WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:02.440 What does it take to podcast full-time? 00:00:09.040 --> 00:00:11.640 Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. 00:00:11.940 --> 00:00:12.740 I'm Daniel J. Lewis. 00:00:13.100 --> 00:00:19.560 I estimate that about 95% of podcasters have at least once dreamed of making their full-time 00:00:19.720 --> 00:00:20.860 income from their podcasts. 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:22.260 Come on, be honest. 00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:23.840 You probably have too. 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:28.660 But the hard truth is that most podcasters don't actually have what it would take. 00:00:29.020 --> 00:00:34.400 Yes, it takes high-quality content, high-quality presentation, high-quality production, and 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:38.480 high-quality promotion in order to get the profit you want. 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:43.560 That's popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles. 00:00:44.120 --> 00:00:50.580 But it is actually possible to have all of those high-quality things and not the profit 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:53.600 and not make that living from your podcast that you want. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:57.700 That's because it comes down to one of these three things that I'll share in this episode. 00:00:58.260 --> 00:01:02.300 This isn't about building your own business supported by the podcast, which, by the way, 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:08.620 is how I make my living. The Audacity to Podcast supports my business of products like Podgagement 00:01:09.080 --> 00:01:13.820 and a new product coming out very soon. Follow me on social media if you're interested. I'm 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.540 pretty much everywhere as the Daniel J. Lewis. This isn't about that, though, for your podcast, 00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:24.280 but instead it's about earning your paycheck solely from and because of your podcast. 00:01:24.740 --> 00:01:37.100 If you'd like to follow along with the notes for this episode, and there will be some helpful links in those notes, they are a simple tap or swipe away inside your podcast app or at theaudacitytopodcast.com/fulltime. 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:40.780 Let's start it off with option number one, a big audience. 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:43.420 Yep, there's no way around it. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:49.700 The easiest, and we can put that in massive quotation marks, the easiest way to podcast 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:55.700 full-time is if you have a big enough audience that almost any monetization method will work. 00:01:56.160 --> 00:01:59.300 Sponsors, affiliates, audience support, and more. 00:01:59.660 --> 00:02:03.580 It is the ultimate equation in podcasting monetization. 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:11.700 big audiences usually lead to bigger income. But don't let that scare you off. The next two options 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:19.320 don't require a big podcast audience. So moving on to option number two, a generous audience. 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:25.220 It is possible to podcast full-time without a big audience, but it means you must have an audience 00:02:25.660 --> 00:02:31.840 that's willing to give you more money for exchange for whatever it is that you're giving them back. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.300 Just consider this basic math to get $10,000. 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:43.560 You could have 10,000 people pay you $1, or have 1,000 people pay you $10, or have only 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:46.260 100 people pay you $100. 00:02:46.940 --> 00:02:53.940 In a sense, you just have to shift a zero from your audience size to the price for whatever 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:56.340 that is that you're, quote, selling, unquote. 00:02:56.820 --> 00:03:01.220 Yes, getting your audience to be generous is another topic altogether. 00:03:01.880 --> 00:03:03.220 And I will address that in the future. 00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:04.780 And I've addressed it in the past as well. 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:08.320 But this math works whether you're accepting audience support, 00:03:08.660 --> 00:03:11.300 offering premium subscriptions, or selling other things. 00:03:11.940 --> 00:03:15.820 Just consider this one idea here that you could implement fairly quickly 00:03:15.930 --> 00:03:18.460 after you finish listening to this rather short episode. 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:23.240 Make a t-shirt that's available only for your highest supporters. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.560 And sell that shirt for a high price. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.760 Maybe even $100 or more. 00:03:29.200 --> 00:03:31.540 I recommend places like Sticker Mule Store, 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.600 Dashery by TeePublic, and Redbubble for this. 00:03:35.180 --> 00:03:36.180 And they take care of the shipping, 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:37.740 the sales, and everything like that. 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:39.420 You just upload your design, 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:40.660 pick certain things, 00:03:40.940 --> 00:03:41.700 you set your price, 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:44.500 and you can set a high price if you want to 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:47.080 so that you get a much larger profit margin. 00:03:47.660 --> 00:03:48.880 Then, promote that. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.380 Your generous people who listen to the podcast 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:53.400 and truly love the podcast 00:03:53.820 --> 00:03:55.500 might also love the opportunity 00:03:56.020 --> 00:03:57.079 to support your show 00:03:57.100 --> 00:04:00.800 and get some kind of really exclusive bonus, 00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:03.200 like a $100 t-shirt. 00:04:03.660 --> 00:04:05.680 Well, that seems pretty special. 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:07.060 Yeah, you might think, 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:09.040 I'm not going to pay $100 for a t-shirt. 00:04:09.140 --> 00:04:11.320 Yeah, you might not, but your audience might. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:14.940 I still have and enjoy multiple pieces of art 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:16.120 and other things I've gotten 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:18.859 for making donations to organizations, 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:20.040 not massive donations, 00:04:20.359 --> 00:04:22.360 like tens of thousands of dollars or more than that, 00:04:22.400 --> 00:04:23.620 but hundreds of dollars 00:04:24.140 --> 00:04:26.459 and certain things that I still cherish 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.980 and appreciate. And every time I see them, I remember that's because I supported that organization 00:04:31.520 --> 00:04:37.740 and I am happy to have that. I have some original pieces of art too because of this and some really 00:04:37.940 --> 00:04:44.600 cool things that I love because I got to support an organization that I wanted to support and I got 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:50.120 something really cool with it that's really exclusive as well. Buy my NFT. No, I'm just kidding. 00:04:50.500 --> 00:04:55.420 Although this does mean that you are making a product for sale, the product is simple. 00:04:55.740 --> 00:04:57.980 It's purely about your podcast. 00:04:58.640 --> 00:05:02.640 It could even be just your podcast logo, not necessarily your cover art like the square, 00:05:02.700 --> 00:05:06.100 but the logo aspect of it or something else related to your podcast. 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:08.280 And it's for your podcast audience. 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:13.980 And it even has the potential to promote your podcast to others. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:18.160 You could apply the same math to recurring support models as well. 00:05:18.580 --> 00:05:22.860 So instead of starting with a $5 a month subscription, you could set your base level 00:05:23.300 --> 00:05:30.160 much higher. Go ahead and set it at $100 as the minimum base level and see who's willing to pay it. 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:35.220 Of course, a bigger audience does mean more potentially supportive people, 00:05:35.820 --> 00:05:40.280 so that numbers game does still come into effect. But it is possible to make this work 00:05:40.780 --> 00:05:47.080 with a smaller audience if you deliver enough value to them. And speaking of value, 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:52.420 You could consider the risky route of going full value for value, 00:05:52.730 --> 00:05:56.220 where you let your audience decide what your podcast is worth to them, 00:05:56.640 --> 00:06:00.440 and they can give back whatever amount that is that they want, 00:06:00.610 --> 00:06:03.520 and that they're able to give back, and that they feel the podcast is worth. 00:06:03.900 --> 00:06:06.840 Just like Brian Inspinner did from Top Tier Audio 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:12.120 when he streamed 411 Satoshis on my previous episode of The Audacity to Podcast. 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:17.360 As of August 11th, 2025, that's worth about 45 cents. 00:06:17.880 --> 00:06:26.000 which doesn't sound like much, but that's 18 times more than a single listener would be worth, 00:06:26.180 --> 00:06:32.380 if we want to put that weird label on it, with a $25 CPM. That's cost per thousand downloads. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:38.160 That's pretty good. Now, of course, that's not everyone giving me 45 cents. If everyone wanted 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:44.119 to give me 45 cents, that would be amazing. But this is one person. And that support from Brian 00:06:44.500 --> 00:06:47.040 was automatic through his Podcasting 2.0 app. 00:06:47.290 --> 00:06:48.520 You could do that yourself too, 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:51.780 or go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/giveback 00:06:51.830 --> 00:06:53.600 if you want to give back to the podcast 00:06:54.100 --> 00:06:55.620 what you feel the podcast is worth to you. 00:06:55.860 --> 00:06:57.880 Especially maybe if this episode helps you make 00:06:58.520 --> 00:07:00.160 millions of dollars from your podcast, 00:07:01.020 --> 00:07:03.700 maybe, you know, give a little bit of that back. 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:05.860 But moving on to option three, 00:07:06.490 --> 00:07:08.520 a company that will pay you. 00:07:08.940 --> 00:07:12.799 Lastly, podcasting could be your full-time job 00:07:12.820 --> 00:07:15.680 if you are actually hired for exactly that. 00:07:16.200 --> 00:07:20.480 My friend who goes by The Real Brian from ProfitCast does exactly this. 00:07:20.820 --> 00:07:24.000 He gets hired by multiple companies to host their podcasts for them. 00:07:24.340 --> 00:07:27.180 Brian works as a contractor for these companies, 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:30.620 but some companies might have so much content and production 00:07:31.140 --> 00:07:32.780 that they need on the podcast 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:36.460 that it could easily be a full-time job 00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:39.520 just to run the podcast in all the aspects of the podcast, 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.660 as you might feel like your podcast is sometimes. 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:45.740 Especially if you are that indie podcaster 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:48.800 and you feel like you're doing that full-time job yourself right now 00:07:49.280 --> 00:07:51.320 where you can do everything in the podcast workflow, 00:07:51.390 --> 00:07:54.880 the preparation, the presentation, the production, the publishing, and the promotion. 00:07:55.280 --> 00:07:59.680 You could be an indispensable employee or contractor 00:08:00.200 --> 00:08:04.000 for some company to hire to do their podcast for them. 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:06.400 So these are the three options. 00:08:06.780 --> 00:08:14.620 you could have a big audience, a generous audience, or a company that will pay you to do their podcast 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:21.520 for them. The big thing to take away from this is to grow toward the profit you want. If you want to 00:08:21.620 --> 00:08:27.180 earn your entire income from just the podcasting process, then figure out which of these three 00:08:27.180 --> 00:08:33.760 different options appeal most and start working toward that goal for the profit, the popularity, 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:39.800 relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles that you want. And the absolute best 00:08:40.099 --> 00:08:46.700 place to start is making a better podcast and engaging your audience more. That's one of the 00:08:46.780 --> 00:08:52.280 reasons why I made Podgagement over at podgagement.com is to help you engage your audience. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:57.580 That's why I renamed it Podgagement. It's no longer my podcast reviews because it now does 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:04.040 a whole lot more than just tracking your podcast reviews, but it really helps you to engage your 00:09:04.040 --> 00:09:09.580 more, and as you engage your audience more, you can make a better podcast. And as you're doing 00:09:09.740 --> 00:09:15.820 both of these things, then you can get a bigger podcast as a result from that. If you love the 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:20.700 Audacity to Podcast and value the podcasting inspiration and education I provide, would you 00:09:20.900 --> 00:09:25.660 please consider giving back what you feel it's worth to you? You could stream some Podcasting 00:09:25.660 --> 00:09:32.519 2.0 payments through your modern Podcasting 2.0 app or send a donation or support of any amount 00:09:32.540 --> 00:09:37.800 by giving back at theaudacitytopodcast.com/giveback. 00:09:38.410 --> 00:09:41.640 Now that I've given you some of the guts and taught you some of the tools, 00:09:42.140 --> 00:09:47.380 it's time for you to go start and grow your own podcast for passion and profit. 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:51.200 I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com. 00:09:51.770 --> 00:09:52.440 Thanks for listening.