Pat Flynn: From Jobless Architect to Successful Enterpreneur 2

continued from Pat Flynn Part 1

Step By Step – How Do I Podcast

A podcast is what inspired me to get into this business in the first place, so it was always my goal to eventually do one. I had first mentioned that I wanted to host a podcast in November of 2008 but it wasn’t until July of 2010 that my podcast finally went live in iTunes.

I wish I had done it sooner, because I’m seeing loads of brand new, targeted traffic coming from this untapped resource.

Since July, I’ve had over 250,000 downloads and was featured as a top podcast in the overall business category, right next to Jim Cramer, Suze Orman, Harvard Business Review and Dave Ramsey. For a while I was the number one podcast in the Marketing and Management category, which was awesome.

Setting up a podcast is no easy task (which is part of the reason why it took me so long. The other reason was my fear of speaking on the microphone, which I’ve since overcome), but it’s not rocket science either.

Here’s a basic step by step procedure:

            1. Determine What Your Show Is

Make it about a specific topic related to something you know you’ll be able to talk about comfortably for a certain number of minutes. Many people have a co-host on the show because it makes the episodes a lot easier to produce, since most of the content is just conversation.

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            2. Invest in a Good Equipment.

I’m using a Heil PR40 Microphone which runs about $300, but the sound quality is AMAZING. Sound quality is huge because many people will not listen to a show if it has bad sound quality, even if it has the best content in the world. You want people to enjoy listening to you while at the gym, running around the block or in their cars.

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            3. Outline and structure a “typical episode”.

Having a structure, which usually includes an introduction, a little bit of royalty-free music (not too much), and then right into your content, which could either be just you, you and your co-host, or also a guest for an interview.

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            4. Record it.

You can use Garage band if you have a Mac, or Audacity if you’re on a PC – both are free on whichever platform you’re running.

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            5. Create a Blog Writeup for Your Podcast.

When you come out with an episode, create a specific blog post for it within that category and link to the mp3 file that you recorded (which is stored on a server such as AmazonS3 or Libsyn.com). The way iTunes works is that it reads a feed from your blog and looks for audio files embedded in the posts. You don’t directly upload stuff to iTunes.

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            6. Upload it to Podcasting Sites

In iTunes, there’s a specific section for submitting your podcast which has you fill out information about it, including the feed for the category that you created for it on your blog. Do this after your first episode and it’ll take a day or two, but then you’ll see yourself in iTunes.

Obviously there’s a lot more to it, but that’s the basic skeleton. I received a lot of great advice for The Smart Passive Income Podcast from a great resource: podcastanswerman.com.

The Day I Realized “I Made It”

I had a lot of “I MADE IT” moments during my online journey.

The first one came when I sold my first eBook. It was such an amazing feeling because I had no idea if I would sell even one single copy, and it just helped me realize that the 2 months of work that I put into the eBook was totally worth it.

Another “I Made It” moment came when I received a call from my previous boss, who was also eventually let go from the company. He had started another company and asked me if I was available to work for him, but I turned down his offer because I was making a lot more money and living a better lifestyle working online from home.

One of my biggest “I Made It” moments came when Yaro Starak asked me to share my story with his audience. Yaro played a huge role in inspiring me to do online business, so for him to ask me to share my story for his podcast was such an honor.

I Would Have Been Successful Sooner If…

I would have been successful sooner if I didn’t wait to get laid off.

You see, my lay off pretty much forced me to do business online and figure out a way to make it all work. My back was up against the wall, and that’s usually when I take action and do my best work.

I had always listened to internet business podcasts and read a ton of blogs about it while working my 9 to 5 job, but mainly just for fun and to live vicariously through other people’s success stories. If only I had really believed that I could do it myself, I would have done something about it then instead of waiting until I had no other choice.

The key point is that in order to find success you’ve got to take action now.

What You Should Be Focusing On

Plain and simple: focus on what’s working.

It’s WAY too easy to get distracted by things that supposedly help your business or blog, but really don’t. You should have some soft of idea of what it is that is truly helping you reach your goals. Do more of that.

Why I’m Successful and Why You May Be Not

When people ask me what they can do to be successful online too, I usually tell them to make sure you do something that adds some kind of value to the Internet, whether it’s informational, educational, entertaining or just plain ol’ useful. This is how you build a long term and potentially self-sustaining business online.

I know a handful of people who try to make money online using methods and “get rich quick” schemes that don’t really add any value to the Internet, and as a result they fail or just aren’t seeing the results they want.

Take bold actions, step out of your comfort zone and over-deliver. That’s the recipe to success.

Check out Pat's site: The Smart Passive Income Blog.