The Myth of Overnight Success: What Podcasting Really Takes

Summary

School of Podcasting: Expert Tips for Launching and Growing Your Podcast

Episode: The Myth of Overnight Success: What Podcasting Really Takes
Host: Dave Jackson
Date: January 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Dave Jackson tackles the pervasive myth of "overnight success," reminding aspiring and veteran podcasters alike that real achievement in podcasting—and creative work of any kind—requires dedication, patience, and incremental progress. Using examples from celebrities’ careers, successful podcasters, and his own experiences, Dave reframes success as a gradual process, emphasizing the importance of loving your craft, staying consistent, listening to your audience, and celebrating small wins along the journey.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Microwave Mentality vs. the Reality of Podcasting (00:00–03:20)

• Introduction with Microwave Analogy: Dave uses the invention and slow adoption of the microwave to illustrate society’s craving for immediate results.
• Comparing Podcasting to Microwaves: Many hopeful podcasters expect instant success, but true podcasting takes much longer to deliver results.

“We’re used to getting things right now, exactly the way we want it. Unfortunately…that’s not the way it works in podcasting.”
— Dave Jackson (00:55)

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Famous Case Studies: Success Takes Time (03:21–09:00)

Dave details how iconic actors, musicians, and podcasters rose to fame—not quickly, but over years or decades:

• Morgan Freeman: Over 20 years to major TV/film break
• Samuel L. Jackson: 15–20 years (breakthrough in his 40s)
• Harrison Ford: 10–12 years before Star Wars
• Bryan Cranston, Lucille Ball, James Gandolfini, Bonnie Raitt: Each spent 10–20 years before hitting stardom
• Joe Rogan & Marc Maron: 15–20 years building entertainment careers before podcast stardom
• Sarah Koenig (Serial): 15–20 years as a journalist before podcast success
• YouTubers like MrBeast: 5–10 years to viral growth
• Colonel Sanders (KFC): Started franchising at age 62 after 11 years of recipe refinement

“It’s always a minimum of three [years, to succeed], more likely ten. It’s crazy how long it takes sometimes if you really want to be a household name.”
— Dave Jackson (07:37)

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Loving the Craft: Adam Sandler’s Lessons in Resilience (09:00–11:00)

• Adam Sandler’s First Stand-up Experience: Bombed, “five minutes of silence,” followed by heckling.
• Takeaway: Despite failure, he loved the experience and persisted; constructive feedback and even further setbacks didn’t deter him.

“I remember I was devastatingly bad and nobody laughed… At the very end I heard a man say, ‘He’s wearing a retainer.’”
— Adam Sandler (09:06)

“When I drove home that night… I was like, oh, that was awesome.”
— Adam Sandler (09:23)

• Key Insight: You need a genuine passion for the work to weather long journeys and repeated failures.

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Building Momentum: The Story of Seinfeld (12:44–16:00)

• Seinfeld’s Slow Build: Four years to “catch on.” Season four was the tipping point with provocative, remarkable content (“The Contest” episode).
• Ratings growth: Season one and two = no ratings; season three = 12; season four (the breakthrough) = 13; then slow climbs each year after.
• Factors in Growth:
  • Consistency (same characters, tone)
  • Willingness to experiment and try “crazy ideas”
  • Luck/opportunity (time slot change after Cheers, network support)
  • Cross-promotion and audience word-of-mouth

“You don’t suddenly catch on after you’ve been on TV for four years. But sure enough, he was right.”
— Jerry Seinfeld (13:18)

“There was a part of their show that was consistent… it was always this consistency of these four characters and then the weird things that other people would bring in.”
— Dave Jackson (16:40)

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Consistency & Audience Experience (16:00–18:45)

• Consistency is Crucial: Both in content quality and release schedule.
• NFL Example: Dave’s humorous “power rant” about the NFL’s inconsistent scheduling and how it hurts the fan experience.
  • Key insight: Make your content easy to access and keep the experience reliable for your audience.

“Make it easy to consume your stuff and stay consistent.”
— Dave Jackson (18:35)

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Serve Your Audience, Not the Algorithm (21:56–24:00)

• Serving the Core Audience: Like Seinfeld, focus on your true fans—not pleasing everyone or chasing trendy topics.
• Metrics perspective: Celebrate growth, not just large download numbers.
• Longevity: Dave credits his own long-term success to persistence and attentive service to his listeners every week.

