions and it, and I started to ask better questions like, what can I do with what I was given? What if I trusted that this happened for me? Who have I become through this? And those questions started to shift. me different answers. And remember looking through my Kindle and audible and just seeing like, okay, what am I endlessly curious about? What is really helping me in my personal life? That is what, when I realized it’s all about the power of the mind, even before I really understood the power of the mind, even when I was a I would say mind over matter and nobody knew what I was talking about. And so, uh, That’s what led to the idea of mind love. And at first it was just something on the side, something to light me up, something to make meaning out of the mess that I felt like I was in, because I went with this total alignment, like who do I want to be? How do I want to spend my time?
What do I want to keep learning? Who do I want to talk to? While I was asking questions from my guests to help my listeners, I was finding my own answers and I was finding healing through it. And so I needed that healing before I could really think of strategy. All I knew is I wanted to grow the podcast and I wanted to take back my reputation.
Really. I wanted to write the ending of my story instead of letting the beginning of it take over my whole life. I was very strategic on the growth of my podcast, but as far as the business, I didn’t even have an email list until about six months in. The audience has allowed me to try things and to really see who I am in the online space.
What feels good to me, what feels like it’s taking too much of my energy. So it’s been a really fun journey.
Okay. That’s all, there’s a lot there. That’s, that’s very interesting. So one thing I was curious about did you have this big, perfect plan when you launched it to hopefully get this growth that you achieved in a relatively short period, or did you just kind of come out of the gate?
Say, let me just see what happens with this. Was that growth a surprise to you or were you kind of expecting, like, I put this intention behind it, of course, this was going to happen.
It was a little bit of both because I could. lean into either side of my inner, my inner narrative. If I let myself, I could be like, what the heck am I doing? But instead I’m like, Nope, not going there. And I think what really helped is that I showed up every day fully and I really tuned in every single day.
So I can’t say that it was this big, perfect plan, but there was laid there and I was shifting as I was watching what was working. And so one thing that I did that was part of my plan is would Google how to grow a podcast. And I saw everything was like these regurgitated talking points.
And so I asked myself, what are people not saying? Where am I finding podcasts? Can I stand out with as a brand new person with no influence, no audience? And so. I my first probably 40 episodes in a totally different way. I would sit there and I would add immersive soundtracks like that, like you hear in the storytelling podcast where a guest would be saying, I threw my keys on the counter and I would add the little key sounds and whatever.
And some episodes don’t sound amazing. A lot of them do though. I really worked hard on it. I spent a lot of time editing these. But this allowed me to then reach out to people who were writing about podcasts or featuring podcasts and say, this podcast is different than what you’re going to hear in the health and wellness interview space.
Give it a listen and see what you think. A lot of people picked this up. So I just, I did little things like that. I was on Reddit. I would say, Hey, I’ll leave your podcast to review. If you leave mine a review and Reddit can be fickle. You gotta be really value driven if you want to attach people.
But I got, my first few reviews that way. Another incident, the day I was launching my podcast, there were, Oh, ironically, there were fires in LA, just like there are now. And, I was planning on going into WeWork where I had a co working office and telling everybody about it and then I realized, man, I don’t think a lot of people will be there because of all the smoke outside. So it’s like, how do I get creative? This is still my launch day. I’m not changing it for external circumstances. So I went to the nearest drug store, bought out all of the smoke masks, sat in a booth, posted on the WeWork network, free smoke masks on floor two. And when people came down, I would give them a smoke mask and tell them about my podcast and ask if I could take their phone and show them how to leave a review and subscribe.
So I was guerrilla marketing there in the really just like, what can I do today? Where else can our people finding podcasts? Where can I connect with people? And it worked.
Yeah. It’s, it’s great to hear that creativity.
You have almost 500 episodes As of right now, does that sound correct?
Yeah. A couple of years I was posting two episodes a week, but, I’m generally one a week. So I started at the end of 2017 in December.
