Hey va, fam, it is my favorite time of the week time for a Halaback Monday, and this week it is one of my favorite episodes. I know I always say that, but legit because not only is this person extraordinary, and you're going to learn all about the business of podcasting and how even y'all can start your own podcast one day from Carlo will Meris. But I also met a friend that day. So Carla is so real, so raw. She's a mama, she's a single mama at that and
an entrepreneur and I learned a ton from her. And you get to listen to Carla share her journey on how she pivoted from accounting to become a podcast guru y'all. She has worked on podcasts for Tiffany D. Cross and Rachel Rogers. And also she is going to give some expert advice on how y'all can maybe start your own podcast anyone interested in that. It ain't easy, but hey, give it a listen. Let us know what you think. Hey, Hey, it's Mandy here and I have a very very very
special guest today. I cannot wait for y'all to meet her. But before I introduced our illustrious guest. I want to wish, of course, my co host Tiffany. I hope she's having the most amazing time off during the month of March, taking some time for herself, go into Egypt, of all places. And as I'm thinking of her, I'm like, she better have flown for his class, because the days of economy are over for her and she needs to embrace her
rich auntie life. All right. So, for those of y'all who have followed BA from the beginning, and I know we have some ogs in the audience, first of all, thank you because in twenty fourteen, fifteen, when we launched the show, we were one of like none women of color, no women of color who were covering finance in the career and doing it in the way that we were
doing it. And for those of you who don't know the origin story of Brown Ambition Podcast, tiff and I met at a conference, became friends, and I was a reporter at the time at Yahoo Finance and for my career, like I literally studied print journalism because they allowed me to do that in two thousand and five, even though it was a dying industry, or at least a rapidly changing one, and It was one of my survival tactics throughout my career to figure out these new skill sets.
And so I taught myself video, taught myself broadcast how to actually talk to a camera, which I had huge fears about, and podcasting was sort of that next chapter. And so when I thought about a show i'd want to do, Tiffany of course came to mind. We had such great chemistry and brown Ambition was born, and we launched a podcast in twenty fifteen. I remember going to Yahoo at the time. I loved telling and everyone loves a story where someone passed on you and then you
did it anyway. So bruh. Yahoo actually said, no, we're not interested because you can't guarantee, you know, a million downloads, and you can't guarantee that we're going to be able to advertise immediately and make a revenue. So thank goodness they did, because of course, we went on to make the show on our own and to this day fully owned the IP.
We own the show. Obviously, we have a.
Great podcast partner in Westwood One are our network, but still it is our show and we are so proud of it. And one of the questions I get a lot, especially from people in my career coaching group, Mandy Moneymakers is I'm thinking of starting a podcast. It feels like it's such a crowded space. Now, do you have any tips for me? And I do offer all of the insights that I have, But I've only ever worked obviously
on Brown Ambition. So I am so excited to welcome today's guest because she is someone who has become a podcast crew and her own right, has worked on multiple shows, and she is here today to talk a little bit
about her journey. And I'm hoping on y'all's behalf, I'm going to ask all the juicy questions so that you feel more empowered if it's what you want to do to launch a show of your own, because, as I try to say to it everyone, I still think that there's room for new voices, new ideas, everything in the podcast space. So I want to introduce our guest, Carla will Meris. She is the founder of Idea to Launch Academy and the host of the Idea to Launch podcast.
But before she became a podcast guru, she was like me, a corporate girly crunching numbers behind a desk as an accountant working forty to sixty hours per week, but then ultimately decided to make the brave and bold move to pivot, lean into new skills and become totally fulfilled in her new path. And in less than a year, Carla was able to sell out a live show, quit that corporate job,
and go full time as a podcaster. Since then, her show hasn't massed over a million downloads, over one hundred K and AD revenue, and in her business the idea to launch academy, she helps others just like herself do the same. I am so honored to welcome Carla to the BA Studio. Welcome Carla, thank you for having me. Yeah, have creaty introduction.
I'm bringing you in my pocket everywhere. Thank you.
Well, you know I have an editor so I can stop and start again. I love that some of the shows you worked on, y'all might have heard of the No for Sure podcast holding Court not just another sex podcast powered af But take us back to your journey, you know, as a podcaster, and what year did you really get your start and when did you start to realize, Okay, this could actually be a career for me.
So, like I said, I come from corporate. I was an accountant for six years. I was a young mom, so it was like, you're going numbers. It pays well, get it done. That's what you basically do, right, especially in my culture. You know, I'm from Puerto Rico, Caribbean. It's just like a woman just gets a job and works nine to five, and that's what you do. I never fit the mold, but as I'm in accounting, I started to feel like there was something that I needed
to change. This wasn't for me and it wasn't fulfilling me. So I turned thirty and I started this blog called Shit, I'm thirty. My dad had just passed away, and I'm like, oh, what year was this? This was twenty seventeen.
Oh man starting a blog in twenty seventeen.
I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that I needed to. It was more like a journal. Honestly, I'm like, well, I'm gonna just put it out there. I usually do it on Instagram, and the business side of me, I'm like, well, maybe I can monetize this somehow, some white other than just putting it out there on videos or talking to friends or maybe going live whatever it was so I did the blog that didn't last long.
