How Creators Monetize Content Without Ads (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Hello to anyone who is joining us live. This is a Riverside Community Workshop and today we are going to be covering monetization. For a lot of people that I know in this community, a lot of the conversation goes around monetization and that's actually something that we have not covered in any of our workshops so I'm very excited to be covering that topic today. I am actually joined today by Michelle Thames and she is a Visibility Coach. Michelle, would love for you to introduce yourself and tell the community a bit about you. Yes, thank you

[00:00:38] Speaker 2: all so much for being here. I see people from all over the world. I am really excited. My name is Michelle Thames and I'm so excited to be here. This community rocks, okay, and today we're really going to be talking about something that I think is overdue and that's how to actually make money from your content without having to, you know, rely on ads and sponsorships. I think that when we think of ads, that's the first thing we think of, right, and so I have been in this community for a while. I've been podcasting since 2020, so almost seven years and really going hard, okay. I have over 600 episodes and my podcast is called Social Media Decoded and I really, really just love podcasting. Just sharing my knowledge and expertise with the world. It doesn't feel like work every day. I just, you know, I get to share my knowledge with the world and connect with so many amazing people like you and so that's really why I love podcasting. So today we're gonna talk about how to make money from your content without relying on ads and sponsorships, right, or needing a huge audience like Kendall said. You don't need a huge audience. You can have an audience that is of 20 people, 50 people, a hundred people. Sometimes I think we think large numbers is what matters, but it doesn't, it doesn't matter, right. I think what matters is you building that connection and you make, and you making connections and community, okay. And so I'm excited, Kendall. I'm so excited. Me too, and actually like

[00:02:11] Speaker 1: something that I found to be really interesting is I had a conversation a little while ago with the Swiftologist and so basically it covers pop culture and one thing that I was asking him was I was like how are you, how are you able to go full-time as a content creator and he was saying that what I thought that it was going to be sponsorships off of his YouTube channel because he has so many people on YouTube that's following him, subscribing him, but actually he was saying oh I actually make a lot, most of my money from things like Patreon and building my community and having those paid subscriptions and it really opened me up to this idea that the way that we think about monetization is oftentimes not actually how people are are able to find success. So without further ado that's kind of the the wind-up, but I want to, you have a lot to get to, so I

[00:02:59] Speaker 2: want to pass you the mic. Thank you, Kendall. Yes, I am excited because I do have a lot to share you all and I hope you are ready, so just put a ready in the chat if you are ready to just chat about how you can monetize beyond ads, okay. And again I've been doing this for a very very long time, been on the internet for about 17 years, so when I say I love this I really do mean I absolutely love this, okay. So let's get into it, right. We're gonna start with the problem, the dilemma. This is, this is what the dilemma is, right. We may think that we're doing everything right, right. We still not getting paid, we posted consistently, we are growing our visibility, but we don't have a clear revenue path, right. And I think that posting, that's great, we're showing up, right, but we're not getting paid. So you may be feeling this way, but I want to say that we can definitely get paid from what we are doing and it doesn't have to look like how everyone else is doing it, okay. So we're posting, we're showing up, we're not getting paid. And so the story is always pretty much the same, right. You're posting consistently, right, that's not the issue. You're growing your audience, you're doing everything that you're supposed to do, but the money is not matching the effort and when that happens we get super frustrated a lot of the times, right. A lot of the times. So because at some point visibility without revenue starts to feel like burnout. We feel like, oh this is, I don't want to do this because I'm burned out, I'm just posting, I'm not seeing a results, nothing is coming from what I'm doing, right. But we don't, we don't want to do burnout, right. I'm sure you don't want to do burnout. So being strategic, okay, being strategic with how we're approaching all of this. And so that's the dilemma, but now let's talk about some of the myths, right. Like we talked about very early on is you need a big audience to make money. Add sponsors, download, you need all of that, right. What if I told you you didn't need any of that, how would you feel? What if I told you that you didn't need any of that? It's a myth. Numbers, you may have large numbers, right. You may have smaller numbers, that is a myth. Here's, here's the thing, this happens because we, you know, always equate bigger numbers to the sponsorships, the brand deals, and the downloads. We feel like we want to get a lot of those downloads, right. You don't have to get a lot of downloads necessarily to make more money, right. So you wait to post because you feel like you're not getting enough downloads, so I can't possibly make money, right. So now you're not posting because of that, or you're waiting to be picked, or you're waiting to be discovered, right. And you're waiting to feel big enough, but you're big right now. Everybody in this room, you're big right now. You are big. You can definitely monetize off your skills and expertise. And the way that I'm sharing this today, it may not be how some people approach this. It may not be how some people approach this, right. And when we wait, that is what keeps us from getting paid, all right. Let's shift, and what I really love is that visibility is not the goal, because guess what is? Revenue. Okay, I want you to think about this, okay. So we're shifting. Visibility is not the end goal, right. It's the starting point. Your content does not just need to be seen. No, right. It is here to start conversations, right. Because guess where the real money comes from. This is the good stuff. The real money comes from relationships. I've built my entire business from relationships. It wasn't from post. My content does something afterwards that attracts people and connects people, but in actuality, I have built my business off of relationships. And relationships create opportunities. People tell me all the time, oh my gosh, Michelle, how are you doing all these things? How you get to do that? I build relationships, and I'm really genuine about it. I really care about the work that I do, and I know that if I show up to do this work, that everything that I need, everything that I aspire will come to me. Because I'm doing the work, right, and I'm building on those relationships. So again, many people may not approach it in this way, but this is the new model I want us to think about, right. Visibility, then the conversations, the relationships, and then revenue, right. So let's talk about the framework. Are you excited to have a framework that you can really leverage? And this is where I'm going to really slow down, and we're going to be intentional, okay, about this framework. I hope you're taking notes. On my podcast, I say in the beginning, get your pens and your notepads ready, because gems are about to be dropped.

