241 | He Got 50,000 New Podcast Listeners With One Tiny Tweak

Summary

Podcast Summary: Grow The Show Episode 241

Title: He Got 50,000 New Podcast Listeners With One Tiny Tweak
Host: Kev Michael (with coach Kevin Schmidlin)
Guest: Nate Palmer
Date: October 21, 2025

---

Overview

In this episode, Kev Michael and podcast growth coach Kevin Schmidlin interview Nate Palmer, host of the Low Carb Hustle podcast, about the simple but transformational change that helped him scale from a plateau of 10-12,000 downloads a month to a consistent 50,000 downloads per month—without additional marketing, advertising, or content grind. Nate dives into the actionable, psychological, and tactical moves that shifted his listener retention and grew his show into a million-download staple for health-driven entrepreneurs.

---

Key Discussion Points

1. Nate’s Stagnation and Early Growth Tactics

[00:08–02:23]

• Nate’s initial tactics: paid advertising, social media, and guest appearances.
• Despite these efforts, his listener numbers plateaued at around 12,000 per month.
• Metric discovery: Applying retention analytics with Kev’s guidance, he realized he lost 30% of listeners in the first three minutes—his “bucket had holes.”
  • Quote (Nate, 02:23):
    “You showed me how to pull up my metrics… we're getting like a 30% drop off rate. You were like, hey, you're probably getting growth, you're just not seeing it, because people aren't sticking around long enough.”

2. The “Tiny Tweak”: Restructuring the Podcast Intro

[03:31–07:13] [09:12–10:12]

• Old intro structure (played at [04:06–05:29]):
  Scintillating but often irrelevant cold open, canned voiceover, and unscripted banter—without contextual clarity for new listeners.

• Problems identified:

  • No clear communication of topic or value upfront.
  • Inside jokes and banter disconnected from audience needs.
  • Host and co-host not introduced or contextualized.
  • Quote (Nate, 06:18):
    “We’re what, 90 seconds in and I don’t know what this podcast is about or why I should stick around. Even I’d leave if it wasn’t my own sultry voice.”

• New intro structure (played at [09:12–10:12]):

  • Leads with a question/pain point tailored to the target listener.
  • Communicates episode value, core topics, and outcomes.
  • Brief host introduction focused on authority and relevance.
  • Clear promise of transformation.

• Impact:
  After changing the intro, Nate’s retention skyrocketed.

  • Quote (Nate, 08:43):
    “We’re keeping about 82% of people to the 75% mark. I’m not pouring any money into advertising and—I'm honestly not even spending that much time—I've still been seeing higher numbers.”

3. Crafting Listener-Centered Content and Episode Titles

[10:18–18:17]

• Shifted intro focus from host chatter to immediately addressing listener needs:

  • Start with “have you ever…” style questions to hook ideal listeners.
  • Emphasize what’s in it for the listener.
  • Introduce guests with direct benefit statements, not just bios.

• Title strategies:

  • Borrow frameworks from competitor research on popular YouTube titles.
  • Create searchable, curiosity-driven, and pain-point-oriented episode names.
    • Quote (Nate, 15:36):
      “The title should always be what someone is already going to search… you get to just jump right to reading your listener’s mind.”

4. Understanding Audience through Research

[17:37–18:17]

• Interviewed top listeners to understand language, pain points, and goals.
• Used audience language directly in show intros and episode descriptions.
  • “You learn the lyrics, as Pat Flynn says… you were trying to convey something, but they used different words to say the same thing.”

5. Podcast Guest Features and Networking

[18:49–23:02]

• Used Grow the Show strategies for guest outreach and cross-promotion.

  • Systematized identifying “medium-sized” podcasts aligned with his audience using competitor guest lists.
  • Reached out with listener-centric pitches.
  • Leveraged podcasting relationships beyond one-off appearances—reciprocity and collaboration.
  • Quote (Nate, 20:33):
    “Everyone’s cool, everyone’s nice, everyone wants to see everyone else succeed in the industry.”

• Built relationships by proactively offering to help hosts and guests after each recording.

6. Intro Creation Workflow & Iteration

[23:24–25:39]

• Developed a repeatable framework/script for intros:
  • Start with a question that hooks.
  • Preview transformation or episode value.
  • Contextual intro of host/guest for new listeners.
  • Light, relevant call to action.
• Over time, transitioned from scripting intros to improvising based on a template.
  • Now often produced in one take immediately after recording the main episode content.
  • Quote (Nate, 24:31):
    “Frameworks, baby. Templates, right? You don’t have to even think about it.”