There I would put like the fucks in like all caps and a bunch of exclamation marks, and it's like, oh, what the hell. It wasn't giving what I needed to give, although a lot of people were resonating with it, like oh, we love this one's the next one coming out, but I'm like, I was still itching, like there's something that's not. I need to say my fucks better. You know, I really need you to know, because sometimes you read something and it's it doesn't translate the way I wanted it
to translate. So I was.
Laughated versus saying it out loud.
Yeah, she's like a text message. You ended up arguing with your man because he said something and he meant it in a different way, but we were already mad at we read it in a different way, so when you hear it, it's different. So I went ahead and started listening to pods. I already did that for years. In accounting, you do nothing but sit behind a desk and crunch numbers. So audiobooks and podcasts were my thing from seven am until nighttime, you know, so all day
long that's what I would do. So I didn't started teaching myself because how do you get a podcast on iTunes. I'm not famous. I literally live in Disney World, Orlando, I have a kid. I'm just I don't know any of this. I'm not on the entertainment space. So I started to teach myself. It took about six seven months. Bought so much equipment that I didn't need, but I
figured I became an engineer myself. I had a surface you know those pads, yeah, tablet, and so much equipment and you're not gonna like I spent so my Polo Chick I was going on that.
I've seen it happen, yes.
Because when you go through the rabbit hole of Google, there's all these gurus telling you what to do. So I had to just learn trial and error. Started the podcast March two thousand eighteen, so it'll be five years now.
And was it always idea to launch? What wasn't?
No? No, So it's called Shit I'm thirty. I just switched the blog onto the pod Shit I'm thirty. It okay, and within eight weeks. My actual idea to launch is the pod that it's kind of like a branch. It just has a few episodes of like tidbits and how to podcast, but it was shit, I'm thirty, and now it's called pivot with Purpose. So shit I'm thirty was on the charts, and I always say with Oprah, right
on the Oprah. Within eight weeks, I was like, me and her best dies, you're right, but you know that it was a big deal back then, right, I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm in my daughter's playroom. Literally, I kicked her out, and I'm like, this is a studio now. So I did that and just kept going right, it was audio. I had a friend. My friend's like, I don't really like this. I kept going on my own and from there I realized, specifically that people of
color were asking me how do I start. I don't have the money to spend ten thousand dollars for someone to teach me how to do my own podcast. So I started testing out how to launch a podcast in thirty days. So I would charge like forty nine bucks for an hour, and I would give them the whole rundown and help them. I did this for a while, then I started the academy. I then taught people everything I knew. You know now I know what equipment to use. Now,
I know how to simplify this. So I made it very simple for us to just start, because you can make it very difficult. Then the pandemic hit. And I've been doing this now for a while virtually because again I live in Orlando. There's no Mecca. This is not New York because it's not La like it's there's not much media here. So the pandemic hits and big corporations like iHeart don't know how to simplify things, and they're
home and they don't know what to do. So then I was able to step in and show them, hey, we can do this. And at that time, Riverside wasn't a thing, So it was showing them how to use zoom but without zoom audio and using the backup audio, and they're like, oh, this is it. I'm like, that's it.
Pay me now, yeah, yeah. Talk to us about choosing the idea for your show. You already had the blog. When did you realize, like, this is the focus of the show and it's actually resonating with an audience. Because I think some folks will rush in, like they'll think that they have an idea for a show. They'll do the show without actually like testing or seeing if there's an audience for it, especially if you're not, like you said, a celebrity who has a built in fan base, you know,
So talk a little bit about that. And I also hear that your show pivoted over time. Now it's pivot with purpose. So yeah, tell people who are wondering, what's the thing. How do I know that people are going to resonate with this?
How you sort of? I did some things right, and I did some things not looking back that weren't the best. What I did do was I come from a business background, right, so I remember doing a lot of like customer avatars and knowing who my target audience is for business, so I figured I needed to know that from the pot as well. So although it was called shit, I'm thirty
and everything, I still remember my spiel. It's like getting rid of society's expectations about where you should be in your thirties as a woman of color when you turn thirty. And that's where I stayed, and I talked about parenting and career and relationships everything, but through the lens of a woman of color turning thirty, trying to figure out what to do. So I was very intentional with my content. It's like, oh, well you talk about everything, yes, but no,
I talk about what I'm going through. But it's in a very linear way, right, I don't kind of I didn't deviate from that, and my guests also were very aligned with that. So that's when that was my test essentially, and that's why I believe everyone kept coming back because whoever liked episode one, two and three also liked four, five, six, seven,
and eight. And that's I think a lot of people that want to start a pod where they fall is, Oh, I want to it's for everybody, It's for all black women, it's for all No, it's now, we're not monolithic, were out, We're not all the same, So why would you put me in the same category as what's her name? Candice? But moving right along, we're not all the same. So that thing, that's the very first thing that one of the things that I think I did wrong was choosing
that name. So although I was very I was sad, I was anxious about turning thirty. I'm not where I'm supposed to be like in society and in my family. I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing. I should settle down and get married, have more kids, have the white picket friends, you know, just stay home after five o'clock, do whatever you have to do for your husband. It wasn't me, and I felt trapped in my thirties. But then as I got to my thirty four thirty five, I'm like, oh, I like it here.
I like it a lot.