[00:08:45] Speaker 1: I will, before you drop these gems. I just want to chime in and say that I've seen this framework in real life, because this is actually how we made our connections. So if you had just been posting and tagging Riverside, like why I would notice, because I see people that are tagging Riverside, but I remember even early on as a community manager, you were reaching out and saying, hey, I want to connect with you. And then as opportunities come up, I'm reaching out to you, thinking about you. So I'm excited to kind of see how this framework works, because I was on the other side of this, and that's led to our workshop now, it led to partnerships in Riverside. So I'm, you know, I feel like I'm seeing this almost in reverse, you know?

[00:09:24] Speaker 2: Yeah, no, and this is so good, because y'all, this is real, right? We're not, I'm not sharing anything that's made up. This is real. And yes, I've been a part of Riverside since the beginning. I'm someone who loves apps. And when the app works, I don't like to switch around, because there could be many places that I could record my podcast and leverage, right? But why? When the actual people at the company care about the creators, I'm a part of the community, and I see the constant change. So Riverside is definitely, you know, I'm down for Riverside. So yes, you're about to see this framework in reverse. So visibility is what got me in the room, right? I made myself visible. I tagged Riverside on social media, I created videos, I found contact people at the brand, I reached out. And so I was visible. But then the conversations is what kept me in the room, right? Getting in conversations, really providing value, sharing what my knowledge about Riverside with more people, sharing about the goals and things that I would like to do as well with other people, sharing, you know, Riverside, and how amazing they are with the tools and resources. And this can apply to anything. So thinking about sponsorships, what type of businesses and what type of brands do you already use and love? Really start to think about how you can leverage the visibility opportunity to get in the room, to maybe go to an event. Riverside had an event in Chicago, and Kendall invited me, and I went and got in the room and met amazing podcasters that I'm still connected with, and amazing people at Riverside. So get in the room because those relationships open doors, and then the opportunities come from those relationships. People think that you could just pitch brands and sometimes they'll just give you money just like that. That's not how it works. It really is relationship building. The people who are getting those opportunities are building those relationships. And so I think that it's just common courtesy as well, right? If you really love and care about a business, a brand, and you want to work with them, definitely try to go that route instead of just, hey, let me ask for the monetary first, right? I think building that relationship and building up to that, it can definitely lead to that, okay? So not from waiting, from engaging, right? So number one is the visibility, right? We attract this attention. The first step in that journey. Number two is the conversations that we are having, right? We are engaging your audience through dialogue, right? They're following you along the journey, and they're paving the way for the future opportunities, right? You're building. You're building relationships. When you tag brands, they see that. When you reach out to brands, they see that. I also got the opportunity. My podcast is on a network. The network is called BLEAV, B-L-E-A-V, network. And so that means that my podcast, I do also get paid for ads. So they place ads on my podcast, and I get paid because people listen to my podcast. And so that is an amazing opportunity, but it only happened because I was visible. I had no clue about this company, actually, until they reached out to me. And they said, I love your podcast. I see what you're doing, and I really love to talk to you about this. And for me, I didn't want to relinquish ownership of my podcast. So I've been approached by a lot of different big, big businesses who do podcast networks, but I want to remain in control of my podcast, of what I post, of how many times I post, of who is on my podcast. And so that wasn't the right opportunity, but this opportunity found me. And so now I'm able to leverage and monetize from that opportunity. But again, if I would not have, if I wouldn't have posted, if I wouldn't have shared that opportunity when it came about, right? So I am really, really excited. So I want to talk about relationships, right? Nurturing the relationships. Don't just leave the relationship on red, right? You want to nurture your relationships. You want to build strong foundations and remain loyal, right? That loyalty can open doors. I'm just a person of integrity, and I don't like to flip-flop between a lot of different things. If I say I use Riverside, I don't use Riverside, this, this, this. I may use other tools, but if I'm specifically wanting to build relationships and leverage opportunity, I'm going to leverage the brands that I actually use and love, right? And it's, it's, it doesn't, it doesn't bother me or make me mad or anything to promote the brand that I actually use. I log into Riverside every day. I see it every day. I see the changes, the, the opportunities. And so I create content from that, right? But that's also helping to build those relationships because the people from the brands might follow you. And so being able to showcase that and for them to see it, that's building on that strong foundation. And then as the relationships grow, right? New opportunities arise, whether it's partnerships. Earlier this year, a opportunity arose with Riverside to do a brand partnership to talk about how I use Riverside, and I was a part of a campaign. That was really cool, right? But that wouldn't have come if this framework wasn't in place. So these avenues are crucial for transforming your visibility and connections into revenue. Okay, so it, it doesn't look like you post, you walk away, and you go on about your life, right? That's not what it looks like, right? So let's get, let's get into some more juicy stuff. All right, this is a real, another real life example. Who loves LinkedIn? I love LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a really great place. Type LinkedIn if you're on LinkedIn, because we're, we're on LinkedIn in 2026, friends. Okay, I see you all are on LinkedIn. That's good. All right, I want to give you a real example. Some of the best speaking opportunities that I've gotten did not come from ads, did not come from ads. It came from relationships. It did come from the visibility from social media, but relationships. I was able to speak at my alma mater. So I went to Northern Illinois University. I'm from Chicago, Illinois, whoop whoop. And I went to NIU, and I got to go back and speak at NIU a few weeks ago. That was like a full circle moment. That was like so cool to me, to the place that helped to shape my adult life, my early adult life. I got to go back and speak to some young women who are interested in being entrepreneurs. It was a great, but that came from on my LinkedIn, right? I have where I went to school, and I've been sharing about NIU most recently at that time, and someone saw it. But then I built upon those relationships, right? But those connections is what brought about this speaking opportunity, right? So opportunities can come through those connections. You might post something on LinkedIn that connects with somebody, that somebody sees it, and they're like, oh she went to this school, and this is how she could, she would be great for your event. You never know how it happens. So it's not all about ads, right? It's not all about the sponsorships. I think in this world that we're in, we got to go back to this human connection, and really that is what is going to help get you more brand deals, sponsorships, more money. All of it is going back to the basics of everything I'm talking about here today, which is relationship building. Those real relationships are really what builds all of this. And so visibility to speaking opportunities, there's so many speaking opportunities too. And yes, paid speaking opportunities too, but I want you to think about the speaking opportunities that you may get that are not paid, on how you can turn those into paid speaking opportunities. And that is also relationship building, right? So if I am not paid to speak at an event, that is okay, okay? Because I'm going to leverage everything from that event, right? Whether that's me getting content of myself so I can post about it, because guess what? When you post about things and also build a story, like nothing that's just like, look at me, look at me. Really build a story, right? Tell people about yourself and why you are doing what you're doing. I know everyone here has a mission. You have a mission and so you want to get that out to more people. And there's so many platforms that you can do this on. And there's so many brands and opportunities and other people that want to connect with you. But you have to go from that visibility to the actual relationships, right? So these are opportunities. There are opportunities in your network right now. I guarantee you right now that you are not activating. So your job today after this is to go and activate, okay? Go and activate. Really, really excited. Now, let's talk about conversation starters, okay? This is where we get back to the content. Most people just post and they stop. They stop right there. They just post and that's it. They don't follow up. They don't engage with other people's content. They don't start conversations, invite connections. But that's what opens doors. You know what is a really great platform that I love today and I'm gonna share more about? Threads. Threads is a really cool place. Still very new. Still very new. I was able to get 10,000 followers on there and I'm excited because Threads is

[00:19:44] Speaker 1: visibility on another level if you leverage it in the right way. And so if