“Find something you love talking about and would talk about for free, because it’s going to be a bit.”
— Dave Jackson (24:03)

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Nothing Stops You From Growing Your Audience (24:00–27:00)

• Elimination of Gatekeepers: You don’t need “permission” to reach an audience anymore.
• Word of Mouth is Powerful: But requires remarkable content.
• Everyday Growth Tactics: Personalized engagement, newsletters, creative outreach (even putting your show’s QR code in physical books!).

“There’s nothing stopping you from growing your audience…There is nothing like, ‘Well, if only my audience could get to my content.’ There’s nothing stopping them.”
— Dave Jackson (26:10)

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Newsletters & Audience Experience (27:00–29:45)

• Newsletters vs. Social Media: Newsletters can be more effective for driving engagement than social media.
• Personal Touch: Unique audience interactions (like personalized welcome videos) can set your show apart.

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Payoff: Because of My Podcast Stories (30:28–37:00)

Lou Mongello’s “Because of My Podcast” Story (30:40):

• Gained access to Disney insiders, Marvel Studios, and met his heroes—all thanks to his Disney podcast audience.
• Expresses overwhelming gratitude and the ripple effects of building an audience from scratch.

“I sat in Disneyland at the Jolly Holiday Bakery with a coffee in my hand, a joyful tear in my eye and my heart experiencing such a wide, wild range of emotions…I share this here, not because this is about me…but to sincerely express my incredible gratitude to you and for you.”
— Lou Mongello (31:11)

Listener Stories Collected from Reddit:

• Guests have found jobs, connected family members, realized lifelong dreams, and gained new skills.

Dave’s Own Journey:

• Podcasting led to jobs at New Media Expo, Chancellor University, Libsyn, Podpage, a book deal, speaking gigs, meaningful friendships, and even saving a listener’s life.

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Final Lessons & Key Takeaways (38:40–END)

• It’s Never Too Late: Colonel Sanders, KFC founder, started his true business success at age 62.
• Your First Idea Isn’t Always the Best: Iteration, community input, and continual improvement are vital.
• Broader Success: Podcasting opens surprising doors—global reach, personal fulfillment, unexpected opportunities.
• Persistence Over Perfection: The "microwave mentality" won’t deliver; true, lasting results reward long-term effort and passion.

“There is opportunity here if you’re willing to do something that you love for a while with no pay, probably.”
— Dave Jackson (41:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Overnight Success:

  “We all want the 10,000 download switch that we could just come in, flip the switch, and there’s your 10,000 down. Well, that doesn’t exist.”
  — Dave Jackson (26:35)

• On Consistency:

  “They are not consistent in their schedule and it’s really upsetting people… Make it easy to consume your stuff and stay consistent.”
  — Dave Jackson, on the NFL (18:10)

• On Audience Connection:

  “When you shower your audience with appreciation…that can be the remarkable part of your podcast.”
  — Dave Jackson (27:45)

• On Gatekeepers:

  “There is nothing between you and your audience. Nothing. There’s nothing stopping you.”
  — Dave Jackson (25:21)

• On Loving the Process:

  “Find something you love talking about and would talk about for free, because it’s going to be a bit.”
  — Dave Jackson (24:03)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Introduction, Microwave Analogy & Podcasting Reality| | 03:21 | Famous Long-Journey Success Stories | | 09:00 | Adam Sandler: Failing Forward & Loving the Craft | | 12:44 | Seinfeld: Slow Build, Season Four Breakthrough | | 16:00 | Importance of Consistency, NFL Scheduling Rant | | 21:56 | Knowing & Serving Your Core Audience | | 24:00 | The No-Gatekeeper Era & Word of Mouth | | 27:00 | Maximizing the Personal Touch | | 30:28 | Because of My Podcast: Lou Mongello & Listener Stories | | 38:40 | Colonel Sanders, Tweaking Over Time, Never ‘Too Old’| | 41:45 | Final Takeaways and Motivational Wrap-Up |

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Summary Tone & Language

Dave Jackson’s delivery is warm, candid, and laced with humor, personal anecdotes, and passionate encouragement. He directly addresses listener concerns—fear, impatience, and self-doubt—while providing actionable wisdom from across entertainment and podcasting. The episode encourages listeners to cherish the process, persist through setbacks, serve their audience, and measure success on their own terms.

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Key Takeaways for Aspiring Podcasters

• Success is never instant; expect years—sometimes decades—of consistent effort.
• Find joy in the process, not just the outcome.
• Serve your loyal audience instead of chasing trends.
• Be grateful for every milestone and connection you make.
• Use every tool at your disposal for organic growth, especially personal engagement and newsletters.
• Remember: Nothing stands between your voice and your future listeners—except time, grit, and love for the craft.