7. Pitfalls and Critical Lessons for Intros

[25:52–27:20]

• Don’t make the intro about yourself—focus on the listener’s problem.
• Use hyper-specific, emotionally resonant questions to cut through listener multitasking.
  • Quote (Nate, 25:52):
    “People don’t care what you know, they care about themselves and what’s in it for them.”

8. Final Reflections and Advice

[27:20–29:41]

• Nate recommends focusing on topics that deliver unique infotainment—don’t copy generic interview questions.
• Be bold about your niche and don’t fear short-term listener drops; more engaged audiences follow.
  • Quote (Nate, 29:04):
    “My numbers dropped before they went back up… Be bold. Even though you might see a momentary decrease, I guarantee it’ll lead to bigger and better things.”

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Sometimes you just have to make one little tweak to your podcast and you unlock massive growth.”
  — Kev Michael, [00:22]

• “We’re keeping about 82% of people to the 75% mark… that’s the dream.”
  — Kevin Schmidlin, [08:49]

• “The title should not, should always be what someone is already going to search.”
  — Nate Palmer, [15:36]

• “The relationship that I built with some of these people have transcended that process.”
  — Nate Palmer, [19:37]

• “If you can hit them with a specific question… the better you know your listener, the easier it becomes to craft a really good question that hits them.”
  — Nate Palmer, [26:23]

---

Segment Guide with Timestamps

• 00:08–02:23 — Nate’s plateau & initial growth efforts
• 02:23–03:38 — The retention discovery and its significance
• 04:06–07:13 — Dissecting the old intro; identifying disconnects
• 09:12–10:12 — Example of the new, listener-centered intro
• 10:18–13:16 — Nate’s method for crafting compelling intros and questions
• 13:37–18:17 — Headline/title strategies; using research & audience language
• 18:49–23:02 — Networking, guest features, and leveraging podcast relationships
• 23:24–25:39 — Nate’s workflow for creating intros
• 25:52–27:20 — Common intro mistakes & best practices
• 27:20–29:41 — Long-term impact, advice to self & to podcasters

---

Takeaways for Podcasters

• Small structural changes—especially to the intro—can have outsized impact on both retention and overall audience growth.
• Prioritize listener context, needs, and pain points in the episode intro.
• Emulate successful formats for titles and hooks but tailor to your specific audience using their own language.
• Systematize guest outreach and always focus on “what’s in it for the listener.”
• Don’t fear temporary drops in downloads; long-term audience quality and engagement matter most.

---

For listeners wanting to connect:

• Instagram: Million Dollar Body
• Podcast: Low Carb Hustle in any podcast app

---

Transcript

[Kev Michael]

If you are a podcaster who is stuck, and no matter what you do, you can't seem to get your podcast audience to grow, then you probably know how this feels.

[Nate Palmer]

I've been doing some paid advertising, and I've been doing some, like, podcast pitching, where I've been on other people's shows and trying to grow the show through that and through Instagram, et cetera. But I came to you because I couldn't really get much growth.

[Kev Michael]

That is Nate Palmer, and he used.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

To be stuck with his podcast too.

[Kev Michael]

But here's the good news. You might not be as far away from a breakthrough as you think, because sometimes you just have to make one little tweak to your podcast and you unlock massive growth.

[Nate Palmer]

We've seen 5x growth. My biggest month was 70,000 downloads, averaging about 50,000 now.

[Kev Michael]

And the best part is, once Nate made this little tweak to his show, he was able to get way more growth and way more clients while spending less time on the show.

[Nate Palmer]

I haven't even been putting as much effort into it, and I've still been seeing higher numbers.

[Kev Michael]

My name is Kev Michael. I was Nate's podcast coach. I am your podcast coach, and this.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Is Grow the Show.

[Nate Palmer]

My name is Nate Palmer, and I'm a dude who loves exercise and nutrition, and I just wanted to help people get better at that and get paid what I was worth.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Amazing. So Nate Low carb hustle just surpassed a million total downloads. Is a million, right?

[Nate Palmer]

Yeah.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Unbelievable. How does that feel?

[Nate Palmer]

A little bit surreal, to be honest with you. Like, it just feels like that's something that has been out of reach for so long, and even though my life didn't radically shift, I didn't get an inch taller or anything like that after hitting a million. I think the social proof of that and having the ability to be like, hey, look at my numbers, really elevated me and the podcast to being something where it's so easy now to pitch bigger guests and to get on other shows. Because obviously, I have the social proof that I have a million listens on mine. And I think that that is more of the cool thing about, like, you know, just honestly bragging about it than actually having it.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

It's so true. Like, when you're able to say something, that it just opens up so many doors, which then I imagine, accelerates growth even further.