Got it. Yeah. So you’re about eight years in at this point, which is great. Once you immediately launched, were you seeing clear success indicators right away,
Well, in the beginning it was. slow, but fast comparatively. so I launched my podcast. I took a podcasting course and this course was by Pat Flynn, smart,
Hmm.
right? And. When he
was launching his podcast, it was right around the time where I was trying to figure out what I was meant to do. And I was taking away options.
You know, I could get in my head about video or about writing, but I was great at talking. So I decided on a podcast. And like four days later, he announced his podcasting course. So it felt like it was meant to be. But he also announced an in person weekend session, and I know how
entrepreneurs work when it is their first launch, people who see success it’ll be a win win.
They’ll be bringing them in wanting to share their story. So they get more people to buy their course, but then I would get exposure. So I knew this. Mind you, I was. So broke, we lived in this small little, studio, newlyweds. Anyways, I put it all on a credit card, like 3, 000 for three days, but exactly what I thought would happen. Got to know him and I was determined to be a success story. so it wasn’t crazy surge in the very beginning, but I was comparing myself with all the other people in the group and I was saying, okay, wait, my first week I got 300 downloads. Most people are getting 17. But I, like I said, I was doing all those things.
I was really getting. Doing what I could to get people to listen. One of the things that was really helpful for me is I was downloading all of the podcast apps that had their own featured section, because at this time, Apple’s new and noteworthy was pretty much dead. It hadn’t been updated in like a year and a half. And so I was reaching out. It was crickets for the most part, but then I started looking on LinkedIn. I was finding who owned the companies, who were the PR and the marketing people started connecting, started liking and commenting. So my name would be recognized. Then I would do the ask again. A few months later, I spent a lot of time in people’s Facebook groups in on their LinkedIn, just being their hype person. I would do my ask. And so. I ended up being featured in quite a few of the podcasts after that. And I got really good at pitching myself. I had worked with a startup. I knew what goes into a good pitch and I made sure to have all of those elements, including saying I mentored under Pat Flynn, who’s named entrepreneur.
I was using his name too, since I did, I
Mm.
to be his mentee. You know what I
Yeah.
and so I was using
all the validation I could, which wasn’t a whole
lot, but anything I could find. I got featured in CastBox and I noticed that I got more downloads from CastBox than from the other platforms. And so I made sure to really build a relationship with my point person there. And what I did was I created a spreadsheet of all of the podcasts that were featured at that time alongside of me. And in CastBox, you can actually see how many plays or people subscribe to you within that app, like in the app. And I. Started tracking everybody else’s metrics and I back out and said, my show’s growing than the other ones that are featured right now.
I’m getting more downloads from cast box than the other ones. I think we might have, listeners and an audience that are kind of aligned. And so I was just really. Being personable. And Then they ended up rolling out this program called cast box originals, and they only did this for two years, but they basically put their name on it.
And then they helped. They would feature me even more for free. So they ran this program for two years and that is what really helped launch my podcast. So before that I was getting like 3000 downloads a month, which was still great for a podcast that was only around for two months. This all happened by May of 2018.
So six months in and at that point then my sponsor, slots were just full. I was, Asked to speak for them at podcast movement later on in the year. I was asked to join the stage with Pat Flynn on his keynote to speak with him. Uh, the next year I was asked to be on a panel with Jordan Harbinger. And so all of the work that I did creating those relationships within the industry, the ripples came at me from a lot of different areas. And of course that one cast box relationship was the most, but without all of my work elsewhere, that wouldn’t have come to me.
Right. That’s so interesting to hear how you did this, because you can hear the story of your downloads and your success and wonder how did that happen? Or, you know, it was just a, it was just a fluke, but it really wasn’t like you put a lot of hard work into this. So I’m very fascinated to hear how this all unfolded before we go any further as well.
I just want to get a very brief high level overview because you did mention sponsorships there. So we have some context around that because you obviously have built a business around this entire thing. What is and what are the revenue streams for your podcast slash business right now?
So I have sponsors that come in, but I also have, a membership. I actually had two memberships that are being merged right now. I’ve done a number of digital courses at different price points. I also do high ticket coaching.