[00:19:51] Speaker 2: you heard of Threads and if you're on Threads, put Threads in the chat. You need to be on Threads. It is a great platform for visibility and opportunities. So many speak and engage with so many podcast connections. You want to speak on stages. You want brand deals. You want opportunities. You should be on Threads. Okay, we're on Threads. I love it. I love it. I know. I know, John. I know. I love it. Okay. And what most people miss out on Threads, they just push publish and that's it. They don't engage. They don't go on other people's posts. You know what? Here's a gem that I'm gonna share with you today. When you comment on other people's posts on Threads, that increases your visibility. They could be talking about a really great topic that, you know, you have leverage or you are expert in and you get in the conversation. People can like your specific comment, but it just increases your visibility overall. So the real strategy is what happens after you press that post button on any platform, on any content. It's a strategy. What your content should really do is you should start conversations. Your content should be shareable. I recently had a real go viral. Now, I'm not a person that have real go viral every week. This is not about going viral. It just really happened. All the ingredients were there, kind of like the weather. Like with the weather, all the ingredients got to be there for it to be a thunderstorm. And if they're not all there, the thunderstorm really doesn't happen. That also happened here in Chicago yesterday. Like all the ingredients was there, but it just didn't materialize. So for a viral real, viral TikTok, all the ingredients have to materialize. But they didn't materialize for this real. And this real was shared by 5,800 people. It was seen over a hundred and two thousand times. I got a hundred, I'm sorry, I got a thousand new followers just from that real. But your content should start conversations. That piece of content started conversations with people. It was a very helpful piece of content and people, oh you should, I need to share this with my aunt. My cousin called me and said that her aunt shared it in their group chat. And she was like, oh look, it's Michelle. Right? So these things are starting conversations. More people saw that content. I don't know, brands could see that content. And actually they have. And now reaching out to me. So there are those brand deals. But that is, again, building connections. I'm building connections in the local community that I am here, local in the South Suburban area of Chicago. And this is helping to do that. And so that one piece of content was a conversation starter. It invited connections and it opened doors at the same time. Right? But some examples of this could be, you open threads and you say, I'm looking to connect with entrepreneurs in this local area who love coffee. Let's connect. Who do you know that does XYZ? I'm looking to interview some people on my podcast. Let's connect. I love to collaborate with people who are in the business world who love SEO. Let's connect. Okay? That is how you turn the opportunities, the content turns into opportunities. Right? So we want to build upon that. So if you haven't heard of Threads, I'm so glad I can put people on new apps today. So Threads is a really good platform. All right. Outreach. All right. So opportunities don't just come, we create them. Right? Creating those opportunities. So I've been testing this recently with my content, especially on Threads and in my community, posting in the way that invites in connection. Okay? And what happened was more conversations, more people reaching out, more opportunities being created in real time. And that's the power of intentional visibility. So opportunities don't just come, you create them. Right? Simple outreach, follow-up, starting conversations, and really staying visible in the right rooms. And you all that are here, you're in the right room. Right? And so that's really powerful. Right? Just getting in rooms like this, getting in rooms where you can help increase your visibility. So podcasting has been a very, very amazing tool to help me with my outreach opportunities. And I've been testing Threads along with Instagram, along with my podcast, to really create those opportunities for myself. Getting visible, engaging, creating those conversations, and then going back to those opportunities. And so I've been testing again, like crazy on all these platforms and posting in a way that invites the connection in. Right? We want to invite the connection in. And I think that leads to more conversations, it leads to more people reaching out to you, and it leads to more opportunities that I'll be creating in real time right from social media. And so as long as you keep the intentional visibility, you will not have problems monetizing. You don't need a large audience. You don't need 100,000 people. I don't have 100,000 followers. And I know that I have a pretty decent Instagram following, but all of those people who are following you are not your ideal clients and customers too, right? Just like all the people on LinkedIn and the other platforms. Really leverage the right people intentionally. And I think it's really going back to this, the human side of everything, right? And really being intentional about our outreach as well, when it comes to social media and beyond. This is good. I hope you all are good. I hope you all are ready for questions. Are you all ready for a question? I'm definitely going to answer all of your questions, I promise. Okay? But this is probably what you really want to know, right? This is probably what you really want to know. Ways to monetize without ads, right? We talked about a little bit of all of these, right? We talked about speaking, but what we didn't talk about is digital products. Digital products, creating ebooks or guides to share your knowledge and generate income. You can see that inside of your podcast episodes. Memberships. I love memberships. Building a community with exclusive content for paying members. That is a game changer to have MRR, that is what it's called, monthly recurring revenue for memberships. Courses and workshops, right? Offer online classes and teach skills just like we're doing right here. I teach a webinar every week. And guess what? Riverside has webinars and I am so excited to be using this tool. Okay? I don't even have to use any other