Top Podcasting Lessons of 2025

[00:00:00] Well, we’ve had another great year of content here on profits through podcasting. I wanna say a big thank you to all the guests who took time to provide such great value and insights to us. And as we wrap up 2025, I wanted to share with you a look back on some of the biggest takeaways of the past year.

[00:00:16] This is Profits through Podcasting, and I’m your host, Joel Oliver. every guest had something unique to offer and lessons to share during 2025. But for the sake of time, I cannot cover every single one, and I’m gonna summarize in my own words and perhaps add some brief commentary here, rather than playing actual clips from the episodes. So first up, an insight from Chris Burres.

[00:00:38] He hosts the Live Beyond the Norms podcast. He owns a supplement company called My Vital C, and he spent about $30,000 to get guest appearances on other podcasts. And he shared about that with us. Uh, remember his story about being in nobody That really stood out to me, and I wanna touch on that here because you can.

[00:00:58] Go the root of trying to be a guest on other podcasts and not have your own podcast at all. You can have your own podcast and as a way of promoting that and growing your brand awareness still, uh, appear on other podcasts or you can just do your own show and not be a guest anywhere at all. But for someone like Chris, especially.

[00:01:15] Being a guest on other podcasts, in addition to have his own podcast was a great strategy. So he tested various methods of doing that. You know, you have sites like Pod Match, which are kind of automatic and do it yourself. He had agencies which actually go out there supposedly and try to get you appearances now.

[00:01:32] Results with those can vary. Some of them are a little better than others. Some may have a certain amount of connections and that’s kind of all they can get you on. Others will just spend ma send a rather mass emails. So it all depends. But it was really interesting to hear from someone like Chris who had invested all this money and to know that he did indeed get an ROI from it, but.

[00:01:54] He found there were limitations and certain things to be aware of, but nevertheless, it turned out to be, uh, a quality investment. Now, we didn’t spend that 30 grand all at once. It was over time in a controlled manner, but still quite interesting. And so the story about him being a nobody, that was interesting, particularly because one of the people that he had worked with in, in a conversation, I believe about.

[00:02:16] Chris wanting more guest appearances and higher quality guest appearances. You know, he’s hiring all these people and at some points he had conversations that maybe he wasn’t overly happy with the results. Uh, this was early on and one of the people basically told him, well, you gotta face the reality here that you’re kind of a nobody.

[00:02:33] And we all have had to come to terms with that at certain points, I presume, which, uh, wasn’t meant to be rude. To Chris, but he was just earlier on in his authority building and getting his name out there. So he just was essentially one, one more of those people that you’re getting an email about as a podcast host saying, I’d love for this person to be on your podcast.

[00:02:54] But he hadn’t built any notoriety at that point. So what the, the person was telling him was, you know, we could only do so much if you are at this stage and your name isn’t known that well and you don’t have a ton of followers on social media, that sort of thing. Not everyone is going to wanna book you.

[00:03:11] So that creates a challenge. No matter how much money you invest into, say, an agency to get you a guest appearance, your. Going to be limited by your own notoriety. So that was some, uh, let’s say bad tasting medicine at the time for Chris. But he, he looked back for sure and understood what the, what the person was trying to tell him, and the point being made, and has since grown himself much beyond that.

[00:03:35] You know, it just takes time. And of course there’s effort as well, but it doesn’t happen overnight. So when you are looking for guest appearances, be aware of that. Look at who you are online, the authority that you’ve built.

[00:03:45] Have you done other guest appearances? Have you been doing speaking gigs? How many followers do you have? As much as I don’t like to use that as a metric. That’s, uh, that’s what people are looking at online, and it, it does translate into how many people you are indeed reaching. So don’t be, don’t be too bothered by that, especially upfront.

[00:04:03] It’s going to take time to build that authority and if you are looking to get guest appearances and haven’t done it well. Just accept the fact that you’re gonna be starting on some smaller podcasts upfront. And that’s probably a good thing because it allows you to get more comfortable without too many people watching.

[00:04:16] And then over time, as you build your status, build your authority, you can get those bigger and bigger guest appearances on bigger podcasts that will then have a bigger impact in terms of how many people you get from there. Coming back to become a fan and a follower of yours.

[00:04:31] Next takeaway from 2025 was from Marni Daes. Marni hosts the Art of Living Well Podcast. She gave us a unique look at how it is to have a podcast with a co-host. These are not. Extremely rare, but at least in what I’ve dealt with and most of our clients, it’s much more common to have solo. Hosted podcasts.

[00:04:53] There’s a lot of solopreneurs that we work with, so it’s typically one host and they’re either doing solo episodes or they’re having guests some on, but they don’t have a regular co-host that they do every episode with, whether it is just the two of them or whether they are interviewing someone. So it was really interesting to hear about the synergy that Marni had here by having a co-host on her podcast who actually had a separate business.