Okay, great. Yeah, that’s quite an alignment.
public speaking. So like that, that has been launched. That was the idea of the podcast. I saw myself on a stage and I thought, how can I get better at that? How can I perfect speaking with no one else’s permission? So I do consider those two things very aligned.
Okay, I’m glad you brought that up because it’s something I wanted to talk about because I read through many of your Apple podcast reviews and a lot of people obviously had nice things to say, but there is a lot of comments on things like your authenticity, your warmth. It feels like I’m sitting with a friend, fun, relatable, all kinds of these great words.
Obviously you worked hard, but how do you think this other side plays in like a magic or a vibe that is unique to you as a person, as a podcast host?
Well, I briefly mentioned earlier when I was sharing my story. That. This was the first time I wasn’t rejecting parts of myself, that I wasn’t trying to figure out how to make a life while leaving parts of me behind. there were different parts of my life from, the little girl who felt alone, the traumatized teenager, the 20 year old I thought was bad, then created, manifested the life that I was believing in my mind already. And so I had. A lot of life where I was compartmentalizing myself and creating fractals of who I thought I should be. And the podcast was the first time that I said, I’m going to bring all of me to this fire, truth, and I’m going to just lay it all out there and I’m not going to be ashamed anymore. And I realized through sharing my story, I wasn’t just helping other people. I was helping myself heal. I was helping myself. See the value in all of the past versions of me and how they helped me get to where I am understand things from a level that not everyone does have more empathy for people going through it. And so I, I share a lot on the podcast. My husband tuned in one time and he’s like, you just shared that about our sex life. And I’m like, who cares? You know, we’re all human. so. I think people can feel that and I don’t sanitize my story anymore. And so I think whether or not you share every detail of your life, or, I mean, there’s still things I have not shared, but it’s not from this place of shame. It’s from, okay, this is what I’m showing up with. This is what can help. The other things aren’t relevant. And, That changes your energy when you show up because you aren’t being half of who you are. And so I encourage people to figure that out for themselves. Again, you don’t need to share everything you’ve ever done, but figure out how to own your story and know that it’s going to help people and show up to the mic like that. And people will feel it.
That’s great to hear because I think something what I was kind of getting at previously is people could think, you know, I’m not Melissa. She’s just so warm and that’s not me. And I’m not going to have that same effect and be able to grow my audience. But like you’re talking about there, I think is something very practical that although maybe challenging to show up and put yourself fully out there like that.
It is. Something that a person could do. They could sit there and just put everything out and be truly authentic. So when we think about it like that, it’s not something that someone needs to think. I can’t do that because they genuinely could. And I mean, you, you mentioned the public speaking to and improving your skills there.
So I’m assuming also you had some method of improving your skills with speech along the way during the podcast. Is that, did I get that right?
So I wanted to structure it in a way where I was practicing in all the ways that I wanted to practice. And so what I decided to do is my intros would be scripted. So I will hold the interview. And then I go back and I look at what we’ve talked about. And then I create a custom intro. I wanted to get better at writing and storytelling and also delivering scripted language in a natural way.
So that was my intro. And then my outros are always non scripted because I wanted to be able to get better at speaking off the cuff. And I’m going to be really honest when I started the podcast, I didn’t know how to speak off the cuff well at all. And so. That was part of the reason that I did heavy editing, where I’m like, well, if I’m adding this, you know, I messed up here.
I’m just going to rerecord that. And so , if you go back to my early episodes, you might notice that some of them are better than others. And then I got to a point where I’m like, Nope, you know, just like with my story, I need to stop. Editing myself really, I need to, I need to just show up and trust that what I have to say in the moment is just as relevant as something that I think later on. And so I used to do this thing where I would insert specific music, like my thoughts that I thought about later. I don’t really do that anymore, even though people did love it, but. was very intentional about, what I wanted to learn, how I could craft this thing that I was doing anyways. And that makes it so much easier when you’re starting a podcast and there’s no payback yet.
And so instead that payback was, well, this is how I’m showing up in my life. And I’m building in accountability. So I forced myself to practice something that I’m not going to get paid for right now. And that was really motivating for me.