[Nate Palmer]

Yeah. And it's just fun. It just feels like it puts you in a different echelon.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Totally. So we're gonna go back to when we first met, which was in October. Of 2022. Now, full disclosure, Nate went through the Grow the Show accelerator program and what I'd love for you is to tell the story of where your show was at. Remember it was at about 12k a month and what you were experiencing as far as growth or non growth at that time. So where were you at that point?

[Nate Palmer]

So when we met in October and I started working with the Grow the Show accelerator, we were hit 10,000, 12,000 downloads a month, which was great for me because even just up to like March of that year, I was only hitting about 2000. So this is a 5. I've 5x the show's listens and I've been doing some paid advertising and I've been doing some like podcast pitching where I've been on other people's shows and trying to grow the show through that and through Instagram, et cetera. But I came to you because I couldn't really break that 12k mark. I had hit like 9, 10, 10, 1210 a few months in a row and I couldn't really get much growth. And what was interesting is that when we started working together, you showed me how to pull up my metrics and see how long people were listening for the show. And what we noticed was insane. We're getting like a 30% drop off rate in the first three minutes of each show. And you were like, hey, you're probably getting growth, you're just not seeing it because people aren't sticking around long enough to listen to a full episode, much less come back and listen to another episode. So I think that the thing that we really worked on was how do we get people to understand what the show is about, stick around to actually get to the meat of it and turn them into raving fans.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

What was your reaction when we pointed that out? Like, had you ever even considered retention before looking at the graph?

[Nate Palmer]

No, I, I, it was not even on my radar. I wasn't sure. Like, I feel like I just kind of showed up. I podcasted and I post on Instagram and I was like, that's it, right? That's how you do it. So you just brought a depth of knowledge of like, okay, here's what we should be looking for, here's what we should want to see. We don't want to see any drop offs in the first. We want to make sure that people are getting through about 75% of the episode. So the education component was huge for me and just gave me a little bit of a different focus, which I think changed a lot about how we conducted the show and how we structured it.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

All right, so I'm going to play the first, like, 60 to 90 seconds. So let's listen. And then when it's done, what I'd like for you to do is just talk me through what your intention was or if you didn't have it, just, like, what was your mindset in putting that intro together with no judgment.

[Kyle]

Someone who just does it, whether it's perfect or not, but does it consistently will always, always, always win or get ahead of the person that's trying to do the perfect workout or the perfect.

[Nate Palmer]

Diet here and there.

[Kyle]

Only half the time.

[Voiceover Announcer]

Low Carb Hustle. You are listening to the Low Carb Hustle podcast, where we help you burn fat and put some muscle behind that low Carb hustle. Here's your host, Nate Palmer.

[Nate Palmer]

What's good, my friend? Welcome back to the Low Carb Hustle podcast. It's me, your boy, Nate Palmer. And then joined, as always, with the illustrious Juicy Cheeks. JC checking in. That's me, Kyle. Someone asked me the other day, they're like, why is Kyle Juicy Cheeks? And I was like, have you seen that thing clap? Dang. With an A.

[Kyle]

First off, did you say, what a stupid question to ask? Why is he Juicy Cheeks?

[Nate Palmer]

No, actually, I think I tried to explain it. I didn't say, did you see that thing clap? I thought about that afterwards. I was like, that's a better. That's a better answer.

[Kyle]

It would have been. But I think the answer to that is there is no need for an explanation. Right? You gotta get to that point in life where there's no need for an explanation. Right?

[Nate Palmer]

Well, when they see you walking around, they're like, yeah, I get it. There's no need for an explanation. But the podcast is a hard medium to really.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Okay, so we'll stop there. So tell me about the question that I asked before. What was your thinking in putting together the intro like that? Where it was the clip and then the voiceover announcement and then your intro and then some discussion.