Transcript

[A]

Percy Spencer invented something in 1945 that really wouldn't even start to get used until two years later. Because at the time it was about six feet tall, it was extremely expensive and used mainly in restaurants, ships, and industrial kitchens. But if you fast forward 40 years, you can go to Walmart and get a small one for about 58 bucks. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the microwave. Now, I know what you're thinking, Dave. What does that have to do with podcasting? Today we're going to talk about time and patience in podcasting because the microwave has spoiled us all. We're used to getting things right now exactly the way we want it. And unfortunately, the that's not the way it works in podcasting. Hit it, ladies. The school of podcasting with Dave Jackson, podcasting Sense 2005. I'm your award winning hall of fame podcast coach, Dave Jackson. Thanking you so much for tuning in. If you're new to the show, this is where we help you plan, launch and grow your podcast. If you want to monetize, we can help with that as well. And today we're kind of building on last week's episode. Last week's episode was for the absolute beginner on all the things you need to do to get your podcast up and running. And today we're talking about how to keep it going. And the one thing that comes up over and over is people start a podcast, they find out it takes more time, it takes more effort than they thought, and they quit often before episode 10. There are stats, they say it's as early as 7. And I heard today if you're a YouTuber, you rarely make it past 22 uploads. And so I want to share. I did a ton of research on this and things just kept falling in my lap about different people and how long it took them to be, for lack of a better phrase, famous or at least known because it's a ton of people. I'll give you some examples here of people that you know, for instance, like Morgan Freeman, right? He started in the 1960s in TV, but he really didn't get his big break until 1987. That. So that's 20 to 25 years. Samuel L. Jackson. What's in your wallet? Right? Same guy. He was in his mid-40s and after starting, you know, a couple different things in the 70s, 15 to 20 years later, he got his big break in Pulp Fiction. Harrison Ford, Han Solo spent years doing bit parts and working as a carpenter, but Star wars in 1977 made him famous at 35 after being in screen roles since the 60s, so around 10 to 12 years. Bryan Cranston, you might know him from Breaking Bad. He did commercials, he did soap operas, all this stuff in the 80s. But it wasn't until Malcolm in the Middle at the age of 43, so roughly 15 to 20 years, did he become kind of a household name. Even I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball did B movies and stage work from the 1930s, but it was the I Love Lucy show in 1951 that made her a star at about 40 years. Right. So she was 40 when it happened. Roughly 15 to 20 years after being in the business. And Lucy, like if you haven't seen a documentary on Lucy. Yeah, every woman should watch that documentary on how she just came in and said, no, no, I'm the star. She wasn't being a diva. She was just like, I'm just taking this crap that the men are, you know, I'm not taking the food scraps from the men. It was awesome. James Galfini, the guy from the Sopranos, he again, basically got fame around the age of 38 after a decade of professional work. You know, he got his big break obviously in the Sopranos. So there's a ton. Bonnie Raitt, which you may or may not know. I knew her because I grew up in the 80s. Ish. But she released albums and she toured constantly during the 70s. But it wasn't until this one album called Nick of time. She was 40 years old, roughly 15 to 20 years. And now she's in the rock hall. If you go opera. Andrea Bocelli. He sang and performed for years before wider success. It wasn't until his third album, in his early 40s, which was roughly 10 to 15 years. And that guy is considered one of the greatest singers ever. Now this is always fun. Two chains which I, you know, couldn't point to him. If he could come up and punch me in the face and I wouldn't know it, but he rapped for years originally. And this is always sad when a middle aged white guy says this as part of the players circle. Yep. Before his solo debut on a T.R U. Story hit number one. He was 35. And again over a decade after he began recording. Couple more. Martha Stewart was a stockbroker and ran a catering business before publishing her first cookbook at age 41, which of course launched her to all sorts of fame and fortune. Again, roughly 10 to 15 years. And I was like, okay, those are like movie stars and TV people. Joe Rogan, you may have Heard of him now. He was a comedian, he was a TV host, all those fun things. He launched his podcast in 2009. He got that huge check from Spotify in 2020. So that's roughly 11 years, but it was 10 years. He had been doing entertainment for 10 years before he even started his podcast. Marc Maron, another famous podcast. Basically, he was working comic and a radio host in the late 80s. He launched his podcast in 2009 and roughly it took about three years and really 20 from when he started to become a known name. Sarah Koenig, who we know from the really popular show Serial, she was in native journalism. She had a long career as a print and radio reporter from the 1990s. Serial debuted in 2014 and exploded almost immediately. So again, 15 to 20 years. I mean, we could go on. What about YouTubers? Jordan Matter, who's a photography slash Family challenges. He did decades of photography, you know, since the 1990s. His YouTube channel started in 2010. Took roughly three to five years to pass. 10 million subscribers. After 20 years in his primary craft. So it's always a minimum of three, more likely 10. It's crazy how long it takes sometimes if you really want to be a household name. If we look at Mr. Beast and Mr. Beef, his real name is Jimmy Donaldson, and He started on YouTube in 2012. He was a teenager, but his first viral hit came around 2017 or 2018, so roughly 5ish years before he saw serious channel growth. Now, if you fast forward 10 years, he reached 100 million subscribers. And in November 2022, he officially became the most subscribed individual YouTuber, surpassing PewDiePie, which then it was around 111 million subscribers. Again, years, not months. And in some cases, in many cases, decades. And so what you need to have to do, this is a love of the craft. I was watching. My next guest needs no introduction. This is a interview show on Netflix. And he was interviewing Adam Sandler. Now, Adam Sandler, who started off at the age of 17. And here he talks about his first time on stage.