You can't can't am I tell me nothing. I'm not a kid, I'm not too old. I love who I'm becoming. So that's when I pivoted and I started really finding out what my purpose was through the podcast. It was I enjoyed speaking, but at the same time, I started finding my passion and my purpose through storytelling and helping others, and I'm like, oh, this is where I'm supposed to be. And that's when, with the help of the community of the podcast, we came up with pivot with purpose because
I didn't know where to take it. But I believe also the name is very important because you'll get to a point where you're like, oh, does this still fit who I am today? We are forever evolving. Who I was when Shit I'm thirty started is one hundred percent not who I am today. So we have to be able to evolve with our podcast as well.
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean it's hard to like, it's impossible to foresee into the future where you're going to be. I think we got lucky because Brian ambition has just it never gets old, it never is stale. I do remember in the early days someone saying, like someone who also was launching a podcast, like, well, are you afraid of alienating people with the title, and feeling a little bit like I was confident, but also she made me think twice and of course, now, of course we want
it to be called this. You know, this is who we are, who we want to speak to, and it's okay to be specific and be niche down in that way. And also what I'm hearing is like, it's okay for you to change your mind and to change the title of a show. And I've seen this happen, Like I was on someone's podcast and it was one title and then they were launching a book book and they're like, okay, so we're going to change the name of the podcast now to the name of the book. And it was
like planned out. And when you do that, like are you able nothing changes, Like you can keep the same you know, home on Apple, the same links, all that stuff you know on the technical side, so you don't have to actually lose any like ground you've made in terms of placement on the charts and things like that.
Mm hmm, yeah, you absolutely a can. Oh you have to change that are basically what it's called an RSS feed. It stays the same. You just update your artwork, you update your description. Everything stays there, depending of course on what media host you use. But you can keep everything the same. All your subscribers will not go anywhere. Yeah.
Oh man, you said hosts. I mean when we launched Brown Ambition, our host used to be Libsen and I remember, okay, like teaching myself how to use that.
What was your first host? I still use libs in. I use that seen and libs in.
M hm okay nice. Yeah, Libsen is one of the OG's. But now there's several more, you know.
Oh, there's so many that. Yeah, Libsin has been around since the getting of podcasting. But there is Art nineteen, there is bus brout there a spreaker. I don't recommend as anchor. If you are serious about podcasting, I know anchor. It hates me since Clubhouse days. I am very opinionated,
but I do not because that was amazing. For those like three months I made a lot of money at Globhouse just talking about podcasting because it became so big during that time, you know, and people didn't know what to do. But if you're taking this seriously and you really wanted to eventually be a business, I'm all about owning your ip owning your content, and everything that's free comes at a cost.
Every Oh, that's the thing. And when it yeah, yep, even Lips's. I think lips and I could start with like five fifteen blucks something like that depends on fifteen dollars a month. So what else when those in those early days when you said that you got a bunch of equipment, did everything wrong? Like if someone's starting out today, what would be I know it's in my starter kit, but what would be in your starter kit? For a podcaster?
All you need is a Samsung Q to you, what's that? It's literally a sixty nine dollar microphone. It's you plug it in straight to your computer. But I'm like, what that you? No, you probably have a short It looks like a I have a saying yeah, okay, so there is like you probably have the MV seven. I have a short mic as well, like this one will run you about two hundred and fifty dollars and it'll be XLR. And you can also just go directly to your computer.
You can choose if you grow, you can grow with it. But the same thing with a Samsung it has for you to be able to put it straight to your computer. So all you need is your computer and your microphone. That's it. And then something like this riverside or squad casts or zencaster that records you know, interviews or yourself by your or you by yourself, your audio and your video, and boom, you have a full studio at your house with your computer and your microphone. That's all you need.
Of course, there are productions that cost ten twelve thousand dollars a month to make, but it's not necessary to get you off the ground.
Yeah, talk to me about the production side. Like obviously in those early days, I'm like us, I'm sure you edited the show yourself and like behind the scenes, uploaded it yourself. How did you what did you use to learn how to edit? Did you already have some familiarity with like audio editing or did you teach yourself that girl.
I didn't even know how to plug in the cable box. Like if my cable went down, I'm calling Spectrum and then they're like, can you do this? No, send someone right now. I don't want to touch the cables. I YouTube University was where I went and got my degree YouTube Anyone. When I get dms from people was like how do I do this? Or how do I do that? I won't answer those. If you give me a specific question, Hey, I have my XLR cord and this is not working
or whatever, then I'll answer that question. Because there's so much information on YouTube for free, for free I have literally I've been producing some of the biggest podcasts. We're talking about two million downloads a month off of Audacity, which is also free. And where do I learn how to do Audacity? On YouTube? Literally? And it's free on a it's free on a PC. You don't have You don't have to have a huge computer. Again, I said in the beginning, I started with a surface tablet. That's
all I had. I didn't even I mean, I had my work computer, but and I would use that to the Lenovo from work. I ended up getting fired from accounting.
It's fine. Specifically, I don't record your podcast on your work computer though, just you know.
Don't don't do it. I would do a lot of research on there and then record on the surface, so all my research and my outlines were on my laptop and then I would use all this stuff. But literally, all you need is your computer, your microphone, something like Riverside, Squadcast, Zancaster and just get started.
Yeah yeah, I think I also have a plan starting.
It is because many people go in without a plan. What is your plan? What is what's your why? Why are you doing this? Who are you impacting? Once they leave your podcast, what are you leaving them with? Because just because you have cool conversations with your friends does not mean you need to have it on a podcast. So there are a lot of podcast gurus out there. They're like everybody needs a podcast, Like, oh, broh, you get a podcast, You get a podcast? No, shut up,
they don't. And now we're seeing how everyone should not be on a pod. And I truly believe the power the tongue. We're so powerful with the things that we say and the influence that we can create. And the people that are listening that could be very easily influenced. So just be very careful with what you're saying, because once you get on this microphone, I feel like we should have a duty on what we say and how we say it.