tool. I'm using Riverside for my webinars. Even coaching, right? Providing personalized guidance to clients for a fee. And sponsorships. Yes, yes. Sponsorships, right? Partnering with brands to promote their products to your audience. So these are some monetization opportunities that we can think about beyond ads. So I kind of set you up here, right? Giving you the strategy, the framework on how you can leverage this to build, right? And then thinking about all the different ways that you can monetize. Speaking opportunities, right? You can get clients from your content. Partnerships and collaborations. Do not forget about partnerships and collabs. Lots of opportunity partnerships and collabs, right? Building community. And again, one of my favorites is workshops. So this is where sustainable income actually comes from. So here's another real-time visibility example that I want to share. Who wants to host events? You can absolutely host events. You can do all the things. I've used threads for that. But who wants to host events? Who wants to build community, right? I was just sharing unpopular opinions and things on threads. Yet again, so this is threads for those of you who are asking about threads. This came from threads. And people in my community, there are people that converted from this post to my community. So this is real-time engagement, real-time visibility, opportunity, right? Taking that engagement and turning that into conversions and opportunity. So we want to do something with our visibility, right? And so I hope you all like homework. I hope you all like homework. Because we're going to spend some time on how we can take everything that we talked about today. Because I know this is a lot, right? And I'm the type of person, I want you to take just enough so that you have every single tool and resource that you need and that today you can implement. If you listen to my podcast, Social Media Decoded, you know that those episodes are straight, quick, and to the point, right? But you get to take action on everything. I'm real big on that, right? Why? Because you can get fed all this information and then do nothing with it. But you all are here, even if you're watching the replay, you're here and you're watching this and taking action. And that is what creates opportunity and change, right? Yes, it makes it work, right? So you can start simple this week. We're gonna start here. Posts with intention. I gave so many examples of how you can post today, of what you can post, of what you can share to gain that visibility, okay? Start with three conversations this week. Follow up with three people. I know you have three people where you know that they reach out to you, that there's a warm lead, it's a warm brand deal. Follow up with three people. I followed up with someone last week or yesterday and I got an email back and got a meeting on a calendar. That felt good. Follow up with three people. That can lead to an opportunity, right? Say what we do clearly. When we are posting on social media, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, I think the the main thing that is missing from a lot of people's content is clarity. We're not clear on who our actual ideal client is, so it's confusing for them because we're not clear, right? So we want to share what we do clearly. And then the final thing is just ask for the opportunities. Sounds difficult, right? But just ask for the opportunities. Ask for it. So start here, right? Think about what you can post to start conversations. Maybe that's going back to LinkedIn. Maybe that is creating a YouTube video. I saw a lot of people in here for YouTube as well. Oh, there's people watching all over. This is so exciting. So hello to all the people. This really excites me and I'm just so glad that you all, number one, signed up and are just engaging and are excited about monetization because we all have skills and expertise that we can absolutely leverage. And again, each way might look different for each person on how you are monetizing, right? You can have a mix of ways that you monetize, like I shared here today. I'm a person who has several different ways that I'm monetizing my expertise because I don't like to be stressed out, right? I want to have several income streams or several different ways that I'm monetizing. In the podcast, even if you're just starting out, you can definitely build up to monetize, right? So just thinking about the opportunities that work best for you, right? Just like I stated earlier on that the opportunity for me not having a independent podcast was not best for me. And so I wanted an opportunity that my podcast can be independent and so I waited for that opportunity and I got it. And so let's go out this week and really ask for these opportunities, okay? And so I know I gave homework and these are our action steps. And I do, I want to, we do want questions and I want definitely, we can chat through ways of how you can, if you want to go back to anything, but I just want to say this, that the visibility itself is really powerful, right? But it's not enough on its own. Like visibility, just you posting and just being visible is like not enough. It's what we do with the visibility that creates the revenue. It is the relationship building. And I want to say we have to stop waiting to be picked because no one's gonna pick us. We have to position ourselves to be paid. And so even if you're not getting paid to speak, you're gonna post those pictures like you were getting paid to speak so that you can get those opportunities, right? And get visible in front of more people because you're positioning yourself, you're building that authority. And so when you are on Instagram, when you are on LinkedIn, the content that you should post should be to build authority and show up as the expert that you are. Also on your podcast, right? So let's stop waiting to be picked. Hey, somebody said, hey me, I know that is right. We're gonna stop, we're gonna start posting and positioning ourselves to be paid. And I hope that today really helped you understand just many different ways that you can approach this, that you took some notes and then now you can say, okay, I have a plan. Because again, it's one thing to be visible, but it's another thing to have an actual strategy. So I definitely know I would love questions and all the things and so I'm really excited. I hope that this was helpful for the community. And I love it.