[B]

But I do remember I was devastatingly bad and nobody laughed. And I was five minutes of just silence. And at the very end, I heard a man say, he's wearing a retainer.

[A]

And five minutes of silence must have been humiliating. But he explains this about the ride home.

[B]

But when I drove home that night with my brother, I was like, oh, that was. That was awesome. And he was like, you like that? I said, that was incredible. He goes, you have to write jokes. I said, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

For sure.

[A]

But it wasn't a case where, okay, from that point forward, he was awesome because he tells this story that was equally like double humiliation because it was front of his father.

[B]

I remember my dad. Oh, my God. I did this one show in Boston, and my dad and brother came to see it, and I ate it so hard in front of my dad, and I hated that. And the emcee came on after, and I walked off into the humiliation of eating it. And I was halfway out. And he says, adam. And Adam. I'm like, adam, is that me? I turn around, the MC goes, and I was 17. He says, were you the class clown in school? And I go, yeah. And he goes, stick with that. And the place goes. And I was like, oh, man, that hurt in front of Pop.

[C]

There's no more period of vulnerability than those few moments.

[A]

Either you've killed or you've not killed, but you are just raw. And Adam had his own style. If you listen to his actual comedy albums, you'll either love him or you'll hate him. And that's kind of a good thing. In fact, when he was on the Letterman show, Letterman would often refer to women like this. You can never be certain as to.

[C]

What makes a person tick. But with our first guest, I think it might be discount medication. Quite frankly, it may not be hooked up right.

[A]

Albeit a rather odd man. The talented, the odd Adam Sandler. Adam. So one of the things that Adam did that made sense is he lived in New York City. And if you want to get a job in entertainment, you either need to be in New York City or in California today, maybe Atlanta, but he was in New York City. He ended up getting a spot on the Cosby show, which at the time was the show, like, the number one show. And that led to him getting a show on MTV called Remote Control. So it was just one thing that led to another thing. And if we fast forward, because I know people that like, ugh, I hate that guy. I'm not a fan of all his movies. I love the Waterboy. I love Happy Gilmore. And if you look at all of his movies, it's insane the amount of money that he has earned. Go ahead. How much do you think all of his movies put together? What do you think he's earned? You ready as a lead actor? He is. His movies have grossed 3.03 billion worldwide with a B. If you count films where he was part of the lead ensemble, 5.55 billion. For a guy who went to acting school, liked it on stage. Being a comedian and Basically was odd and waited for his audience to find him. Which leads us to Jerry Seinfeld, who I've talked about in the past. But I found some firsthand knowledge on Jerry. And here's an interview where he talks about how he was kind of like, when is this thing going to catch on?

[C]

My friend Larry Miller used to come by the set all the time. And I said to him, you know, for the life of me, I can't figure out why this show isn't really popular. He says, oh, don't worry, it will be, you know, And I said, come on, We've been here four years. You know, we've made whatever, 30 shows or whatever it was. And, you know, I mean, it had become like a working, a going concern. And he kept saying to me, it's going to catch on. I'm thinking, catch on. You know, you don't suddenly catch on, you know, after you've been out on TV for four years.

[A]

And.

[C]

But sure enough, he was right.