Yeah, and to whom you're speaking. Like being able to define. I feel like if you can't define your person, like how old are they, where do they live, what apps are on their phone? You know, what kind of shows do they enjoy? What are they struggling with? Like actually being able to share excuse me, actually being able to like personify your audience and like what and always center them. I think that's one of the best things we did at BA was of course our personalities, our personal stories
infuse the show with color and all that. But we never forgot about her. You know, we never forgot about our listener.
And did you have a name for her?
No?
Actually no, I might.
Fortunately, we have so many people submitting questions we have like real names now, you know, we think about I think about uh, dang it. There's so many that just have over the years. They're always sending questions and encouraging words. But we never forget about what the brown and black woman's experience is and what she's going through and how the news, what about the news is stressing her out?
And like how can we, you know, help comfort and provide some insights into everything that has to do with her pocketbook and her career. So that's such a good point that you made.
For sure.
I used to use garage band. I had a Yetie mic because everyone had a Yetie mike, you know.
I know, I mean they're terrible. They're They're a model of podcasting, that's it.
They have such bad like you pick up so many different background noises. I was like, what am I getting wrong? Anyway? Anyway, Yes, so I used Apple earbuds. Plus they're not portable yet, these are heavy, and I would be going into the city.
So I literally would use Apple earbuds and a laptop and garage band and I would, you know, rock that out for years, like I'm probably until the pandemic until I was forced to stay home because it was supportable, functionable, And we used to use Skype back in the day, like I know.
No, it was a thing spiper.
It was no squad cast back in twenty fifteen. Okay, okay, So we covered some technical stuff, and I want to talk to you about. One of the other questions that I get frequently from anyone wanting to start a show is and then how do I tell people about it? Like how do people find the show? You started the show, you know, not long after your blog, right, So about a year after you launched your blog, did you all.
Have literally I only had like seven blog posts, and I was like, okay, off to audio.
We go, lowercase B blog got it?
Yes, very all of it. I need like ten.
People getting really caught up and like put you know, the same thing that Yahoo was caught up in, which is like, but is anyone going to listen? And I feel like for us, we had to not care about that for a while. I mean, of course you care, but like, you can't make that the reason for doing it because it takes. In my experience, I found it takes time to build that loyalty, that trust, you know. So talk to me about your show and how you grew it and if there was any strategy that particularly.
Worked for you. Yeah. So back then there was no video, well I didn't have video, right, it was audio only. But then I knew about audiograms, so I would create these audiograms with clips of the show on social media. Again, I had maybe a thousand followers back then. If I got twenty likes, this is my favorite joke on such as like dad jokes person, I'm like, if I got twenty likes in a picture, I was like, oh my god,
Kim Kardashianna, watch out. You know, I thought I was poping with twenty likes on social media, right, So I had these audiograms and that's what I would do, create clips and just push them out constantly. And I do remember some people saying, oh my god, you're always posting about your podcast. Okay on follow That's fine. I'm gaining more than what I'm losing. So how will they find you? You have to be your number one fan, you really do.
If you start thinking about what other people might think about your little podcast or you think, that's when you have to literally put your blinders on. And unfortunately, I will say, I don't know if this is in every community, but definitely, for hours, our biggest supporters are not our family and friends. Yeah yeah, especially in the beginning, Oh what are you doing the little podcast? You know, you think you're an iTunes or you think you're bake me mad?
What is that doing? And you're making any money? You can't go out with us anymore because you're recording. Yes, because I'm passionate about it. And you will know if you're passionate about what you're talking about and what you're doing when you have to pass up on brunch or you have to pass up on a friend's vacation because like you know, I have to record X amount of pods or I need to learn how to do this, or I have to work on my outline, or I
have to edit whatever that is. For two and a half years, I wore all the hats, you know, marketing, graphic, design, editing, engineer, like all of it was just me onto the pandemic when I found, you know, my May, who's amazing and still work with her, but we you know, I need it, and with her, I was like, I'm going to give you four episodes and do it for free, and I
want to see what you can do. Edit, yes, edit, And the very first one was mid pandemic on my birthday and it was Charlemagne and she goes into the zoom and she's like what and I'm my girl, don't ask any questions we just got to get this done. Everything went wrong. Internet was going down. We were doing it on a hot spot which didn't break, by the grace of God at all during the entire hours listening to the story.
So you're interviewing Charlemagne.
Yes, oh okay, and I am terrified because I've been I've been trying to get this forever right, and he's like, hey day, yeah, one day. Finally the day comes and I got you on here because the world shut him down. So now you're sitting down nothing but time. It's May twenty twenty, and my internet's not working. Internet works every day all day. But we made it work without a hiccup. And from then I knew, Oh like, she's as dedicated as I am, and we spent. She hasn't left my side since.