I read in the reviews, people talking about how you come across with guests and how you interview guests. So does this, what you’ve just been talking about apply to that as well? Like, what is it that you think that your listeners are loving so much about how you’re having these conversations?
Mm
I deeply research every guest. And so even if I don’t fully read the book, I want to make it so that the guest doesn’t know that most of my guests think I read their book and I actually go through it so much that I might as well have. I just have a I get very intense about my processes. And then actually other areas of my life that I have no processes. So I don’t think I have it all together at all, but there’s certain things that I’m like, okay, I, how do I do this better? How do I get the most in the least amount of time? And so I am very prepared when I come to an episode, but again, this is because of alignment.
I don’t take guests that I feel like I’m going to be bored with. people that reach out now that I would have taken years ago, but I’m like, eh, I don’t really feel like spending an hour on this topic. so I still do a lot of my own guest outreach, even though I get Tons and tons of people applying to be on my show. Even just a couple of days ago. I’m like, no, but there’s a specific area I want to learn about. So I’m, I go to Amazon. I like to go for new releases because I know that people are probably going to be more motivated to be on shows. That’s another small tip. When I was getting started, I wanted to figure out how to get people that would actually be on my show that had no listeners.
And so I would go to Facebook, Meetups in New York and L. A. And these hubs for, entrepreneurs and people that were trying to build a life. And I knew if they’re putting together an event, then they’ve probably honed a topic well enough to speak on it so that I didn’t have to scrap so many interviews. But I also did this for new releases, which helped me get pretty big guests. Even early on, even before my numbers were what they are now. And so would pitch them just as I would pitch myself. If I was going to be on another podcast, I would really. Be careful with these, , the way that I would draw people in and make it seem like a win win. So I’ve just aligned things to where I’m so interested in my own podcast still to this day that I will show up fully. It’s not like, Oh, let me just get this over with. I’m like, Oh my God, I’m talking to Marianne Williamson next week. I’m talking to young Pueblo the week after that, like, Oh, I’m talking to this one account on Instagram that nobody knows, but I’m so fascinated by her content. And so I. I have no choice but to be all in because otherwise I’m dealing with toddlers. My, my life is dealing with toddlers and the most brilliant minds in the world. I don’t think you can get luckier than that, it’s exactly what I want to do moment by moment.
Absolutely. Something that I am curious about from hearing that from you is the sustainability, because you have such a wealth of great guests on that you’re always interested in, how are you able to maintain that level of finding all these people and the work to go that goes into inviting them?
Do you feel it’s overwhelming or how do you make that
not feel overwhelming?
ADD? No, uh, yes and no. I will get sucked into the process of going to Amazon new releases, opening up all the tabs, using my little email hunter Chrome extension to find the email addresses. I have my, pitch email already. I know which parts to change now with AI. It makes it even better because I’ve built my own tool where I just throw in their book and they rewrite my thing for me.
So it’s all still in my words, but I’ve got my little processes that make things a lot easier. But, I think. It’s easy to not be overwhelmed when, like I said, I’ve aligned my life to build in the things that I want to keep myself accountable for. And I’m always learning. That’s the kind of person that I am.
I will always have six unfinished books because I need to know where, like, I’m in this mood. I’m in that mood. And, I want to be that type of person. I want to be a lifelong learner and the podcast helps me show up for that.
that’s great to hear. That’s one of the many benefits of podcasting. I’m curious too, because you did mention this and I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you a few tips on pitching, because you mentioned earlier as well, that you developed a great skill of pitching yourself to get attention and stand out.
What are the top tips that you talk about in that regard when you’re helping people, giving them advice on pitching so they actually get success?