[Nate Palmer]

So I think that a lot of times I see that the big podcast, they'll pull something scintillating from the conversation and throw it right in the front to create more intrigue. And I feel like you've done that pretty well with your show, because I remember one time I was talking about, like, what does a banana have to do with. I even forget what it was, but it was talking about how a lady showed up in a Zoom Banana costume, and it was a whole thing about that. And it was, it was really like, I was like, what are we talking about in this? But like, it got me to stick around, so I was trying to do the same thing, but I don't necessarily know if I was always choosing the right clips. Then I had the canned intro, which was like, hey, I thought you needed a canned intro for the show. I had some with a great voice, my buddy Adam, do that. I thought it was awesome. And then I would just jump in and try to be a bit entertaining and kind of have some back and forth banter beforehand. My thought was always like, oh, people are going to want to get to see me and what I like think about and just kind of like being silly and stuff like that. So I would talk with my buddy Kyle, who would be on the show fairly frequently with me. But you notice that, like, when I look back on it, I don't introduce him, I don't say what relevance he has to the show. Like, and so we're what, 90 seconds or a minute and a half into that. And I don't know what this podcast is about. I don't know why I should stick around. And to be honest with you, if I, if it wasn't my sultry voice that I was listening to, I'd be like, all right, I'm out. That's. That seems like a waste of time. I'm surprised I had 10,000 downloads at this point.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

It's true. Well, I mean, what you brought up before was that you were doing tons of stuff to grow your show. You were doing ads, you were, you know, being on other shows, you were doing social media. And so what you were experiencing was that 10,000 per month. We'll never know how many of those people were one and done where they tuned in and then, and then heard that and kind of got confused and didn't tune back in. But we don't know how much. But that's, that's what was happening. Your show was a bucket that had holes in the bottom. Now, I know very well the changes that you made, but can you talk through then? First of all, before we talk about your new intro and what it sounds like, what has happened to your show since improving your intro? How have your numbers improved?

[Nate Palmer]

So over the course of the last 10 months or so, we've seen another 5x growth. My biggest month was 70,000 downloads, averaging about 50,000 now pretty regularly. I'm not pouring any money into advertising and I'm honestly not even spending, spending that much time or focus getting on other people's podcasts. To grow my own show. So I haven't even been putting as much effort into it and I've still been seeing higher numbers and bigger downloads because I think what's happening is that people are actually sticking around and, you know, Maybe out of 10 people we resonate with six or seven of them, they add us to our, like their daily feed. And so now I'm trying to secure a spot. So every, every Monday they're listening to a 30 minute episode.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Incredible. So you mentioned earlier how at the beginning of each episode you were losing 30% of people just within the first couple minutes. And I remember it being a steady drop off from there. What are your attention rates looking like now?

[Nate Palmer]

We're keeping about 82% of people to the 75% mark and then it kind of fades to that last bit of the episode.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Yeah, that's fantastic. That's like the dream. To get 8 to 9 of people who tune in to listen to 3/4 of the episode is just exactly all that you could hope for. Awesome. So now let's listen to the intro that you published yesterday, which was, by the way, episode number 200. So congratulations on hitting 200. And now let's listen to this one.

[Nate Palmer]

Have you ever wanted to start eating healthier but weren't sure exactly what to do first? Or maybe you want to start meal prepping your food, but you don't want to spend five hours every single Sunday making the kitchen all hot, cooking a bunch of stuff that you're just going to hate eating by Friday? Well, if that's you, then you're going to want to tune into this episode. We're going to be talking about a beginner's guide to meal prep. I'm going to share with you a few secrets. The ways that you can meal prep faster and easier than ever before. The appliances that you're going to need. A quick grocery list that you can start adopting right away. Just a couple criteria that I always think about when it comes time to meal prep my food. You're listening to the low carb hustle, home of your million dollar body method. We help you get leaner and live longer. My name is Nate Palmer. I've been a coach since 2008 and helped over 1100 people level up their health and fitness. My mission is simple, to show you how to easily drop fat so you can feel lean, strong and energetic. So if you're ready to dive in and see some of the basics of meal prepping and how you can use this simple skill to get the results that you're looking for in your life? Stick around. Let's do this.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

We just heard the new intro. What do you do differently now compared to what you used to do?

[Nate Palmer]