[00:05:16] And I think this is a potential. Hack, let’s say, to keep your podcast more consistent and eliminate some of the downfalls or challenges, let’s say, that podcasters run into. Not to say that it wouldn’t be a challenge or there wouldn’t be other challenges by having a co-host, but if you find that right person out there.

[00:05:37] Who is committed and is dedicated, then that could actually be a big benefit for you both. ’cause you can split the, requirements as Marni explained, not only say the budget for production, but if one person excels in a certain area of the podcast and the other excels. In another area. Well then you’ve got that synergy going.

[00:05:55] One person can handle what they’re really good at, the other can handle what they’re really good at. Perhaps you can alternate episodes or, uh, motivate each other because when you’re accountable to someone, it’s a lot easier to do what you’re supposed to do. If you’re a solo podcaster and you get a little busy, well, it’s easy to let the podcast go by the wayside.

[00:06:13] But if you’ve got someone depending on you and you’re both there and you know it has to be done, then it’s a lot easier to make sure that those episodes. Are getting done. And Marni originally met her co-host at an event. They just happened to be near each other at an event, I believe it was an entrepreneurship event.

[00:06:29] And uh, he was chatting, you know, about the idea of having a podcast. Marni had wanted to do one and. Over, over time there, they, they got to chatting more about it and decided it would be a cool idea to do the podcast together, but both of their businesses would benefit. So they hadn’t combined any business at that point.

[00:06:47] They were just doing the podcast and it was gonna help promote each of their businesses individually. And it turned out to be great. They did end up actually, uh, growing together a bit and starting some more, uh, more of a business together. It’s not for everyone, and as we’re saying here, it’s going to be a challenge to find that right person.

[00:07:05] But if you do, I think that, uh, having a cohost could be a very beneficial, interesting way to podcast. And of course there are some other benefits as well, like if you just happen to talk better with someone you’re comfortable with, like that, it can be different, a different dynamic and vibe. Than just doing it on your own and of, of course, a different perspective is always welcome. You know, having a second person to ask some questions to your guests, that sort of thing. So certainly give that a consideration in 2026 if you’ve been looking for ways to shake things up or help yourself stay more on track and consistent when it comes to podcasting.

[00:07:41] Next up for a top lesson of podcasting from 2025 with Zora Beamus. She hosts the Hack My Age podcast, and she talked about the importance of being careful when it comes to sponsorships and accepting money for anything around the podcast. Specifically noting that her audience is very vulnerable and they’re looking for solutions, and she would never want to take advantage of that.

[00:08:05] Or lead them in the wrong direction for the sake of sponsorship money. So Zora is extremely careful about what she chooses to share, any sponsors she agrees to work with. And she takes that relationship and the trust that her audience has with her very seriously as she should. Particularly in the health space, this is something that you build up over time.

[00:08:25] People do not just trust you overnight, but as, uh, as Zora mentioned, her audience is in a particularly vulnerable situation. They are looking for advice. They have problems that, uh. You know, they, they are really eager to find solutions for, and the last, last thing she would want to do is take advantage of that and recommend something to them just for the sake of money that she say hasn’t tried herself or hasn’t, uh, worked with people who have said they’ve had great results from it, that sort of thing.

[00:08:54] So it’s very important. Trust is more important these days than ever. We’ve talked about that throughout the year here, how it’s getting more and more difficult for people to trust anything that they see online. And one of the great things about podcasting is it typically has higher levels of trust with the audience because they spend so much time with you.

[00:09:12] And so if you’ve built that up, you do not want to destroy. Trust and you. So you’ve gotta be very careful when you do bring sponsors on. If you do that, uh, you’re, you’re screening them, you are talking about them because you really do believe in the product or service that they offer. You’ve perhaps tried it yourself, and you can, with full certainty, recommend it to the listeners of your podcast up next for our top podcasting takeaways of 2025, Stephanie Wegner, host of the Wealthy Practitioner. A big takeaway from her was inspiration from her ability to delegate and find great people to work with. I found that fascinating. ’cause many of us as entrepreneurs have or have in the past or we do now struggle with feeling like we’ve gotta do everything on our own.

[00:09:58] We are overwhelmed. There’s too much to do all the time. It never ends. But then you see people like Stephanie who has built multiple seven figure businesses. She’s got a podcast, she’s got an amazing community built, she’s got her family life in order. And you gotta wonder how, how do they do that if you are, are, are challenged by the things that I mentioned there.

[00:10:17] And I certainly have been and am, uh, regularly I see someone like Stephanie and I have to ask how is she doing all that? That’s so fascinating. And. Uh, what am I doing wrong perhaps, or what have I done wrong in the past that has prevented me from getting to that stage? Whether it’s limiting mindsets or just not finding the right people.