Okaba fan, so many gems are being dropped right now. You do not want to miss the rest of my conversation with Carla, and I'm gonna put the full respect on it. Will Marie coming back to you and just a few All right, we are back with our guest, Carla well Madis, who's gonna tell us all about the power of podcasting and how you, yes, you can actually launch your own podcast if you have a plan and you never forget about your purpose, which hopefully is to
help others. What like the key for me with you talking about showing up, skipping things, you know, being really serious about it is if you're treating it like something you pick up and put down, it's almost like why bother? Because consistency is so key, like showing up when you say you're going to show up for your audience so they rely on you. How did you build that cadence? Like, for example, with Brown Ambition, we started recording I think in the early days we aired every Tuesday and then
we switched to Wednesday. You know, we've didn't make very many changes over eight years, and now we do two shows a week, you know, consistently Wednesday and Fridays, which we record on one day. So talk to me about deciding the cadence and we are a week we are we never miss a week, like we have something new every week. And we chose that life for some reason I can't remember, but it's the life that we have now. But we show up, you know, we say we're going to show up.
So how did you decide you're kiding? So if you're listening, You're like, I just don't have time. This is too much. I was an accountant close week. I would be there from seven am to sometimes midnight to do it again the next day. Bulk recording was my friend. For sure, I would sit down, but I chose weekly. I knew that I have if someone wants to it's just like
a relationship. You got to show up. When you start not showing up at being some timy, then I'm not going to invest any time, any money, any anything into you. So I was showing up weekly. There were times there. I remember one time specifically, I had nothing in the bank, and by that I mean no episodes that were recorded extra and the audio somehow someway was like distorted. It was really weird, like none of the audio worked, and I'm like it made no sense. Sometimes with tech you
just have it doesn't you can't explain it. So I was I had to be to work the next day at six o'clock, wake up my daughter, take her to school, like I'm single mom. So I stayed up until three o'clock in the morning and recorded a solo episode for it. But think it was like a thirty minute episode. But at the end of the day, I showed up in that episode ended up having the most downloads I had had to date because I showed up and I was
real and wrong. I'm like, listen, this is not supposed to be the episode, but I have an outline and we're going to talk about and I did some research and at two three in the morning, I'm recording it, editing it and putting it out. But definitely I chose weekly. I have clients that tell me, oh, what about bi weekly, And I'm like, no, what about once a month? Especially today? That won't cut it.
Yeah, I don't know how anyone can do it with less than once at least once a.
Week at least.
And I love the fact that we went to too. The strategy behind that was shorter episodes because we loved the content of our show, but we were paying attention to engagement rates throughout the duration of the show, which now factors a lot into like rankings and things like that. So for us, it was like, let's break off a chunk of the show and make it all about our listeners. So B a Q and A was born on you know, we do that on Fridays, and then Wednesday we had
the main show. But yeah, you got to have that. I remember that consistency, that dedication. Like there were times when it was always me and I'd be the one because you know, Tiffany could just show up bless her. But I knew, and I knew that about our relationship. We were a duo, and I knew tips only going't do this cause if I'm handling the tech side, so like,
let me show up for that. But I also was learning, And there was like one time, more than one time when like my audio would be screwed up and I'd literally go home listen to her audio and just have a conversation with her, like like pretend like it was live, just to get my side of the conversation, sweating bullets like the whole time is.
That shows your dedication lo right, and the fact that you were there to show up even when you're not making any money. Some of this time you're not going to be making any money. But what you will see is that when you're showing up, you have an impact on someone. If you're doing it right and if you're really passionate about what you're talking about, and if you find that to be your purpose, go for it. You never know what's going to happen. I mean my course
specifically to launch of podcasts in thirty days. I always talk about because she now works with you, Imani, she took that course in the beginning, you know, to start
her own path, to start her own pod. And she's one of many now who are what now producers for big you know Webby, not even a winning podcast, and they can do a B and C. Everyone at the agency for me has gone through I d to launch, all my editors, all my producers, They've all gone through, and they're like, well, what what school do you have? None again YouTube University. I was an accountant, but I was able to put the work in and teach someone in.
Podcasting can take you in so many different directions, so many different directions. Once you get started and find what you love about it. You might fall in love with the back end of it, which is editing or video or coming up with outlines or scripting. You never know what you will love about it until you start.
So today, Pivot with Purpose, can you talk about how the show's direction, like the tone, the focus of the show has changed since.
You a lot. I would say pivoted.
I was trying to use word pivot, but it.
Was it's the word shifting, pivoting, Like however, the word became like a thing a couple of years back, but it just fit for me. I was like, I don't want the word, but it fit because my life did pivot and I found my purpose. Now does that purpose sometimes look different? Yes, it shifts. Let's you this is the beauty of podcasting. We're actually talking. Yeah, it changed. I went from you know when it was shit, I'm thirty.
I'm like, I'll never get I've been married before, I'll never get married again.
You know.
Uh, there was I'll never have a big one, I'll never have another child ever ever ever, Like I was gonna be a one and done. I'm gonna travel the world, go to Italy, have my boobs out in the sun, Like that was gonna be my life. But I was gonna be the rich aunticket. She was gonna be eighteen and them a kicker out of my house. Well, I fell in love and chose to get off birth control and have a child like as Asai.
Like damn it, he came along.
This is the one where you can do it in a blog where you gotta be like, fuck. I did all that, got engaged, up rooted my entire my kids, moved to New Jersey, did the whole thing, and it didn't work out. And it didn't work out. And the big thing about that was that I was already living in my purpose. I just had to pivot. I just had to pivot when most of us would crumble and just say, you know what, why did this happen to me? I chose to lean into me and my children and
not you know, sitting in there. So now what I do is I talk a lot about my experiences and I bring people onto the pod that can inspire you in a way with you know, humor and whatever else. But now it's like, oh, how do we go from what you went through to where you are now? Because there's so many women and men, which is crazy. I have a big male listenership. But I think it's because I know I carry you like a lot of dyestosterone.