So what? One of the things that you taught me was focusing in on my ideal client, focusing on my ideal avatar, and then answering a question that they're going to have. So I always start off my intro now by asking a question that people have be like, have you ever felt like this? Have you ever done this? Have you ever gone through this and didn't get results? Because someone is going to be like, yes, I resonate with that. You know, like, it's the difference between being like, hey, today we're talking about back health and being like, hey, have you ever had back pain that just wouldn't go away instantly? We call that, like, dog whistle. Like, that's instantly someone is gonna be like, that's. That's me. That's exactly what I'm dealing with. So I try to figure out a. What are the common questions that people have? So that's really helpful when I think about my ideal avatar, you know, his name is Joe. He works next door to me. He's a good guy. So I figure out, like, what is. What does Joe need help with? What does Joe have questions about? And I try to structure all my episodes like that. Then I think about, what is in it for them? What are they going to get out of this episode? How am I going to deliver value to them in that way? And one of the things that you said to me about guests, because this episode was a solo episode, I've been doing a lot of solo episodes this summer. It's been really fun. But when it came time to intro guests, what I was always doing was I was always reading a bio. Hey, you're this next guest. His name is Kevin Schmidlin, and he is the owner of Grow the Show Accelerator. He's been a podcast host for 16 years, and he has great hair. You know, like, I'd read that shit off, and people would be like, hey, we don't care. That's not about me. That's about Kevin. So what you told me to do with a guest was talk very specifically about how that person can help them with their goals. And I took that and I applied that to everything about the intro. So, hey, this is Kevin. I'm having him on the show today because I know that he can help you elevate your show. And a couple simple tips. He's going to give you these easy ways that you can increase listenership, increase listener retention, and really develop a dominant show that's top 1% in the industry. Now, that's an episode that's tailored to someone. It's not about Kevin anymore. It's about what he can do for my audience. And I wanted to make sure that my whole intro had that same feeling. So I try to, like, ask some questions that are. That are pertinent. And then. Then we kind of go into that canned part where I introduce myself. Because I think one of the things that, you know, we noticed about the first one is that I'm like, what's up? It's Nate, you know, here with Juicy Cheeks. Who is Nate? Who's Juicy Cheeks? Why do we give a shit? Why are we even listening to these people? So I'd like to be like, you know, it's a little bit of a humble brag, but like, hey, I'm Nate. I've been in the. I've been a coach for 15 years. I helped 1100 people. And so doing that, introducing the show, introducing myself, because one of the things that you had said is that we're gonna have new listeners every episode. And so if they're coming in and we're talking straight up, like, just bantering inside jokes, being silly, we're gonna lose people. Cause they don't know who we are or what we're up to. So giving them just a brief intro, who I am, why I have the authority to talk about what I'm talking about, and then what we're gonna be speaking about in the episode, I think gives people a lot of clarity and also allows them to listen to my calls to action a little bit longer, because they know what's coming a hundred percent.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Yeah, you get them hooked. And so when you throw a call to action in there, you've already successfully sold them on listening to the rest of the episode. So they're totally willing to, you know, hear what you have to say first. That's awesome, man. One thing that you actually have always been good at, if I scroll back on your feed, is titling your episodes. So can you talk a little bit about what goes into a great podcast title?

[Nate Palmer]

Yeah. And so I think, like, yeah, I have some good ones in there. Like the one we heard earlier was the four mindsets keeping you soft and week. And like, that's okay because it has, like, people, like list people, like numbered systems and things like that. But that's not a question people are searching for. Mindset's keeping me soft. No one's Googling That So for a long time I had a product called BOD in a Box and it was a home based exercise equipment. So it was a, it was like a suspension trainer, bands, sliders, and I had a bunch of workouts written to go along with it. But the problem I kept running into Kevin was that I had to teach people that a you, you have a problem, which is fitness, you need this specific product to buy it. So I had to educate them on why they needed the product before I could then help them buy, make that purchase. Rather than trying to educate people on what they should be asking, let's just jump right in front of what people already are asking. Right? It's like, like the number one asset is a hungry crowd. Right. If you have a hot dog stand and you go post up at a place, I got a concert where there's no other food, it doesn't matter if you're hot hot dogs or dog shit, people are going to buy them and eat them up because, because they are already looking for food. So what I did was I went back and I did a lot of research on this, but I say I did, I did like three pieces of research. Then I had a VA do the rest.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Nice.

[Nate Palmer]

But I went to six different competitors YouTube channels and I filtered them by views. So what are the, what are the YouTube videos on people who have my ideal clients already and what are getting the most views? So you're looking at the ones that have like, you know, millions and millions of views. I'm looking at a bunch of popular YouTube channels and just copied all of their titles and I put them into a spreadsheet. So now I have basically tons of titles that already work and then two that like now you can look at these titles and you can extrapolate the format of each one of those things. 3 Ways to get leaner without x3 14 different tactics to make to lose your whatever you know. And so you can take these titles and basically start either just like straight up using them and then putting your own spin on the answers, or you can take the frameworks and start creating your own new ones that are going to work. So by, rather than by trying to teach people like, hey, here's what you need to be thinking about. Tone is a bad word in fitness. Get in front of them. How do you tone your biceps? And then in the episode I can be like, tone is not really a real thing. You know, your muscles are growing or shrinking and I can educate them further from there. But the titled should not, should always be what Someone is already going to search. And I think that's one of the reasons for the growth is that I have easily searchable titles.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Are you publishing on YouTube? Okay, so yeah, it'll crush on YouTube. But for the audio feed, like people aren't really opening up their audio podcast app and thinking how can I tone my biceps? Or asking that. But your listeners are thinking that. They are asking that in their head all the time. They're walking around, how do I tone my biceps? And so you're able to not only get the SEO benefits on YouTube but because what people are searching is what everybody's asking. You get to just jump right to reading your listeners minds and they see the episode and be like, holy crap, that's exactly what I wanted to know. So it really works on two levels. It's search engine optimization, but it's also human question asking optimization.