[A]

And so I've talked about in the past where it took Jerry almost 10 years just to get the show. And he talks about how. And I, in researching this, it was really season four that kind of took off. Not season one or two or three, season four. And Jerry explains why we were just.

[C]

As any TV show is constantly struggling to come up with new ideas. And when you're struggling, bad ideas start to sound like good ideas and crazy ideas start to sound like sane ideas. And that's what happened in season four, is a lot of crazy ideas started to make sense.

[A]

And the one that really got people talking, this is back when people would go to work all together. We'd all show up at 8 o' clock around the coffee maker or whatever. And he did an episode. Now, if you have kids in the car, I'm going to keep this kid safe. But realize there's some untundre going on here. And they did a show about loving yourself, because we should all love ourselves. And this was about loving ourselves a lot. And how long you could go without loving yourself. To the point that that is a great example of remarkable content. It was something that when you went to work, you're gonna go, did you see the show last night? I can't believe they did that on tv. In fact, they go on to say they ran this by the censors. They did it very like, right across the table. You know, I'm the master of my domain. All sorts of different ways of saying it without saying the one word that rhymes with pastoration kind of, you know, because we're talking milk here. And so that was the. And I just, to me, I'm like, oh, this just shows how the United States is so hung up on sex that that is the episode that got people to talk about the show. And that's where it started to take off. But it wasn't quick, and that wasn't the only thing. But check out their growth. All right, season one, the show was received so poorly, it wasn't rated at all. As in, it didn't make the charts. Season two, same season three, they scored a 12. Yeah. Season four, this is the one where they started to get noticed. They were up to 13. Now with all that hype of everybody going, did you see what they did on the show with the dang and the bo did get right? Well, that got them up to a 13.7. And then now you'll see because it's going like one. Basically you number up now. Season five, 19.6. So that's a six point jump. So that means roughly 20% of America is watching you. Then season five, another big jump. Nope. 20.6. And then the next year, season seven, 21.5. Season eight, ooh, they actually dropped a little. Welcome to reality 20.5. And season nine, their last season, 22.0. So it wasn't like, oh, if I just get this one thing, I'll get this giant jump. They went from a 12 to a 13 to a 19. That was their biggest jump from season four to season five. And season four was the one that got everyone talking. But that's not the only thing that helped Seinfeld. And this is where cross promotion is important. This is why you want to embrace your fellow podcasters. And you got to remember that in some cases, you just get lucky. So what NBC did is they moved the show from Wednesday to Thursday night. And at the time, they were upset. They liked Wednesday. They didn't want to be, you know, the little brother of Cheers. Now, Cheers was one of the number one shows at the time. And here's where the luck comes in. They moved them to Thursday. And again, Seinfeld's rating started to go up coming on after Cheers, and in fact, in some cases, doing better than Cheers. And that's when the network went, hey, I think we have a good show here. And then the luck happened. Ted Danson, the star of Cheer, said, this is it. I'm done doing Cheers. I need to go be Ted for a while. Not Sam. Was his character on there. And so NBC had to find something to fill its spot. They had given Seinfeld the opportunity. And Seinfeld had taken advantage of that opportunity and actually grown there. And NBC said, great, starting next year, we're going to put them in the number one time slot on Thursday. And at the time they actually called it Must See Thursday. You had all sorts of stuff going on there. And so there was a little luck in getting popular. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another thing we can learn from Seinfeld, and this is different from the other times I've talked about Seinfeld is they were consistent. George would was always George. Jerry was Jerry. Elaine was Elaine. Kramer was Kramer. And then they brought in things that were odd but relatable. And for that, I give you the close talker, right? People that just. They invade your space to talk. Or then they brought in weird things like the bubble boy and the pirate shirt. And also. So it was always this consistency of these four characters and then the weird things that other people would bring in to see how they would react. So you have Festivus for the rest of us and all that other thing. But there was a part of their show that was consistent. And one of those, of course, back then was the fact that they were on at the same time. I'm here to tell you right now. Is it time? I think it is time. Hold on. We need one of these. And now it's time for a power rant. I am so mad at the NFL. The NFL in America is our football league. And I know it's not really football, that soccer, et cetera, et cetera, but we're in the playoffs right now. And it's part of my routine as I record this. Right now I'm watching the Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars because football is on Sunday. But for whatever reason, they've decided, and they did this a couple of years ago, that in the playoffs, you know, the most important games, those now start on Saturday. So I had a couple of friends like, hey, did you know there's football on yesterday? And I'm like, yeah. And then the other thing that they're really making it hard to consume their product. It used to be it was on one of the free channels and now it's on Paramount. It's on Amazon prime, and in some cases you gotta pay to see those. And they're making it harder to consume their content. It's not fair. Because if you go to a game, have fun with that. Hope you broke your piggy bank and robbed one and, you know, got a second mortgage. It's ridiculous. But they are not consistent in their schedule and it's really upsetting people and we'll see how it goes. But I think the. The NFL is a great example of a company that is losing touch with their audience because I know they're building a new stadium in the city of Buffalo, which is a huge town for football. And the stadium is going to be so expensive to go to. It is a blue collar, working class kind of city. And they've already said they've interviewed people and the NFL could care less that people aren't going to be able to afford the game. And what do they care? Because it's billionaires who have teams made up of millionaires. They don't care about the audience. So yeah, make it easy to consume your stuff and stay consistent. Ugh. Finally back to the show. And really it boils down to knowing your audience, knowing what they want and giving it to them, which it sounds like what Seinfeld was doing.