They just you have to watch someone. There's so many people that I've watched, like you guys being one that I'm like, oh my god, look at where they are. I want to be there. I want to be in those rooms. Let me listen to them. Let me learn from you, and we are very much so accessible through podcasting, so it's like, listen to us and you'll find ways to engage with us where we are and you'll learn more. And that's what I found with Pivot with Purpose. It's like I can still be me. There's a lot of
things that haven't changed about me. But at the same time, it's like, how do I go through adversity and how do I choose to pivot every time? Because it's not just the one time, it's not just the baby, it's not just the broken engagement. It's been family issues, it's been money or career, all these different things. It's like it's my journey with other women or men that have been able to do it themselves and kind of encourage you.
Yeah. I mean, if you're looking for a really hard life, then try to avoid pivoting. Try to assume that there will be a clear and linear path for you. I think one of the great lessons of my life was learning how to pivot at a very young age and sort of being I mean, of course you're ganged in different directions by circumstances you're a child, but man, I'm so grateful because as an adult, like things don't really
phase me in the sense that, oh, something big is changing. Okay, I'm just going to go in this direction now, from you know, being a journalist to pivoting into marketing and then pivoting out of corporate altogether to running my career coaching business. I mean, it's such a powerful it's when people resist the pivot or don't give themselves permission like
they can feel it. It's and I'm sure in your work and in mine too, it's about encouraging and giving people the confidence that you deserve, like a different chapter, and you can give.
Yourself creation to pursue it. As you're saying this, I'm sure your audience is like, oh, she's just so confident, But it's Mandy. Mandy is just so good at doing it. And it's like, I don't know about you because I won't speaking if you're thinking that. There are days that I don't get out of my bed. There are days that I'm just like, God, take me down, you know, I quit. I don't want to do this anymore, even with you know, one of my larger pods because they
grew so fast. No, for sure would be someone in Megan and I'll say this not because she just said at the live show, She's like, there's so many times I wanted to quit, And I said, well, amen, because there are plenty of times that I've as successful as it's been. Early on, I don't want to do anymore. Just too much. It's a lot of work. But you even on those days when you don't want to keep going, you have to find it in you. You have to do it scared, you have to do it when you're tired.
Just get it done and it'll pay off eventually. I can't tell you when, because sometimes it takes years. There's things for me that I have been, you know, stay in constant with, and it took years. I mean I didn't get into radio. All I wanted was radio back in twenty eighteen. That's all I wanted. I'm on the air. Yeah, I wanted radio, father bad.
And now you're working. Tell me about what? Yeah, tell me about today? What's Carla up to? So you have that that you have the academy of course, but still you have like what you've worked full time as a radio producer.
Well, I have the academy and I have the agency where we now have about seven or apods that we produce fully, and then we also launch for people. And then once we get the full launch going your entire concept, then they can take it and edit it and produce it themselves.
Number behind a desk seven to twelve.
Okay, literally it.
Turned out fine, but it would have been nice.
And you know what, I also listening to the serial podcast absolutely, but we're here now. So twenty eighteen, when I first quit, I just I actually quit because I knew I was getting the radio job. So it was a big station here called XL one sixty seven, and I just knew I was going to get the job. I'm on air and everything. I got this Mandy Me absolutely got it. Yeah, psych I quit in October February when they're supposed to make the decision, and I didn't get it.
The job was for what an on air personality?
Yeah? On air?
Oh okay, it was a morning show.
It was a morning show, one of the biggest morning shows here in Orlando. So I was like, how did I not get that? So then I really went hard on the podcasting part and just kept going and kept going. And now twenty twenty two, when I come back from Jersey and I let go of that relationship and you know how I was bringing me down and I had to walk back in my purpose. I come home and without looking for I get the phone call and it's like, oh, we're starting a morning show, you know as the show
for radio. And I'm like I'm good and they're like no, no, I'm like I'm good. I already have my agency going, I have my academy going. I'm all right, and radio puts all these restrictions on you that I don't want because now at this point, all these years later, my croagam director won't get me a dumb button. And every week he's like Carla, and I'm like, give me your dumb button. Shit will slip out. But yeah, they called in twenty twenty two, and as I saw it first,
it's actually their JBC Broadcasting so it's independent broadcasting company. Uh. And I'm with some of the biggest talents Rickydilla, DJ Nasty who goes on tour with Beyonce, He's DJ Khalids, like big talents, and I'm like, what do you want me on there for?
Right?
And they're like, they want off of my clips, my podcast. That is it? The fact that I've been showing up weekly, the people notice that. Yeah, just showing up, and I got the job when a morning show at that.
I fucking love that so much because you have to do the work and not understand the end goal like not sometimes not understand how the story is gonna end or where it's gonna take you, but the faith to continue to share your voice, to do the thing that you want to be doing by yourself, like you know, because you believe in yourself. How else are people gonna know? You know, how else are people going to find you if you're not making yourself findable?