Make it readable. Number one, use things like bullet points, find any validation that you can in your life, whether it’s something irrelevant that you built, find the connection like you would if you were writing your own resume, find that connection. If you don’t have a lot of validation, spend time Building it up, invest in somebody in a mentorship so that you can say that it’ll be worth it in the long run. Uh, join people’s groups so that you get to know them so that you’re not just out of the blue doing an ask. It’s like Gary Vaynerchuk’s jab, jab, punch. You deliver value over and over again before they ask. I don’t have to do that as often anymore. I still will when it’s necessary. But I even, um, I really wanted This spiritual teacher, Paul Selig on my podcast. And so I signed up for his newsletter and then he was having an event in my city. And so I purchased tickets and I went there and I got a photo with him. And then when I sent the pitch email, I sent a photo of us together and said, I love this. So nobody wants to say no to somebody who just came to their event. And. That works across the board. People don’t often like saying no to someone that they see has been delivering value, but then otherwise, write? Like a human, if you have to go back and say like, okay, would a fifth grader understand this? Do it. So many people want to sound intelligent, but then it doesn’t hit at the heart. It’s got to be at that of middle school level and below. Love him or hate him. That is one of the reasons that Donald Trump came, came to such a following is because he just speaks like the people. And so keep it succinct, don’t lie about them helping you, you are going to reach out and say something like, you know, your podcast has really touched me. I get pitch emails all the time. And you can tell when people are like, I just saw your podcast about this and it was great.
And they find like this one thing and I’m like, okay, so you went there, you scrubbed to the middle and you just wrote down a quote that you heard. I can tell versus. Like, okay, well, I really want to be on this podcast. So let me spend a couple days listening to it, getting to know what they’re about. comment on a couple of things, find their social media posts, and then reach out. And I don’t have to do this anymore. Often, actually, I will be 2025. I have a goal to be on 52 podcasts. And so I’m going to go back to that drawing board. I haven’t done it in the last few years. I don’t have to do that for getting guests anymore.
If there’s somebody I can’t get ahold of, I will. And so don’t think you’re above something just Ask yourself, okay, where am I and how do I level myself up a little bit more on this person’s eyes? And so with all of those things together, will stand out. There’s a lot of bad pitches out there. And so it doesn’t take a lot to be good, but it does take a little bit of intentionality.
Yes, I know. And it seems like whatever is the new thing to do that works for a while, eventually it just, it becomes ineffective because of like what you’re saying here. Cause I see those all the time now too, where it’s, Hey, I just listened to your episode with Melissa and I found this really, and it’s just, okay, I’m getting the same thing over and over here.
This is, you didn’t listen or what? I don’t know if it’s AI, but it just doesn’t have that personalization. It’s just fake. And you’re talking about doing it the real way. And I, that’s always going to be effective.
Yeah. And it’s worth it. If growing your show and building your life on your own terms is worth it, then do the work. It’s not going to land in your lap. And I believe that. What I put out there, the universe amplifies back to me. And so if there’s resistance there or like, Oh no, I don’t, I don’t want to have to do that. Then guess what? A lot of people aren’t going to want to have to do things for you. And so instead, just go out with your heart open and be like, I’m putting my name out there. It doesn’t matter if somebody meets me back exactly, but I know it will come back to me somehow.
Yeah, absolutely. I love that you’ve drawn this clear path. Like you’ve given us great insight into what you’ve actually done to grow the podcast, to get these guests. So is that where the majority of your advice lies when you’re giving these talks? Are you into any of the, the more pragmatic tips we hear a lot, like, you know, publish consistently and use keywords, that sort of thing.
Do you think any of that is important or plays a role or is your, your philosophy is it’s all about this kind of hard work that you’ve done along the way?
I think those things are relevant, but they’re the foundation on their own. They’re not going to. Create success, but it’s good to fall back on. I thought about keywords, especially in the beginning with the different episodes, I still kind of do, but I have so much now that like one thing isn’t going to be like, Oh, this is the one that made me. But I think about it. I think it’s most important in the title of your podcast. I think it’s important to have a subtitle within the title when you’re growing that can have keywords in there. So show still doesn’t just say mind love. It says modern mindfulness. To think live and feel well. So there’s a little bit of what it
Mm.
there because you might as well use up that real estate and people are looking for
mindfulness or something like that.
I have other keywords in my description. So you want to think of the hierarchy of those things, but it’s not how most people have found my podcast. My podcast has really grown the last few years through word of mouth. And then in the ways that I’ve already shared. And so don’t ignore the basics, but don’t rely solely on them either.
Okay.