[C]

We kind of assumed that we had an audience that liked what we did and we weren't thinking about maybe we should do things and make sure everybody gets it. There was a little core group out there that we were playing to.

[A]

And I love this because so many people are looking at other people to see what's working for them. Even though they know that may not work for you, but they're looking at that when maybe the better thing to do is to look at your audience and find out what they want. I was looking just right now at my stats and I remember back in probably 20. 2018, maybe 2020ish. Yeah, probably pandemic. I was getting close to 3000 downloads an episode. And then whenever the Apple thing happened and they made some tweaks and everybody lost their downloads, I am lucky now if I get a thousand downloads, maybe 1500. So my numbers got cut in half. And that's when you have to realize that you have to be thankful for what you have and quit. Quit pining for what you don't. That will drive you crazy. And then I looked at my numbers from last January and kind of did some estimations and I'm estimated to grow about 28% this year over last year. That I will take that growth all day long. And one of the things that I believe has led to my continued growth, I hate to say success, cause that sounds like cocky, but for me, I don't quit. I'm still here every Monday, listening to what you want, trying to give you what you need and to help you keep podcasting. So this episode is all about, hey, it's not going to be three weeks, it's not going to be three months. It may not even be three years. So find something you love talking about and would talk about for free, because it's going to be a bit. And when I was listening to an episode about YouTube, somebody said that Lewis Howes from the School of Greatness, who I really wish had picked a different name, because when you type in School of, instead of finding podcasting, you find greatness in many cases. But the first two years, he didn't even think about monetizing. He knew that you don't monetize a podcast, you monetize at audience. So for the first two years, he just focused on growing his audience. And that is something that I was talking on Ask the Podcast Coach. And it dawned on me that there is nothing stopping you from growing your audience. And you're like, wait, what? And I'm like, yep. Think about it this way. In the past, if you wanted your product on somebody's shelf so that your customer could come and buy it, there was someone that you had to go through. Doesn't matter who it was. Look at it. I'm just thinking as a musician, I remember trying to get a CD into the local independent record shop, and there was a lot of hoops you had to jump through. And if you did sell your CD there, you weren't going to make hardly any money on it. And it was tough. And so if you wanted a book, you couldn't just walk down to the local bookstore and go, here, I just did this. And now there is nothing between you and your audience. Nothing. There's nothing stopping you. And people go, well, there's a lack of an algorithm. Okay, I still disagree with that. I still think there's this thing called word of mouth. The problem is there is horrible. Like, holy cow, was that bad? Now that will spur word of mouth. And then there's not bad, and then there's good, and then there's really good, and then there's great, and then there's remarkable. And so for me, that episode about loving thyself was remarkable. Everybody had to make remarks about it when they went to work or wherever. And it's not that your show, this show, whatever show, it's not that it's horrible. It might be good. In fact, it might be very good. But it is hard to be remarkable on a consistent basis. Just realize there is nothing stopping you from. There is nothing like, well, if only my audience could get to my content. There's Nothing stopping them. They just have to tell their friends. You can now you, if you want, if you got a budget, you can spend money in apps to let people know you exist. You can buy lawn signs for about 10 bucks with a big QR code that you could stick at really popular intersections. You can do. You know, I used to do gorilla stuff. I laugh at it now, but I used to do a weight loss show, and I had business cards that had my logo on it, my tagline, and my website URL. Today it might have a QR code, but this was a while back, and I would go into all the books, all the bookstores, and I'd go to the weight loss sections, and I would stick my business card in every single book. Now, I would love to try that again today and put a QR code in there and use something like Switchy, which is my favorite tool of all time, to make a QR code that's trackable to see if anybody does that. But realize there's nothing stopping you from growing your audience. And we all want the 10,000 download switch that we could just come in, flip the switch, and there's your 10,000 down. Well, that doesn't exist. Okay. And it seems like sometimes we go, well, then I'll try social media. Well, okay, Social media is free. It's fairly easy, and it's been proven to not work very well, but it is better than nothing. You know, every day you could meet someone, you could reach out to someone you could. And I heard this, and I thought it was great. Create an experience that you can't do for everyone, but do it for one until you can't. So I do weird things at the school of podcasting. When you sign up, I send you a personal video. And what's interesting is some people don't watch it because they don't believe it's a personal video. They think it's some sort of AI slob. No, it's me saying, hey, thanks for coming, and make that experience for your audience. Maybe that can be. The remarkable part of your podcast is when you shower your audience with appreciation. You let them know how much you value their input. There are all sorts of different ways to grow your audience, and we keep apparently trying the same things, which is social media. And I've said on this show, start a newsletter. Now, that again, not a 10,000 download switch, not even a 5,000 download switch. But I just know it works better than in terms of getting traffic to your website. It works better than social media in just a second. What's on the other side to all this hard work.

