42: Creating a Disruptive Podcast with April Beach

Written By Britany Felix
 
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“The type of list we grow from our podcast is definitely more, I would say, accurate. They’re very interested and they’re very warm leads.”

April Beach was one of my first launch clients and, over two years later, we still work together to produce the SweetLife Entrepreneur Podcast. April is also a business development consultant for adventurous female entrepreneurs who are determined to defy the status quo, control their lives, and build a socially conscious company while raising awesome kids. April has been featured by TODAY, MSNBC, Patagonia, and other media for her role in maverick life-first business design.

In the episode, April discusses why she decided to start a podcast in the first place, why she plans her episode content out a year at a time, the team of people she has helping with the podcast and what their roles are, why she believes her podcast is the best and most accurate list generator for her business, whether or not it’s worth it to provide bonus downloads to your audience in your show notes, her tips for running a podcast if you already have a hectic lifestyle, the main piece of advice she has for those considering starting a podcast for their own business, and more!

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Transcript

Welcome to podcasting for coaches. I'm Britany Felix and I'm a podcast launch consultant who specializes in helping coaches and consultants utilize the power of podcasting as a way to build brand awareness and generate new leads for their business. I realize not every new coach or consultant can afford to hire someone to help launch their show. So I created this podcast as a way to guide you through the process of launching and utilizing your very own podcast to help you grow your business and reach a new audience of adoring followers and potential clients. If you're ready to get your voice and podcast out into the world, head over to podcasting for coaches.com to learn more. April beach is the host of the apple top rated sweet life entrepreneur podcast and a business development consultant for adventurous female entrepreneurs who are determined to defy the status quo, control their life and build a socially conscious company while raising awesome kids. April has been featured in today, MSNBC, Patagonia, and other media for her role in Maverick life first business design. So that's April's official bio. My bio for April is that she is absolutely amazing. She is one of my very first launch consultant clients. At the time of this recording she has released off top of my head, I think we're on episode 106, maybe 107, which is absolutely incredible. I adore April, I'm sure you will as well. So April, thank you so much for being on this podcast. I'm so excited.

 

01:27

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

 

01:30

Let's just talk a little bit about your show in general, what topics you cover who it's for. And then I want you to finish that up with explaining how it incorporates into your business, you know, as a business development consultant.

 

01:43

Sure. So the sweet life entrepreneur podcast delivers trains and tools and strategies that are really important, especially in the first three years of business development for entrepreneurs. So the show itself is a business training. It's not really an interview podcast. And I think for at least the first 75 episodes, I was probably delivering 90% of those his solo business training episodes. That's really just the outline of the show. It's taking my my business development and business coaching experience. And the reason why I launched the show was because I remember when I was first starting out, I couldn't find reputable information and trusted trainings. And a business coach actually came alongside me and taught me how to scale my company. And he didn't charge me anything. And I always remember that that was, gosh, like 16 years ago. Now I always remember that. And so I knew the importance of delivering solid trainings and strategies for entrepreneurs who are developing online businesses around that lifestyle freedom. And so I wanted to give really awesome trainings away for free, it was like my outreach. I'm a social entrepreneur as well. So it was like my outreach, it was my mission.

 

03:00

I love that so much. And for anyone who has been a listener for a while of this podcast, they've heard me leave little nuggets about the fact that I am obsessed with travel and this like life first type of thing as well. So I love Love, love getting to work on your show. Because it's things that apply to me, I'm not a mother, but please, anyone listening to this, don't feel like you have to be the business advice. And this applies to basically everyone, everyone can take little nuggets and implement these in their own business. I've done so myself. So April, thank you so much for doing this. And for speaking to this audience who you're right does not have enough information out there. These people who are really trying to take control of their lives, and not necessarily put their business first we always hear like, you need to hustle, hustle, hustle. Entrepreneurship is working 80 hours for yourself. So you don't have to work 40 for somebody else. And there's like this pride in is working yourself to death. And I love that you take this complete different approach, you switch that the other way around business should not be your number one priority, your family, your life, I know for you religion, and I think that is a fantastic way to approach this.