Yep. Great advice. And we’ve talked a lot about growth here. Obviously you’ve had millions of downloads, so that’s quite impressive and great to hear. What do we say to people who are maybe obsessing over audience size, or they’re hearing about that and thinking, okay, I don’t mind doing some hard work, but I don’t know if I could ever get to that level of audience.
You don’t necessarily need millions of downloads to grow a successful podcast and business, would you agree with that?
Yes, I would say two things about that?
first, watch your mindset because it’s your life is going to lay out based on the boundaries of possibility that you’re putting on it. But the 2nd thing is, is. I started just growing the podcast and so I needed those downloads for the rest of my strategy. I were recommending someone right now with a business already starting, do not need a lot.
, the amazing part about podcasting is that they’re very connected to you. It’s a very intimate publishing platform, much different from Instagram or anything else, which I’m sure most of your audience knows by now. I’m sure you’ve covered that. However, when you start with a strategy like I did not, my strategy was only growth based, but it’s like, okay, no, I want coaching clients. You can be reaching a hundred people. If somebody asked you to come speak at their event and there was a hundred people in the audience, you’d be like, hell yes. And these are people that you can talk directly to. And so the smaller it is, have more of a strategy than I did. Start your email list immediately. Have a funnel that’s going through saying exactly what you’re about. Make sure that you’re amplifying your expertise in some way. So that was something I built in later on. When I started it, I didn’t have expertise. If I was starting a new one right now, I’d say, okay, well, who do I want to bring in? Is it my high ticket coaching clients?
So what am I selling them on? Okay. That, that is the, the topic that I want to talk about. How else can I. Shine my expertise. How Can I bring them in exactly to the container that I want them into? with that, you do not need millions of listeners. You just need your small niche base.
Yeah, that’s those are great points. So we’re getting towards the end here. I do have a couple more things I’d like to squeeze in quickly for you these days with your podcast. Do you have to do any other promotion? You said word of mouth for the podcast, but are you doing anything else like social media paid ads?
I know you have an email list, but is the podcast
just the main driver of everything for you now?
The podcast and the email list are this year is going to be a lot different. The last couple of years I’ve been having babies. So I’ve been, I called it maintenance mode, but last year I really went hard on my, coaching packages and, and had a lot of success with that just on the audience that I was.
But like I said, now am going back to growth. I have an inner calling of just reaching as many people as possible right now. I want mind love to be a nonprofit. I want to be able to reach people that can’t afford my services. And so I’m kind of going, um, uh, both and approach of, of really Focusing on the things that bring in the most amount of money, but then philanthropy, you know, I, believe this is more than just a podcast.
It’s my legacy. It’s what I want to leave to the world. And so I will be exploring more things. I’ve done paid ads, not on social media. I think we have to really consider friction. And so when I’m going to be investing money into something, I’m going to ask, What is the least amount of work from where they see who I am to what they actually have to do social media. That works really well. If you’re actually growing, like. Like there’s a, there’s a few accounts that are really good at posting clips of their social and it brings people in, but even those that I love watching, I still have never gone out to go subscribe to the podcast. I’m sure some people have, but that there’s an extra layer of friction there and also a different mindset bite size versus long form. It’s too big of a stretch for me to think it’s super worth it at this point until I have. An entire social media strategy, which I’ve been neglecting because it’s just not what lights me up. And I don’t believe that we have to be everywhere if we want to be successful somewhere. And so would recommend doing paid ads within podcast apps and, places where people are already listening.
I know Spotify has opportunities for that as well. And, I think it’s even more beneficial to just go on somebody else’s podcast and it’s less money, but it does take potentially a little more work, but it just depends what’s worth it for you.
Melissa. This was excellent. So insightful. There’s just so much of your wealth of knowledge. I’m sure there’s other things I didn’t even think to ask about, but this alone has been so valuable for people who are trying to do the same thing and follow in footsteps, someone like you and grow a business and podcast.
So thank you very much. And it’s the mind love podcast at mind, love. com. We’re going to have all the links in the show notes and I wish you a great 2025.
Thanks for having me. It’s been so fun.