[Nate Palmer]

Totally. I've found personally in a lot of cases that my clients are all mostly entrepreneurs and business owners. They're like men with younger kids to middle, like, like adolescent kids. They seem to be podcast listeners in a way that solves problems for them. So most of the like the guys I talk to don't, don't have a religious podcast habit for maybe except for like one or two people. And so they'll, but they'll search things that are interesting to them or that pop up. So I've always been trying to figure out how do I stay relevant in the search, even in podcast player apps.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

So what you're saying is the opposite of what I just said, which is awesome. Which is basically. No, actually, people are searching for answers in the podcast apps. Is that what you found?

[Nate Palmer]

It seems like this demographic of men searches like listens for answers, not necessarily just straight through.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Yeah, interesting. That's fascinating. Man, that's so worth exploring. I wonder if there's more demographics like that because.

[Nate Palmer]

Well, yeah, you had me do a ton of research early on too. You had me go back and like list out all my top 10 or 15 best clients and I did 30 minute interviews with each one of them and I asked them all these questions about what their interests were, what words they like to use, which is super helpful as well. So now like, like you heard me say, like, hey, where I help you get leaner and live longer. Those are the two top two things that people said, I want more of this. I wasn't saying that ahead of time. I was saying put a little muscle behind that low carb hustle. So when I figured out what. Here are the words that These guys are talking about put those in the, put those in the, like, each episode. And so now it's, it's much easier to get that, like the retention or at least people being like, yeah, this is for me.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

You learn the lyrics, as Pat Flynn says, right? Like you were trying to convey something to your listenership. They used different words in their head to convey the same thing. And so you were able to identify what those words are and actually say it to them. And then there, I'm sure, like, dude, how did you know where? It's like, you told me, right? Incredible. I remember distinctly that you had some success with getting featured on other podcasts and, you know, having at least some of your growth come from that. So can you talk about, like, what has worked there for you? You know, if you have any hacks or tips for anybody who's trying to get featured on other podcasts?

[Nate Palmer]

Okay, so two, two top tips on that one, because I do think there was some. There was a lot of growth that came from that, especially being featured on not like crazy big podcasts, but like these medium sized niche podcasts that really have and cater to my ideal listener. So number one was tpp. So working with Grow, the Show accelerator, I would be like, hey, here are my five best guests. And then you guys would tell me, hey, here's the other places that they've appeared. You'd give me their, like, the name of the show, the description of the show, links to the show, email addresses. You just made this process super easy for me. Then we came up, we crafted together a script on how to outreach to these people without being spammy, but still being direct enough to be like, hey, here's what I'm looking for and here's how. It's a benefit to you always. What's in it for me? What's in it for me? Podcast pitches, intros, sales copy. It's all about. It's all about the listener or the reader, right? So we came up with this script and so then I would just reach out to people. Like, I would probably do like five to 10 a week. It wasn't anything crazy, but I was getting probably like a podcast a week off of this strategy. And what was cool about that? Like, yeah, it's amazing to be on podcasts and things like that, but the relationships that I built with some of these people have transcended that, like that process. Now we've been talking for the last year. I've hooked them up with other of my guests. I've been able to like, Interact with them. I've been on some of their, their guest podcast and just creating these relationships that are so cool. And that's one of my favorite things about podcasting is just like, it's just a cool community of like minded individuals. And so I think that a lot of times people, especially people who are like new to podcasting, get scared to approach someone. Oh, it's a bigger show, but everyone's cool, everyone's nice, everyone wants to see everyone else succeed in the industry. That's my experience at least.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Yeah, 100%.