[00:34:50] Speaker 1: Yes, me too. And also like speaking of being visible, I think that it'd be we talked about LinkedIn. If any of you here want to drop your LinkedIn into the chat, maybe we could follow each other and be able to hold ourselves accountable, be able to create connections. I love to follow the people in the community and see what they're doing. So maybe you feel that same way too. So feel free to drop your LinkedIn in the chat. And I want to get to some questions. And maybe if we have time, if people tell us about what they're podcasting about, maybe we can give some real suggestions on things that you can do about different workshops, different one on one coaching, that kind of stuff. But yeah, I see a lot of people dropping some LinkedIn. So yeah, as you're listening to the question answers, click through, follow each other. I think it's just a really great way to, to connect with each other. Awesome. So let's get to the some some q&a. I will also just say while we're getting to this, that that was incredible. Michelle, thank you very, very much.

[00:35:48] Speaker 2: Thank you, Kendall. No, I love Riverside. I love this community. You all were great. And yeah, there's so many ways to monetize. I mean, even putting your own ads. I know we just kind of talked about that. But really putting your own ads in your podcast and seeding your own products and services and always be selling is your podcast.

[00:36:08] Speaker 1: Absolutely. So Kai had asked, what do you think about Substack for building relationships?

[00:36:14] Speaker 2: A lot of my community members love Substack. I think it's great. I follow a lot of different Substacks. I think you can be more intimate with people. And of course, you can monetize, right? I just think there's so many different avenues you just really have to go with. Okay, it's like, do you like the features of Substack? Do you like, you know, the different options that it gives you? I think, really, when it comes to tools, it's like what fit best, what fits best into your tech stack. But I think it's great. I read people's Substacks and I'm subscribed to a few. So it works.