 

04:03

Yeah, and it's true, actually, I think like a third of our listeners don't have kids, which I think is cool, because someday they might end right I wish that somebody had taught me how to model my business for the way I wanted to have maybe my future. And so we we do, you know, deliver those strategies. So if somebody wants to travel or you know, we take three months off a year, I don't care what you do with your three months, I go hang out with my kids, you know, you might go backpack somewhere in the middle of nowhere, you know, whatever it is that you're doing. I think it's really important as far as business development. And that's what the podcast is all about that first you have to strategize and develop the model of your company and then you reverse engineer and then you can hustle you want. But if you start with the hustle first and you don't strategically plan the model of the company and where you're going you don't have that Indian point on the map. You're definitely never going to get there. Right right.

 

04:54

So your podcast two years now which is amazing. So many people pod fade and you have stuck it out two years still going strong i think stronger than ever what has that been like for you over these past two years creating this podcast from nothing and seeing it grow and how have you seen this podcast impact your business

 

05:14

oh gosh there's so many things to share let me try to be really clear first of all i had so much content i think because i've been a business coach for so long so i had so many things that i wanted to share and that's what really helped i think get through the first year and a half that there are so many business trains that there's some people out there that charge 1000s for that i was like oh my gosh i'm giving this stuff away for free like this is baseline material folks you know so going through the process of launching the podcast the difficulties for me were more figuring out the operation side of it and how to fit it into my life schedule i have to say this this is just a shameless plug for you but i literally this podcast would not have been launched if it wasn't for you brittany because although i had all the content i knew what i was going to teach i knew what my audience needed desperately the biggest struggle for me i think in the beginning was figuring out you know how to get it produced and making sure that it was edited properly when i had no idea even the first question to ask about how to edit it so you come in along side and really taking over that for me was the only reason why the show got launched you know fast forward i have learned to choose the topics that i'm talking about on the show and plan them 12 months in advance with the services or the programs or the masterminds or the events that my company offers so how the podcast works with my business model i'm a business coach i work with people one on one i work with people one on group you know how the podcast kind of fits into that is if you put the entire business model up top if you're imagining like a line and the business models a top line well on that timeline i know exactly what programs or events i'm having throughout a 12 month period of time and so then i take it kind of a graduated step down and i say okay what am i going to talk about on the podcast leading up to the opening up of these programs are offers or events that does one of two things it either helps my audience build the same type of event the same type of business model that i have in then the second thing is is helps my audience identify if they need help in a certain area and therefore then they want to join one of my programs so the content that i talked about in the podcast is really strategically planned to align with the services and the offers that we have within my company same with my guests so when i select guests for example like jld was on the show only remember how long ago last year or sometime a while ago but he talks and his message is not scaling too fast and that's not a really popular message i'm a big advocate about not scaling your business until you've hit certain benchmarks and then you can start you know scaling and offering courses and doing all these other things and so i had him on the show and i really was glad he was there because it aligned with the time that in my business i was teaching the power of not scaling and getting traction and becoming known you know doing one thing really well first so that's like when example

 

08:22

yeah no i love that and i really appreciate you talking about planning all of that out because i think so many people feel like they're just going to be constantly in this state of like panic and anxiety of what am i going to do next what am i going to do next but if you can just take a day and just plan everything out you don't necessarily have to record anything or even have interviews scheduled but just planning and knowing where you're going to take it is really really really beneficial and i've started doing this with my own podcast you know i have content planned out at least my solo episodes for the next couple of months again not recorded because let's face it i'm a procrastinator but i know what i'm going to talk about and i can start gathering resources and start thinking about those things as i go along so i really really appreciate that in terms of your actual bottom line because i know that's what a lot of coaches and consultants want to know about what's this podcast going to do for my bottom line of course you know you don't have to disclose like how many clients you've gotten but how do you really see this translate into your business and the growth of it where does the podcast factor in to all of that

 

09:22

yeah sure so i will say you know we we spend over $1,000 a month producing the show you know between my team there are four of us that it takes to produce the podcast every month and just getting it out and making sure it's consistent and the graphics aligned with our brand and all that jazz so you know the podcast is certainly an expense but we consider that a marketing expense it is the best accurate list generator for me because when people listen to the podcast which is also another reason why i was important for me to launch i have a very different coaching style you know i'm very Direct, I'm very forward. But I'm also you know, I'm compassionate to you, I have three kids, but I'm really direct. So by the time people join my list, by the time they download one of the tools, because almost all of our podcast episodes have a download or a strategy, some of even have like full blown free trainings with a particular episode or, you know, webinar, they can join as an extension of an episode. So by the time they jump on my list, they absolutely already know me, they already know my personality, they already know whether or not they trust me, and whether or not they believe what I'm saying to be true, and to provide a transformation for their business. So the type of list growth that I experience through the podcast. First of all, it's by far our most predictable traffic source. So my primary list growth is from podcast listeners, I'm always having podcast listeners, you know, doing one of the self assessments that we offer, whatever. And then on top of that, they know who I am. So it's not like getting a cold download from somebody that you know, you don't know. And then you have to decide how many times you want them to land in their inbox. When I land in people's inbox, they already probably know, you know, around the general mannerism of my tone of voice. And, you know, I've had some people say, Hey, you know, it's like, I can hear you talking to me through your email, because I hear your voice all the time. So the type of list we grow from our podcast is definitely more I would say accurate, they're very interested, they're very warm leads.