[D]

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[A]

And get a free month at the School of podcasting@podcast hot seat.com. Welcome to because of My Podcast where we spotlight the results people are achieving because of their podcast. One of my favorite people is hall of Fame podcaster Lou Mongello, the King of Disney. He does WDW Radio and he had a Facebook post. He said, what I get to do and share is never lost on me. And I think that's one of the greatest things about Lou. Same reason I think most musicians like Dave Grohl. Dave Grohl gets to hang out with Paul McCartney and the whole time we know that Dave Grohl is crapping his pants because he's hanging out with Paul McCartney. Like he never takes it for granted. And Lou says and earlier this week I had one of the most memorable, remarkable, truly pinch me days. Now realize Lou does WDW Radio. It's all about Disney, he says. From being invited onto the Walt Disney Studios lot to interview Leslie, it looks like lurks or works about her upcoming Disney documentary Disneyland Handcrafted to getting a behind the scenes tour of the Walt Disney Animation Studios. I saw part of that on Facebook. It was amazing. To getting to spend time chatting with my friend Kevin Felge in his office at Marvel Studios. To visiting Walt Disney's office and seeing so many people on the lot whose work I admire and appreciate so much. Hello John Favreau, Josh Gadget and Josh Diarmo. To ending the night where all began in the happiest place on Earth. This was the day I'll never, ever forget. And it's all because of you. Meaning his audience. I sat in Disneyland at the Jolly Holiday Bakery with a coffee on my hand, a joyful tear in my eye and my heart experiencing such a wide, wild range of emotions. I share this here, not because this is about me or what I was able to do, but to sincerely express my incredible gratitude to you and for you. Whether you realize it or not, you have had a massive positive impact on me and one that I hope has a ripple effect and that I pay forward to others by what I'm able to share. He says, I'm sorry I rambled. I'm feeling all the feels. But to you, Disney and Walt, thank you, thank you, thank you. Lou Mongello. That is an amazing because of my podcast story. Now, if you have one of those, just go over to probably the easiest thing, go over to schoolofpodcasting.com? and that's really for the question of the month. But you could upload your because of my podcast story there and I'd be happy to take it and share it here on the show. Also out in the show [e-mail] 1018 I'll put a link to my original interview with Lou when he had quit his job as a lawyer to move to Florida to do his podcast. I found a thread on Reddit. I will put a link in the show notes where everybody is naming things that have happened and it's a lot of common ones like I've got to talk to people I have no business talking to. I've helped family members find each other. Also, I've got jobs. I've got one guy got to fly a plane again, which he loved because he never I guess if you're in the Air Force, you always wanted one more flight. And he got one. When it comes to my because of my podcast story, well, I got hired to be the head of podcasting at the New Media Expo. I got a teaching gig at Chancellor University. I built relationships that led to a job at Libsyn as the head of podcasting. The podcast also built relationships that led to my current job as the head of podcasting at PodPage. I got a book deal from Skyhorse Publishing for profit from your podcast. I've gotten multiple speaking gigs and some of those actually paid money. I've had multiple free dinners when I visit a city because somebody will hear I'm coming to nowhere, Indiana, and they'll be like, oh, you're going to be in my backyard. Can I buy you some pizza? I've been credited for saving a life, as someone was going to end their life, but they credit this show for saving them. That one still blows my mind. I have built a great network of friends who I absolutely cherish. And as A marketing arm. It's able me to have a thriving community of podcasters. And I could go on and on, but I'll put a link to this if you want to check it out. Not only changes those that listen, it gives you skills that you can use in other places. It, for me, I love the research. It keeps me kind of sharp. It keeps me in technology. There are all sorts of fun things you can do when you start your podcast. Oh, where am I gonna be? January 7th, at 6pm Eastern, I'll be on the new media show with Rob GreenLee that's on YouTube. January 15th through the 18th, I'll be at the PodFest Multimedia Expo where I'll be speaking. I'll also be working with the podcast hall of fame ceremony. February 17th through the 20th, I will be in Nashville, Tennessee. I'll be speaking at the NRB International Christian