[Nate Palmer]

That was my first one. And then the second one is kind of the, I kind of went into it just for a second, which was like, so if I'm getting on someone's podcast, going and looking at their list of guests, who's else has been featured on their podcast, who do I want to know? Because at the end of every podcast episode, I'm going to finish it like this with you as well. We're going to finish, going to be like, that was fun, great job, awesome. High five, you know, and I'm going to be like, Kevin, thank you so much for having me on the show. What can I do to help you out? And I always ask that at the end of every single podcast episode because you don't know what people need help with. Sometimes people want help with their fitness, which is great. I can handle that. Sometimes they're like, I want a connection with more people. Sometimes they're like, I want to get on more podcasts that are like this, this and this. And I can very easily go back and look at, I go, I got three people that I can think of right now that you'd be a great fit for. And they, and then everyone, normal reciprocity dictates that if I ask that, they're going to ask me that back. Hey, well, how can I help you? Hey, well, don't you know this person? Could I get an intro to Vince? Like that's, he's been a hero of mine for a long time. I would love to chat a little bit more with him. He's badass. Like, any way you could hook us up? And 100% of the time people are saying yes to that normal reciprocity. So I like. And so then I get off the podcast and I go do the thing that I told them I would do. Make that intro, send that email, do whatever, do that instantly. And then the ball's in their court. A, you don't have to think about it again. B. And then also they're like, man, that dude does what he says he's going to do. Like, that dude is showing up for me. And so they are going to be way more likely to send that email and make that intro for you. And that's been, like, just. I think that's just a life skill.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Too, you know, it's so true. And, like, in times like this, I don't know, I often take it for granted or I just, I guess forget. But, like, thinking back to the biggest jumps that I've had in my career and in my life, the vast, vast majority of them came from podcast interactions. Either an intro from a guest or just like, that actual relationship with the guests itself. I think it's something that we overlook a lot, but it's like the biggest opportunity is right at the end of the call where it's like, hey, we should still be friends and do other, you know, like, help each other in other ways.

[Kev Michael]

Right?

[Nate Palmer]

Yeah, because there's a lot of potential for collaboration across. Across the spaces. Like, everyone's trying to, like, get new and interesting guests feature on other podcasts. So, like, it's so easy. It's such a low barrier of injury to help someone out in a massive way. And then you become that guy. If you're the connector, if you're the guy who's always sending people up, making intros, like, that's a really cool role to have, and you get to invite into a lot of interesting rooms.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

I want to go back to the discussing intros for a minute because I'd love to know how your process changed. Right. So your original intro that we listened to, it was a clip. It was the canned intro, and that was the beginning of the conversation. So I imagine back then you had to find the clip and put that at the beginning. But what does your process look like now? And how much time do you spend on your intro?

[Nate Palmer]

Well, at first, I was spending more time doing it because I would actually write out each intro. I don't know if you heard on that second one, but I was kind of like, I was stumbling over some words. I was going a little slower. It wasn't perfect, but I only did that in one take, and I didn't write a word of it. It just came from knowing what the episode was going to be about, so. And it just took practice. Right. I'm at episode 200. I've been doing that for the last 75 episodes, so it took me a minute. But basically now I have a. I have a. Like, a script where I look at and go I hook them in with a good question. What will the listener relate to in the intro? How will you spark curiosity? What is the question we're posing in this episode? How will the answer to this question get us closer to transformation? And if I need to intro a guest, why is the guest here? What qualifies them? Them help. And then I do. Then I go into, what is the podcast and what's the mission? Whether you're listening to Low Carb, Hustle Home, you melan diabetes, then who am I and why am I leading the journey? My name is Nate Palmer. I've been a coach since 2008, helped over 1100 people. Uh, my mission, it's simple. I wanna show you how to easily drop fat so you can feel lean, strong, energetic, and then kind of like that light call to action. So if you're ready to once again, dive back, dive into meal prep, learn how to lose fat, learn how to the three different things you should be drinking while you're fasting. Stick around. Let's do this.

[Kyle]

Boom.

[Nate Palmer]

Frameworks, baby.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Yeah. Templates, right? You don't have to even think about it. So you're able to just. Nowadays, because you've done it so many times, like, it makes sense that the first couple times you did it, it took longer. That's just how the human brain works. But it sounds like now you're able to just pull out the template and look at it and see, here are the points that I had to hit. And you just rip it. And it's in one take.

[Nate Palmer]

Yeah.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Do you do it later? Do you do it right after the record?

[Nate Palmer]

Most of the time it's separate. And I try to do it right afterwards, but a lot of times I don't. And then I have to go back and, like, kind of listen to the episode again, make sure I pull up salient points, which takes a little bit longer. But that's just because I was lazy up front, so.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Yep. Oh, man. I've been there so many times where it's like, I don't need to do it now. And then later you're like, why didn't.