[00:36:47] Speaker 1: Awesome. We also have Princess had written, what is the best way to build a paid community through Patreon or other platforms? I'll give a quick answer what I think. And I also want to hear what you think. But I think I would say a little bit that it depends on what you think that your audience would want more of. So I think that some audiences, it'd be a bonus episode. Some audiences, it could be if you're really an emphasis, if you have an emphasis on your guests, like a bonus kind of Q&A at the end. Maybe it could be if you join my Patreon, we have these live workshops or that we, I know that there, I had done an event with a community that has freelancers. And so that community wanted connections and to kind of feel like they're working with other people when they're kind of working by themselves and virtually. So having like an hour or so every few times a week of just like having your co-workers to work with those kinds of spaces. So I think that it depends exactly what you want. But I would really think about what your audience would most respond to. But Michelle, interested to hear what you think.

[00:37:51] Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I agree. Like I built my community literally, it's just connection to meet, connection to my network. A lot of people just really wanted to pick my brain a lot and just, you know, know what I know. And so I built a community to connect people together too. So I think like Kendall said, it depends on really what you're looking for, because there's so many different communities, right? And there's so many different platforms. I actually, I use WhatsApp. I love WhatsApp for my community. You can build free communities on WhatsApp, but you can also create a paid wall somewhere, right? I do have a website. And so I just create a paid wall on my website and then we use like the WhatsApp community. But I think that just whatever it is that you know, you love and that people, you know, like that right fit audience. I think like Kendall said, it's just thinking about like, what do people really want? And I spend a lot of time when I say a lot of time, like two to three years really refining my community and like what was really wanted. And then I created it from that. So absolutely.

[00:38:53] Speaker 1: The next question, I really love this question. I'm not a business related podcast. How can a show for specific hobbies work? What are some examples of implementing your framework for this? My show, for example, is covering movies from the 80s and 90s. How would you say that a show like that could monetize?

[00:39:12] Speaker 2: Oh, first of all, I want to listen to this podcast, but there's so many, so many opportunities with brands that might want to be on your podcast, like AMC, like different theaters. I'm even thinking you could do so much with, I

[00:39:25] Speaker 1: mean, I don't know. I was also thinking like even like a speak, like a, I don't know if this would be paid, but if there are kind of like these more local film festivals and they're playing an older movie and you want to and you have like there's a panel or something that you can be the person that asked those questions and putting yourself out there to, to be the moderator of that panel. I think that that could be a really interesting way to go. I think also just like it may be like a paywall type of community of people that are have this similar interest and want to do like watch parties together could be cool. I'm just trying to like think of some things off the top of my head of stuff that you listed. That's because it's not coaching or one on one sessions, but what would your audience pay for or want to be a part of together?

[00:40:15] Speaker 2: Even experiences, maybe even movie screening experiences, like building community and like working with different brands to bring your community to what they're doing. Cause there's always different movie screens and things. I mean, even though the movies may not be of course the eighties and nineties, but different things in your area too, you can get invited to different things like that.

[00:40:35] Speaker 1: Okay. So I have a growing and a great engaged community and, and some brand deals, sponsorships. How can I leverage these to bring in more consistent revenue? Does a live podcast experience make sense as a next step? I know that you've been going to live lately, Michelle. So I wonder what you think about that.

[00:40:56] Speaker 2: I do think that live podcasts are really great and there's great opportunity. Um, and you said they have been leveraging just video already. The first part of the question,

[00:41:06] Speaker 1: leveraging, uh, downloads. So they've been, uh, they've been getting, uh, sponsors and, and, uh, brand deals.

[00:41:13] Speaker 2: I think live is really great because I actually positioned many opportunities to see things in the live podcast. And I have been using that as a way to monetize. So I think live podcasting is really great. Just like we're doing right here. You can have a live podcast and have people that you are talking to right, right there. So, and I think partnering with different brands for something like that, they would want to do that, right? Because it's like that visibility that they're getting from the live show. You can offer them other things. I want us to all start to think of ourselves as media companies. You are a media company, right? Your podcast is a media.

[00:41:49] Speaker 1: It's all a media company. So I think thinking about it like that,

[00:41:53] Speaker 2: Um, another question that we had, um, Maria had asked,

[00:41:58] Speaker 1: what are time killers slash suckers to stay away from or be cautious of when you're, when you're talking about monetization? Oh, time killers. Yeah. Like I think trying to connect with everybody, I think you absolutely know the right connections and really what you're

[00:42:14] Speaker 2: looking for based off of what you're looking for in terms of what you're looking for in terms of what you're looking for in terms of what you're looking for in terms of what you're looking for in terms of what you're looking for based off of your goals. And if you go to a, a conference with 100 people, you're not going to connect with 100 people. You're going to be very strategic in how you connect. So, I think that's time suckers. Time sucking, scrolling on social media, not, you know, being intentional about the right connections I think is definitely a time suck. Um, so being more intentional with how we are leveraging our coffee chats and like who we're getting on meetings with. I think that matters, right? So don't fill your meet, don't fill your calendar up with a bunch of people who you know that this is probably not going to, you know, build that relationship to lead somewhere else. I really think we can be more strategic with those partnerships and with those relationships that we're building.