 

11:25

That's amazing. And I love that you even mentioned that it actually benefits your email, like your newsletter list, because that's something that people just don't think about. There are ways that podcasts can help a coach or consultant that you couldn't possibly dream of, it's not just Oh, I got a new lead. And now this person's hired me because they heard my podcast, it helps us so many different areas of the business and has a ripple effect. And I love, love, love that you brought up your downloads, because I actually was gonna bring that up in this call. Because you are one of the few people that I see who are really good about providing some other benefit outside of the podcast. So you do, like you mentioned, have a download or a training, or something extra to provide your audience, I noticed that you were doing that a lot, especially in the beginning and it kind of tapered off there for a little bit. Is that just a time management thing? Or did you see that they weren't performing quite as well. But now they're doing better? What's that experience of taking that extra time to put together like a little bonus download? Or training for your clients? You know, looks like in terms of getting people to sign up? And is it worth the time?

 

12:28

Yeah, great question. Yes, we had a download with I think, like the first 55 episodes, and what's cool about those episodes is they're still really applied today, their business strategy training. So I always try to like send people back there saying, Hey, listen to episode eight, or listen, Episode Four, it totally still applies today. And there's a whole business download that goes with it. And then I started having guests on the show, and I want to honor my guests. And I want them to look, you know, like the cat's meow on the show. And so then I refer my listeners to the guest download. And then absolutely, there was a time there. I don't remember what was going on with our family and my kids. I think I had somebody transitioning into middle school. And I think that we traveled like 20 times in a period of four months for somebody, right? I literally could not do a download. But I always asked myself, I was like, okay, is this download kind of an added bonus? Or is this is necessary for them to understand. So I absolutely had to. And I did include downloads with those things. So I was like, okay, they're going to listen to what I'm saying. But they're actually not going to get a transformation from this business training unless they have these additional tools. And so even what I found during that period of time, because I was so busy, like if you can identify those episodes, there are some golden nuggets in there because I didn't have time to download. I was giving away like free courses. I mean, I've had over developed over 50 different business programs, because I've had online courses for so long. So some of them I literally like it's like that was like the 12 month marketing plan. I literally gave away a one hour webinar with the entire template to write a 12 month marketing plan. Because I didn't have time to scale that back. I was like, okay, screw it. I'm just gonna give him the whole training, you know, but yeah, it was totally because I was completely bogged down in it for a period of time and in mom life for sure.

 

14:19

I want to elaborate on that just really quickly, because I know a lot of people are intimidated by the amount of time they think a podcast is going to take and it definitely can be a huge time suck if you aren't smart about it, and you can't devote you know, certain resources to it. But you and your husband have multiple businesses. You have this podcast that you've grown like crazy in the past two years. And you have three children who by the way, are not just like oh, I'm gonna send you off to school and that's it. I got to deal with you on summer breaks, you are so actively involved in their life like so involved. And not only that, but you are constantly like going on road trips with them and taking them to visit colleges and you know, travel across games and traveling out to California. For one of your sons, who is an amazing dancer, like you are building them up and developing them in this way that I mean, most people who have a regular job, don't even think it's possible, let alone running multiple businesses and this podcast. So for somebody who is worried about the time that this is going to take, what are your biggest tips for them?