[Nate Palmer]

I do it before? What did I say? I was blacked out for the whole episode.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Isn't it funny how you don't remember any of that? And so the message is, record the intro as soon as possible while it's all loaded into your brain.

[Nate Palmer]

Right. Or if you have, like, sometimes I'll do it, like, rarely before, but only if I have a really good episode outline and I know exactly what I'm gonna be talking about. And that's usually only for solo episodes too. Cause a lot of times guests, you just take random, like wild tangents.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

And with relation to intros, are there any like, pitfalls that you see that you fall into maybe with intros sometimes? Or just any things to that podcasters can watch out for when crafting their intro?

[Nate Palmer]

I think that making it about yourself or the show or how great you are is such an easy thing to fall into. You know, you're talking about like, because, because there's that fine line between being like demonstrating expertise and being self aggrandizing. So I think that as long as you keep in mind that the radio station people are always tuned into is WE fm, what's in it for me? Then you are going to be on the right track because you're going to be focused on the consumer. You're going to be focused on your listener rather than focused on yourself. I think that's another good just like thing to keep in mind for life. People don't care what you know, they care about themselves and what's in it for them. That's a big deal. But also I think that having the right question up front is make or break. Because if you're like, hey, do you like to exercise? If so, you're going to love this episode. People are like, you know, but if you can hit them with like a specific question, kind of what we were talking about, what is a natural pain point you have? Do you always get that spot in your middle of your upper back that just bugs you and no, you wake up and it's sore. Like that's a. People who have that issue are going to be like dialed in now, you know, so the better you know your listener, the better you know who you're talking to, the easier it becomes to craft a really good question that hits them where they're like, they're like, you know, whatever they're doing, they're like, they're going to tune all that out and start listening to you. Because a lot of times we're doing podcasting while we're cooking dinner or doing something else, riding the bus, we're looking at Instagram, you know, so giving them some reason to actually fully tune in and give you their attention is so important.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

If you could tell yourself this time last year, July 2022, one thing, what would it be?

[Nate Palmer]

I mean, I'm kind of vacillating between hire a coach, get better topics, or make the intro all about the listener.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Let's talk about the topics piece. So your message would be to yourself, to get better topics.

[Nate Palmer]

Why at the end of the day, like you, you can dress up a shit podcast, but people are gonna see through it eventually. You might get people who stick around a little bit, but they're not gonna come back and be like, repeat, repeat listeners. Unless you are consistently providing infot. Right, you're finding actionable tactical tips and you're providing a bit of entertainment like, along with it. So making sure that your topics are not just generic and boring. I know like a lot of times early on. So this is my second podcast, my first podcast, it's called Million Dollar Body. And sometimes I would go back and listen to someone's podcast that they did with the guest that I was about to have on and just ask them those same questions. Completely unoriginal. So. And I always thought, oh, this is going to be good because I already know what they're going to say and I felt more prepared and stuff. But it didn't bring any extra additional value or like own brand of entertainment and like question asking. So I want to make sure that when I'm, when I'm showing up, I am. I've got the right topic for my, for my audience. And then I'm also not just delivering it in a bland way that's already been done a million times before.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Yeah, awesome. Dude. This freaking rocks, man. So congratulations on the huge milestones. Just the beginning, man. A million total, you know, average of 50k a month. That is wild. You're. You're getting into rooms now that I'm just. I just can't wait to, to watch and see this thing, you know, continue to go to the moon. So. Congratulations, Nate.

[Nate Palmer]

Thanks. It's been a lot of fun. The last thing I will say is that, like, when I first started doing these things, like, it had the tendency to be maybe a little disheartening because my numbers dropped before they went back up. So I went from 12,000 down to like 9, 8, 10 again. And then after the three months of people filtering out who are not my ideal listeners, I started gaining a lot more people. So be bold. Don't be afraid to like, be like, this podcast is not for everyone. And then really talk to the people that it is for. And even though you might see like a momentary decrease, I guarantee it's gonna lead to bigger and better things. Cause you have an engaged audience of attentive listeners who all like what you're selling.

[Kevin Schmidlin]

Awesome. Nate this rocksman. Thank you so much. People wanna get in touch.

[Nate Palmer]

What can they do, you can find me on Instagram Million Dollar Body. It's the best place to do it. Or if you wanna check out the podcast, look up Low Carb Hustle in any of your podcast player apps.

[Kev Michael]

Sa.