[00:43:05] Speaker 1: Okay, I wanna take the next one cause I'm excited about this question and you can also jump in. So Carl had asked, I run two political podcasts, one live and one pre-recorded interview based show built around discussing national political events. The niche is so small yet saturated with creators, how would I apply your framework? So I wanted to answer this because I also come from a political journalism background and what I think, I think that this kind of show is very ripe for community and I say that because of the types of political times that we're in, there are so many different people that want to connect with people that, I mean, we wanna connect people that don't think similarly as us, but also people want to be able to be in spaces where they feel comfortable to talk about politics, where they feel like there are people that understand them and that they feel like they can connect through that. And just because I assume that you're writing this from the US, just because there are two political parties doesn't mean that there are two different types of views. There's so many different views within those and I think that people really want to build community connection with people that they feel they can resonate with and connect with in that way. So based on that, I think that that kind of podcast would be great for community, having people that kind of can be sounding boards with each other, sharing different articles, talking about how they feel about different things in these safe spaces politically could be great. And then from there, those kinds of opportunities could be speaking on panels. Those kinds of opportunities can be maybe once a week, you do a for your membership, like a paid kind of short thing where you talk about, here's a news roundup. Everyone's saturated in a bunch of different news. Here are the five stories that you need to know for this week. Maybe it's a newsletter that people can sign up and pay for to be a part of. So think about what your community would want. But I think that something like that would be really great for building a community around because people want to connect over something like politics. Michelle, let me know if you agree or disagree on that.

[00:45:16] Speaker 2: Oh yes, I definitely agree. The community is the best way to go. I mean, community is so powerful.

[00:45:23] Speaker 1: Exactly. And then from there also like build community and then think about ways that you can monetize that later. Because I think that once you figure out what the community wants, then you're able to realize, okay, these are things that I can deliver to them and maybe have it paid for. So I'm not doing this because I like my community stuff. I mean, as part of Riverside to be free. But so I started this as an example. I started a Riverside professional directory. So if you're looking for editors or coaches or anyone to help you with your work, I'm gonna drop the link in the chat, you can hire a professional service provider. And if you're a service provider, you can list yourself on the directory. So great initiative that I realized after working for three years in community, that there are a lot of service providers that are using Riverside and there are a lot of people that wanna hire those service providers. So let's create a space for those two people to connect. If I wanted, if I was doing this independently, and I wanted to monetize that, I could have, I'm not gonna do this. I could have people pay for a top spot on that. Maybe that's something. There are, or maybe if they wanted to get access to it, they could sign up and I'd have their email and then they could be part of my email newsletter. There are ways that I could channel that. I'm not going to do that because I'm not an independent creator. But the idea here is that you could create something that could even initially just be something that you're playing around with and then realize ways that you can monetize that from there. But don't worry, I won't charge for the directory. But everyone should check it out.

[00:47:07] Speaker 2: I gotta keep reminding myself, I'm gonna fill that out this week.

[00:47:09] Speaker 1: This week, Kindle. Yes. And yes, we would love to have you on that and that will be 50 bucks. I'm kidding. Great. So another question was, what if you are starting up, starting from a low downloads? How do you build that up? How have you built up your downloads? That's kind of the age old question that everyone gets.

[00:47:33] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but consistency and just sharing, right? I think I got an amazing opportunity early on and later.com picked up my podcast and shared it in a new, in an article. And then like more people found out about it. I think another great opportunity is to do podcast swaps with different people. If you're someone who's interested in going to other people's podcasts and sharing your expertise and leveraging other people's audiences. So that is big when you're first starting out, right? To leverage other people who have, you know, great audiences and that you see a really great alignment and can help you in turn, right? Get more people to listen and download your podcast.

[00:48:15] Speaker 1: Awesome. Then for an engagement moment in the chat, Andy had asked, does anyone on here have a full-time job and does their podcast on the side? So if that sounds like you, sign sound off in the chat. And yeah, I have a lot of people in this community. I would actually say that if somebody is doing it for, like if somebody's pod, a lot of people that I speak to, if they're podcasting as part of their business, it's because they have their business and the podcast is something that helps bring in leads. Absolutely. Okay. We have from John, a shout out for grants, if you're eligible. I thought that was really interesting. So John, if you want to share more about that in the chat, that is definitely a really cool idea as far as monetization. And then we have, how do you make your show stand out from other shows? Seems like everyone has a show nowadays. I want to, before you answer, Michelle, say that like, I think that part of it is your voice and the niche of like how you're presenting that information whenever people are like, there's too many podcasts. I'm always like, you don't say like, there are too many books. We don't need other books, you know? So, but every book, it's like the author, it's like how they write about it and how they've split up that information. So that's how I make the comparison. But Michelle, how do you stand out? How does your show stand out?