Media Convention. For more information, go to schoolofpodcasting.com where. Want more podcasting tips? Join the 1700 people who read my newsletter at podcastingobservations.com that's podcastingobservations.com the School of podcasting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are many things that probably come to your mind when you think of the United States of America. America. But one of them, it's up there. It's got to be in the top 20 is Kentucky Fried Chicken, better known as KFC. So one more story about how long it takes to get something right. The 11 herbs and spices were basically tweaked and tweaked and tweaked for 11 years. And it wasn't until 1952, when good old Colonel Sanders was 62 years old, is when he started franchising his restaurant, which he started in a gas station. That's a weird one. Yeah, a service station. But he was 62 years old. So number one, no matter what your age, you got plenty of time to start something. And it might be great because you're young or because you're not young or because of whatever, but you notice that here again, thanks to our good friend the microwave. I want it now. I want it to be perfect, and I want it to, you know, heat neat. And that is just not the way most things work. In fact, one of the things I love about the school of podcasting is when we get people together, somebody will come up with an idea, and they're like, oh, that is good. Have you ever thought of doing this with it? And somebody else will go, oh, that's interesting. I never thought of it that way. And then somebody else would go, but what if you did this? It's usually not that first idea. That's the best. The other thing I wanted to point out here is we're talking about time and downloads is so many times we get hyper focused on one thing, which is often downloads, and we ignore other things. And I just went into. I use Captivate for the school of podcasting. It's one of my favorite actually it is my favorite media host and I looked at it and I am just a dude in a spare bedroom in Akron, Ohio. And I am heard in 157 countries. That's bananas. And I never would have thought that growing up that someday you will grow up and people in 157 countries will listen to you. So there is opportunity here if you're willing to do something that you love for a while with no pay, probably. And there are always that exception. I saw somebody on Reddit that said I started making money after three months. Awesome. That is not the norm. And it also depends on where that person came from, what their background is, things like that. But realize that you can have a ton of fun with this. And I'm seeing more and more people that are making money that are a little older in life than say the 22 year old entrepreneur. But that's also why I offer a 30 day money back guarantee. Because podcasting, well, it's not for everyone. And one last thing is. This is now the second time that I've said one last thing. But my good friend Kim Newlove pointed out that I kind of hinted there was a question of the month this month. And in looking at it, it's not. Because next week I'm going to ask you a question and I'll give you a place to upload your answer. But it's not for the question of the month. It's for a brand new podcast that I'm starting and I'm going to share how I did what I did, you know, who I did it for, why am I doing it, et cetera, et cetera, in the next episode, which I'll be recording when I get done with this, because I'm going to PodFest and I need one in the can. And so we're going to go way behind the scenes. In fact, that's one thing I should point out about that David Letterman show I was talking about. It's a great interview. But here's the fun thing that I was like, why do I like this? Well, number one, I worship David Letterman. He's silly And I like silly. But the other thing, if you watch that show, it's an interview with the person and David Letterman has insights that I don't into celebrities. But it's also in this case, it was behind the scenes of Adam Sandler's tour. And Dave is brilliant at asking questions that result in stories. So I'll put a link to all this stuff out there. Thank you so much for listening. If you see me at podfest, I'll be walking around in a podpage T shirt. Please stop me and say hello, I would love to meet you. I always scratch my head when people go, oh, I didn't want to bother you. No, please bother me. I would love to meet you. So until next week, take care. God bless. Class is dismissed. If you like the show, please share it with a friend. If you like the show, pretty, pretty please share it with a friend right now. He knew. You don't monetize in odd or you don't. Ah, so close. When you think of America, think of Kentucky Fried Chicken, better known. Oh, boy, that was horrible. Kentucky fried chakin. What is that? Yeah.