So hell, whether it's podcasting or Instagram or blogging or whatever it is that you do, keep showing up. Because in twenty eight and eighteen, I really thought it was over. I didn't think about radio again. But I created my own lane with my podcast, created my own lane. I did retreats with women. We would do a Patreon, we have virtual what did we call them, Oh my god, you know this, pajama parties. Once a while, we would go in our robes and on zoom and we would
do book all these things. I just kept showing up. I kept doing things for my community to where finally they noticed and they're like, we need her. And then at that time, I had the leverage. This is what I want and this is how I'm going to do it. And now they're like, oh, you're now working corporate again. I am, but I have a business that they're very aware of, and I'm like, I got to go for a week, and I go, I have a production in New York. Give me the equipment and I will broadcast.
I have broadcasting now from Miami. I have broadcasts from New York, from LA from Atlanta because I'm working my own personal business which they have no ownership of or restrictions on me. But it was because I created my own space. Very unusual, but at the end of the day, I created my own lanes in order to be able to have that leverage. And a lot of us really depend sometimes and what others can give us. Even in podcastsing like oh we want to deal first, start on
your own, figure out what you could do. Start on your own first, really invest into yourself first and see where that goes.
Yeah, when did you start to well pivot with purpose? When did you start to court advertisers and were you doing that on your own? So let's talk about monetization because for broad ambition been pretty straightforward. We've sold ads since about twenty eighteen, so I guess like three four years into the journey, and we partnered with an agency to do that. But talk to me about your experience with monetizing and any advice.
I started with affiliate stressed. I started, and I tell everyone to start with affiliate marketing. My first one was audible, so I would get fifteen bucks every time someone used the code, So you better believe I had a pre roll in a mid row for that fifteen dollars. I wanted it. I wanted it bad, so.
I was not so hard like if you really use something or you like it, correct, I do. Like a lot of places have affiliate programs if you just Google, so.
Yeah, so many right now. One of my biggest affiliate is Better Help. You know, they do just ads, But I actually make more money as an affiliate, so I'm like, keep it as an affiliate for right now. You know, O good, Let's not do CPM, but affiliate program anything that you use on a daily basis for your pod. Like if you guys were a finance I'm not sure you know you're a network now but your finance and that's that you you are. Quick Books is something that
you use all the time. You can get an affiliate like right now, you might not have quick Books or the numbers for a main sponsorship, but they have affiliate programs and you can get that. Or Honeybooks has affiliate programs. So it depends what you're in. If you're like a DJ podcast, is there a DJ equipment that you can contact them and say, hey, for every sale that I make with this code, I get back X amount. So that is the easiest way in how I started monetizing
the pod. Then I went to local businesses. I had an attorney, a real estate person that would buy ads for seventy five dollars an ad and it was local and I'm like, hey, this is realtor. I also had an attorney that because I talked about and I had my daughter and I was dealing with a lot of child supporting and my divorce at that time in twenty seventeen, I had just finished it. I had an attorney since
I talked about it. I'm like, oh, and if you need here in Central Florida someone for your child support or whatever it might be, this is the attorney for you boom fifty to one hundred dollars an ad.
So you have your like you're focused with local in the beginning too local yep, and anything digital that could be for anyone. Okay, So and I would pitch myself just like cold email, hold emails.
Yeah.
See, you guys are waiting for her to be like and then I had the magic idea. But there is no cheat code. It's just and some people think the
cheat code is hiring out for help. And I can't think of a worse trap in the sense that if you are not clear, like you said on who your audience is, what your show is about, what you want to say, all that point of view format things like that, it can quickly sort of spiral, I don't know, just become something that you never wanted to begin with, if you're even lucky enough to make money that way.
Outsourcing is now. I wish I could outsource the gym and someone would take my body and take me to the outsource everything. But there are two things that we can outsource, and that is like our physical health and our mental health. We got to do it ourselves. But everything else, I am a fan of outsourcing everything but at the right time, you need to know what you're outsourcing. Yes, I outsource now my editing, my video and all that, but I was doing that all myself at one point.
So if at some point, whoever it is, they mama dies or dog dies, or they just want to quit because they're irresponsible, I can pick up that slack and you kind of know how you want it done. So I definitely will say, learn how to do everything yourself first and then outsource. That works for most people. There are some that are like, hey, I got the budget, take it on with the agency, right, That's why have
the academy, to have the agency. The academy is everyone that wants to do it on their own, you know, I can launch with the agency is like, hey, I have the budget, help me get it done, and let's just put it out there.
Yeah. And for folks who are wondering and have the question, well, how do I determine how much an ad is? You mentioned CPM, which is it's just its cost per thousand, even though it's cost per million, right, like whatever it means, like the dollar amount her thousand listeners, you can estimate that you're going to deliver. So let's say an ad is one hundred dollars. You know, for every thousand listeners that we have, you're the accountant, so you can probably do that math.
Well, the CPM is actually in the end in this industry specifically, is twenty five to thirty five dollars is their CPM. So for every thousand downloads, it's thirty five dollars. So some people are like, oh my god, it's such a lucrative business. When it comes to sponsorship. The top one percent is the ones that are making money, honestly, so you have to have one hundred thousand downloads to get thirty five hundred dollars.
Yeah, the average side count of ties. When we got to fifty k, when we could consistently get fifty k per month, that's when an advertiser was like, I mean, an agency was like, okay, we'll sell adds for you, and fifty thousand is not easy to do. Her average listener, there's average is.