[00:49:42] Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you hit it right there. I think being you, I just saw that there was a space that there weren't short podcast episodes about marketing. And I said, I have something. And then I just been consistent. I mean, 600 plus episodes, I have still been going strong. And you may think it's a lot of podcasts out there, but there is a thing called pod fade. And most people only reach it to eight episodes. And if you can go past eight episodes and keep on kicking, you'll be good. But I think it really just is about being you. I think you attract your people, so.

[00:50:16] Speaker 1: Mark had also asked, can you talk actual numbers for brand deals for a second? I think that that would be very helpful to know.

[00:50:23] Speaker 2: Sure. I mean, you can get brand deal opportunities from, I've done brand deals from $1,000 to $10,000. I mean, it just really depends. But I'm gonna be honest, I have been online for the last 17 years building, right? And so I also have worked at brands. And so I do have a very unique approach and just mindset when it comes to this overall marketing. But I think that there's so many opportunities. I've had people that I've worked with, some of my clients and community members who have pitched and gotten brand deals for $1,000, $2,000. It just really depends. I think too, you have to really think about, and like I was saying, the media company angle, right? Really think about what can you offer a brand? And like, what does that look like? Because it could look very different, but there are just so many opportunities. And I think you just really have to think about your goals, right? And really not, sometimes it's not about like the amount because something that's free could then potentially turn into something that's paid. So I hope that that answers the question, but I mean, I've seen anything from $1,000, $10,000, $25,000, $100,000 brand deal opportunities. I haven't personally got $100,000 brand deal opportunity,

[00:51:37] Speaker 1: but it's possible. Pass that over.

[00:51:38] Speaker 2: Right, like it's possible, girl, but not me, okay? So don't think that that's what I'm getting because I'm not, I'm being honest with y'all.

[00:51:46] Speaker 1: I also think that a lot of it is like kind of the terms like micro influencers, and it's also what's opening up for community is there used to be this kind of like, you need 100,000 followers or this much to get these brand deals. But I think that more and more brands are recognizing that when you have 100,000 people and you post, that doesn't mean like 100,000 people are clicking on it. And also a lot of those people aren't the people that you're kind of aiming to get in front of. So these kind of micro influencers, as we're calling them, have become more and more important in that kind of industry sphere. And what I mean by that is that if you have 300 followers that are super focused on what this brand wants to, like the people that they want to reach, then it can start as something that's not paid. So maybe it's like, I would love to have a code that people can use to access a subscription for you. And then you prove yourself by showing that like, wow, there have been 50 people that redeemed this one person's code. Who's that person? Why don't I want to work with them more? So I think that like some of these unpaid opportunities leading to paid opportunities, that's a really good example of it, is, and I've seen it happen at Riverside, is that there are people that just say like, hey, here's my audience, I know they're super relevant. And they might not be a million strong, but they're strong, you know?

[00:53:14] Speaker 2: Mm-hmm, and that's how I feel about my community. I don't have a hundreds of thousands of followers, you all. I have, I mean, a decent following. I've been working, working on these internet streets, but it is just community. I've really built a solid community and people who really just stand behind what I share, what I value. And so I think if you do that, like there's so many opportunities. And I think you're probably not even thinking of all the ways that you could position Brand Deals, your podcast, your media company for opportunities.

[00:53:44] Speaker 1: And speaking of community, I'm dropping hours in the chat. If you aren't a part of it, you should join. You should. And I also wanted to just say that like, from homework for me is that, Michelle already gave you some, but I would like you to sit down and just think of, we think a lot about brands and sponsorships, but I also want you to sit down and think about like, what are some things that my community would want that I can create and maybe get paid for creating them. Maybe it's instead of a t-shirt that has your podcast on it, maybe it's a swag that your community would actually want to use as part of their jobs. If it's a specific person working a specific job, like I want you to like really think creatively about some interesting ways that you can create those opportunities for yourself because those are often really strong ways to monetize is creating them yourself. So with all of that, I want to say thank you so much, Michelle, for this incredible workshop and it's been really helpful. I'm really glad that we got to talk about monetization and I'm really glad that you have made yourself visible in our community so that this opportunity could arise because I'm really glad that we got to connect through it. I also want to say thank you to everyone in the chat and everyone who is watching afterwards because again, this is recorded and I'm really excited to see you visible online and then see you following up those opportunities, building relationships and well, following up conversations, building relationships and creating those opportunities. So until next time, I am really glad to have had you join this workshop and see you at the next one, which is already online at riverside.com slash webinars, but it is going to be about event promotion. So I'll be emailing you all about that and thank you very much. Michelle, stick around, but thank you very much for watching along and have a great rest of your day. Good luck with everything you're creating.