[00:10:37] How do people like Stephanie do? This is one thing. And then it’s also just a great reminder that it can be done and we don’t need to be doing everything on our own. So if you have that feeling, I’ve tried to outsource and delegate and it just never works. I have to do it all on my own. That I can almost certainly tell you is a problem with your mindset and something that you are doing wrong.

[00:11:00] It is not the fact that it’s impossible to delegate because we see people do it all the time, like Stephanie and other people running large businesses. It’s a problem, and I’ve seen it too within clients that I’ve worked with over the years. You know, they’re, they just feel they have to do it all on their own, and that really keeps ’em stuck because they never get time to focus on the most important things or the things that they enjoy.

[00:11:21] So we have to, whatever, whatever the reason is, whether it’s, like I said, mindset or something else, get past that hurdle and be able to delegate and put a great team of people together. Stephanie explained to us that she uses a mix of both full-time staff, some in person actually, because she feels that’s important. In the case of her operations manager and her marketing assistant, she just feels that those two people, uh, the three of them together, they work better in person. They can collaborate better in person, and she just wanted that to happen. So they actually do see each other in person on a weekly basis.

[00:11:55] And then in other cases, for other roles, she has used contractors because. It’s easy to scale up and down as the needs of the business change, and I really like that approach as well. And it is fantastic where you’re not making this huge commitment to hire. Uh, additional people, you know, the contractor is there when you need them, and then if things change, your needs change or you only need them for a certain period of time, you can, uh, stop using them for that time and no big deal.

[00:12:21] It’s not like firing an employee or laying someone off. It’s uh, it’s just as your business needs grow and change, you can have the contractors change with the business. So really cool to hear that and hear about how she goes about finding these great people to assemble the team. So if you’re curious about that, definitely go back and check out Stephanie’s episode with us next top podcasting lesson of 2025 comes from Diana Lee, and this wasn’t directly related to podcasting, but still very important in how you create your content, grow your audience, grow your follower base, and use the podcast within that because. It’s all kind of one and the same. You know, you’re bringing leads into your ecosystem and if you have a podcast, they may discover you through that and perhaps then follow you on Instagram, or maybe they find you on Instagram and end up finding your podcast, or in any case, so long as they end up becoming, uh, a lead and hopefully a customer of yours, then.

[00:13:14] It’s not all too important exactly where they come from, but she specifically talked about some cold outreach stuff on Instagram, which, uh, is, is a very interesting strategy to me because if you’ve ever tried it, you may realize, you know, people are just ignoring you if you’re sending messages to the wrong people.

[00:13:31] But she talked about her strategy and outreach to people who follow her and find her. And of course we can use clips from our podcast. We repurpose those to create Instagram content, which is great, low effort content to get out there. People discover you through it, then they start following you, and then there you go.

[00:13:49] You can send ’em a message and start a conversation. Now, she had delegated this to a certain point, and that was something I really enjoyed hearing about how she has an assistant. Who works specifically with the Instagram there and can get the ball rolling, get conversation started, and then at the right point, Diana herself can actually take over, but she’s not having to spend the initial time upfront just sending messages to people.

[00:14:13] And that’s something that I had been curious about over the years in terms of hiring someone to help with cold outreach, because then how do you go and have a conversation with this potential lead where someone else spoke to them, and then you’ve gotta take over.

[00:14:28] How do you approach that and how do you make sure you’re up to date on all the details of the chat? Well, that’s what Diana explained, is that the, the assistant doesn’t have a big in depth conversation with them, but just enough. To kind of get, like I said, the ball rolling and then Diana herself will take over and take it from there.

[00:14:44] So, really cool. And if you’ve been trying cold outreach or you’ve been thinking about adding it into your, uh, list of strategies for how you’re obtaining new leads or growing your follower base, certainly go back and check out that episode to learn more because it is very useful, especially hearing it from someone who has done it before and struggled with a lot of the same questions that you may have before actually starting or trying cold outreach.

[00:15:09] Next up as we look back on our year 2025 and some great podcast guests that we had here on profits through podcasting, the lessons that they shared, Tina Hopper, she talked about how she scale. Her one-on-one coaching business. That is something that once we reach a certain point, as entrepreneurs, we are very curious about, because especially if you build your brand around you and you’re doing one-on-one coaching and people seem to really enjoy that.

[00:15:37] How do you scale that? Because you only have so much time in a day if you’re doing one-on-ones, working directly with people, you’ve gotta be there. You have no choice, but once you grow to a certain point, then what do you do? And she explained that how she goes about this by starting to post her other coaches on social media, building trust in the community and her audience.