 

15:18

Definitely planning in advance for sure planning in advance, you know, you definitely need to make sure the podcast fits into your business model, although it's an outreach, although it's usually a marketing strategy, it has to fit into your business model. So when you're planning your business model in advance, you have to ask yourself, Is this a good use of my time, and therefore how directly as it's going to come back and relate to my bottom line? For some people, it might just be advertising, I don't sell advertising on my podcast in so you know, for me, it's relationship building. And again, it fits back into that business model. So when you're talking about time, like how I actually organize my time, if you will, and I am the first to admit, I had a period of time, I think it was during those same episodes where I was just awful at this. But theoretically, 80% of the time, I record all my podcasts one week, a month, and I kill myself. And that includes downloads in branding and communications, you know, with you, and Michelle, and everybody else in my team is about, you know, what needs to happen and how that fits in. And so I have this one week, a month, where I record my episodes, I create my collateral that goes along with episodes, I make sure that all of our funnels are built properly from each one of the episodes, and we have all that in place. And then it's off my plate. And then for three weeks, it's everything else. But I have my podcast recording, we've blocked out on my calendar every single week for the rest of 2019. Right now, I know exactly what week that is. It also helps my guests because a lot of my guests are, you know, higher profile guests that want to teach business strategies on the show. And they can book out in June already. And I know when I want my guests to book because I know exactly what topics that we're talking about each month, like July a social entrepreneurship. I already have guests booked that can talk about, you know, for profit, social entrepreneurship and giving you know, so it's really it's been intentional and planning in advance in block calendar, scheduling your time.

 

17:03

Okay. And I know you've mentioned your team a few times do you mind explaining, you know what those different roles are for people who are considering starting a podcast and they want to have some support with that?

 

17:13

Sure. So I lay out and research and create the content, obviously, and record the show. And then the show goes to my podcast editor, which I couldn't live without, which is yours truly hear, you organize everything, you mix everything and you get it back to us. You also are the one that set up our entire project management site online. And so we all have this hub thanks to you that we can communicate across the board. From that point of time, it goes to my content quarterback, she's really my my marketing person, I call her a content QB. And she develops the content, she listens to the show, she writes the copy for the show, you know, she develops all of our social media posts that are about the show. And so that's really the brunt of it. And then the fourth person on the team is my podcast guest manager. So I have a podcast guest manager that handles all of our guests relationships, get them scheduled, make sure they feel you know, like solid gold, and that they have everything they need to be successful on the show. Perfect, thank

 

18:09

you for explaining that. Because I think a lot of people forget that they have this type of support available to them. It doesn't even have to be crazy expensive. I mean, there are VA is if you can find a good one who, you know, aren't necessarily like $30 an hour, even 15 an hour. And then you can have them take care of a lot of the tasks that just are not difficult, but time consuming. And so getting that support, even if you're not hiring an expensive editor or anything is still going to be beneficial. I have one more question to wrap up for you today. And that is for the person listening to this who is considering starting a podcast for their business. What is one thing that you think they should know from the very beginning to ensure that it's like success, not necessarily in terms of downloads, but just in terms of succeeding, you know, whatever the objective is with that podcast?

 

18:54

Yeah, they need to make sure that their message is clear. They need to certainly make sure that the message you guys want people to get across about your podcast, it's understood, it's easy to understand, and that your your niching so hard that your podcast will be recognized, it will be noticed it will be found even down to your artwork and being willing to be disruptive in to not follow the masses not follow the trends. But being willing to be disruptive, you know, in your messaging and really calling out the people who are your listeners, because it doesn't matter if you have 10,000 downloads or 100,000 downloads, you want to connect with the right people in the only way you're going to do that is by having a very specific niche show, in my opinion, because so many shows are launching. And then the second thing is you have to be willing to commit if you launch a podcast, and somebody goes to listen to it and they find that you haven't recorded or posted a show since you know 2017 that is really bad branding in sometimes you can't recover from that. So do not do this until you know how it fits into your complete business model. And your message is clear and you're willing to niche hard. Thank you so much April. This

 

19:53

has been a fantastic conversation. I want to let everyone know that they can find April's podcast and more information about her By going to the show notes for this episode, you can find those at podcasting for coaches. com, click on the podcast tab in the main menu and this is episode number 42. April. Thank you again.

 

20:10

Thanks for having me.

 

20:15

And that wraps up another episode of podcasting for coaches. If you'd like to connect with me further, get additional free resources, receive updates on this podcast and connect with other coaches and consultants who are using a podcast for their business. I'd like to invite you to join the podcasting for coaches community on Facebook. You can either search for podcasting for coach's community on Facebook to find it, or you can use the link this in the show notes for every single episode of this podcast on my website podcasting for coaches.com

 
Britany Felix
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