The average is one hundred and fifty two downloads. Wow, the average podcast gets between one hundred and fifty to two hundred downloads an episode. And if you're there, be really proud that you're there. And with that just Imagine, I tell everyone as I'm teaching, imagine walking every single week into an auditorium with one hundred and fifty people. You're popping.
I love that, and yes, I do that too.
If you can. If you're walking every Monday into a room with one hundred and fifty people that are showing up for you, you're doing a great job. Now, how are you going to monetize those one hundred and fifty people? Now they're showing up, Now they really trust you. Create something for them. Start selling, and don't be scared to sell. They want to buy. They literally want to buy from
you because they want to support you. Do it. Get it. Then, don't feel scared about your frenzy and fething being like, oh my god, who's gonna buy from you? You're just pooky from the corner. No, you, these people really do love you, despite of what anyone else may think. Get Start providing products and services or retreats or groups or you know, whatever it may be that you can monetize, whether it's ten dollars a month to fifty bucks a month,
whatever it may be. Monetize that one hundred people before you get to fifty thousand.
Yes, have a plan to your point, have a strategy.
It's almost like it's important to think about what's the infrastructure, like what are the bones of this operation because you don't want it, Like you said, like if you wait until you get there to whatever that, to whatever there is, whatever goal you have right then and like all those people that you could have, you know, have built a deeper relationship with and monetize all that all that time that could now be even more you know, have even more trust for you and be more on your side
and jumping on products that you're offering, like you're kind of leaving out on the table and then you're just not ready either. Then it's like, oh wait, I need a strategy. And it's like it depends what you do in the table.
I have a pod like No for sure, who gets easily two hundred and fifty thousand an episode on a regular week right then I also have like Chino Na Revolution, which is Erica Cruz. She's a business coach. Essentially, she has this community so we use it as a lead generator. She just had to launch ninety thousand dollars launch and everybody's like, oh my god, but she's her pod is not like crazy her social media, I think she only has like twenty some one thousand followers. How does she
do that? She keeps showing up and we produce her stuff and we have ads in her podcast, and she has extra many episodes with testimonials. We have so I used to be people will be like, oh, you're a podcast coach. I really consider myself a podcast strategist. There's a strategy behind all of this where it doesn't people
don't even realize that they're being sold to. And I think that's the gift that I was giving, is being able to sell something without making it feel salesy and finding what works for you and what's successful to you, because to some people is two hundred thousand dollarads to others five hundred, but making ninety thousand on a launch, yeah, and investing twelve hundred a month.
Yeah. And I to your point about, you know, whether you work with people or you sell ads on your own or something like that, Like what's your take on that when it comes to because I've heard from some podcasters who don't have a network and they're selling six figure you know, you know, deals with partners, and it's almost like the beauty is that there's no rules, like you make up the numbers that you want when you're doing it yourself.
Zero rules. So I've never been with a network as I have shows my network.
Shout out to Cumulus and Westwood and you're great, but you know, thirty five sixty five split, you know what I mean, Like they're thirty five are sixty five, that's pretty standard. Yeah, and you know then tip and I
sput that, you know, fifty to fifty from there. But yeah, the sky can be the limit, you know when you're doing on Absolutely, there's beauty of podcasting is that we're an untapped market when it comes like music industry that even streams in the music industry is like it's split this way, blah blah blah.
There are no rules to podcasting. There's no right or wrong way. You choose what your value is essentially and what you want to charge, so you know, success will look very different to every body. And this space I've never, like I said, I've never been part of a network, and I choose the price for my stuff. I said, well, look at my conversion rate, especially with affiliate links. Look at what my conversion rate is. Every time I talk about it, Well, now I want X amount and get
that done. And there are deals where it's completely exclusive. There are non exclusive deals that I also work on where it's like it's a small split, but we can still bring in whatever we want. You can do whatever you want with your podcast. Just have a strategy where it doesn't look crazy. Wait where it works.
Yeah, okay, well we could do this for hours and hours and hours. But Carla, thank you so much for sharing your insights and from one self made woman to the next. I think your story is super inspirational and I appreciate you sharing it with brand ambition. Where can people find you and find out all the amazing work that you're doing.
So Carla will Maris and I know what the name the last thing whatever even worse.
I was like, oh the Madis, Yeah, that's what it is.
We Maddi's with Maddis. Yeah, girl, go that exactly what is? So, Carla will Madis on all social platforms. I have my podcast Pivot with Purpose, where I speak on you know, weekly every Monday. We have an episode Tuesday comes out on YouTube. I am on the radio if your local fly on all three to one, and we have an app as well. So I get in the morning show and get in trouble once a week for things that I say, but they knew what they were getting themselves into.
And if you're looking to launch a podcasts on your own, I have a self paced course, or if not, you can do a consultation with me as a twenty minute console and I kind of I'll decide or we will decide if we're good for each other. I don't If you have an idea and I don't feel close to it, I won't work with you. I would love to take your money, but so many times I'll be like, you know what, I just don't think we're a good fit or whatever it may be. Maybe you should try this instead.
I'll give you an idea, but I don't take on everyone. But we can do a consult and say, hey, this would work for you.
Amazing? All right, bea fam again to Carla, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful insights Pivot with Purpose. Y'all go check out that show asap. I know I'm going to ah another amazing throwback episode. Such a fun trip down memory lane. Hey ba fan, make sure to check out Brown Ambition every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and while you're at it, leave us a review. Please. You can leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It's entirely free to do and it means so much to us. Hi