[00:16:00] So they know that maybe if I’m not working directly with Tina, well at least I have someone that I know she has vetted. She trusts. And, uh, I think as Tina explained as well, was very cool, was that in some cases some of the other people on her team actually just worked better with others because, you know, everyone has a certain vibe.

[00:16:18] You’re just gonna find that you resonate more with certain person than another. And so it actually was beneficial to her to have additional personalities on her team where maybe some of the people that were curious about working together just found that they really enjoyed. Working with one specific coach, so you don’t have to have this mindset of I have to do everything myself.

[00:16:38] If you build a great, trusted company and brand, and you’re putting out great content, people see you. They don’t only have to work with you. Sure. Some of them may have that preference. You know, there are definitely business models built on that, but you don’t have to be limited there.

[00:16:53] So you can make the decision to scale by creating content like a course where people can do it on their own and they don’t actually require you to be there all the time. You know, group coaching, things like that. But in her case, she was able to still make one-on-one coaching work, just not with her doing every single session.

[00:17:11] She also had mentioned that some of the coaches had specific specialties that were very beneficial for people who are coming to be clients. You know, maybe that something that they specialized in that Tina herself did not. So another great reason there why having a, a bigger team was allowing her to serve customers even better than she could have on her own.

[00:17:32] another important lesson highlighted in 2025 when it comes to podcasting from Alison McLean. She hosts the Ignite Your Wellness Business Podcast. She talked about calls to action and how she. Has not done the best job at putting a call to action in her podcast.

[00:17:48] She’s been a little hesitant on promoting herself, which we definitely have to get over as podcasters because people are there listening to your expertise. They trust you, and if you want to drive. Revenue ultimately, and leads from your podcast. You’ve got to tell people how they can work with you. So you need to make that very clear.

[00:18:07] So that means having a single call to action that you focus on in each episode, and you can use the same one over and over. You could change it up periodically or change it episode to episode. It could be a lead magnet, it could be booking a call with you, it could be purchasing a service, whatever that is, you’ve got to say something.

[00:18:24] Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Ultimately, no one else is going to do it for you. You’ve gotta be your biggest cheerleader, so make sure that you are getting an ROI from all this great work you’re doing as a podcaster. Let people know in every episode how they can take the next step to learn more about you and eventually come to work with you.

[00:18:43] That’s definitely gotta be part of your podcast. And it will, it will highly improve your results and not only have it audible in the podcast as uh, either an outro or a mid-roll commercial, however you like to do it, but link it in the show notes as well. ’cause convenience is very important. People may not take the time and make the effort to go and search you out.

[00:19:03] You put the link there for them than it is as simple as possible, and they’re more likely to take that action and go check out whatever it is that you’re offering.

[00:19:12] And one final top lesson from 2025 when it comes to podcasting, I think is a great one to close out the year of AI as it’s been. Maybe, maybe that will continue, but it definitely exploded in 2025. So I think this is the year that we’ll remember how, how AI came on the scene and. Really started to disrupt things and made us curious and perhaps fearful of what was gonna happen in the future.

[00:19:35] But in the podcast with Amy Griffin, that was an expert series episode where she was talking to us about copywriting and emails, she gave us some insights on some situations where AI had actually destroyed things for her clients. They thought they were gonna save some time and money by switching to ai, and they really suffered some consequences.

[00:19:57] From it, which brings up the greater conversation about AI and how we can use it properly in our workflows, and I did a whole episode on that this year as well. Not to say that AI is bad and shouldn’t be used, but we wanna be careful and ensure that we’re not just using it to. To churn out low quality content, anything that damages your reputation or makes people think, well, this is just not that good anymore.

[00:20:21] You know, think of the reasons why they’re coming to you in the first place for advice and why they connect with you. What, what is it that they like about you and your podcast? If we just replaced you completely tomorrow with a script written by chat, GPT, and then one of these AI voice generators, and you yourself weren’t there anymore.

[00:20:39] You weren’t there as a human. You probably lose a lot or most of your audience very quickly. So while AI can be used and should be used, I think really to make your workflow more efficient when it comes to podcasting, help you be consistent, help you with whatever tasks you may be able to automate reasonably.

[00:20:56] Or things that you don’t like to do, that’s great. Look at AI use in that manner, but don’t use it to the detriment of your podcast and your audience and your business and everything else you’re trying to do. Uh, you really wanna be careful in how you approach your use of ai. So we will see what 2026 brings.

[00:21:15] 2025 has been an interesting one. Things are constantly changing, of course, not only in podcasting, but in entrepreneurship as in in general, and health and wellness. So look forward to being with you in 2026 to share more great lessons and keep on top of podcasting and help you succeed, help your business grow, and generate more leads and revenue through the help of podcasting as a marketing tool.

[00:21:38] So thank you so much for tuning in in 2025. We’ll be taking a bit of a break and we’ll catch you again in the new year. Take care.