This is going to sound cheesy, I'm sure, but I don't care. So to me, it's like every episode you have is almost like a gift to yourself. It's giving you time with yourself to not only listen to the words that you're saying, but reflect on how they affect your body, how they affect your mind and your path. And so that's why I love it just so, so much. So I'm curious though, with like monetization, you had mentioned that it became very successful very fast.
What avenues are you using to monetize the podcast? So I am coming from a different angle because I launched the podcast when I already had a really large following and a large newsletter and I had a whole marketing team and a manager and an agent. And so I'm, you know, what I'm going to share perhaps isn't, you know, people's experience if they're launching it from the ground up. But here's a couple of things that are very helpful for anyone, wherever you are.
The way monetization happened for me is I was already doing a lot of content for other brands and social media. I was already speaking for other brands. I was already going to other companies and doing, you know, different things for other companies. So it just became kind of an easier thing to just say, Hey, I can come speak, I can come do this talk. And then what about you? You advertise on a podcast and what about you sponsor this dance practice that I'm going to have?
So we just, we were able to do this kind of integrated marketing where I'll post on social media, I'll mention in my newsletter, I will do something for your company and then you sponsor the episode. So it was this integrated marketing approach to it. So I just reached out, my team reached out to a lot of the brands that I had already worked with in the past to then sponsor the podcast.
So that was, if you already have a sort of a built in community and you already have brands that you're working with this reach out to them and see if they want to sponsor the episode, the show. So that's one side. On the other side, get affiliates, find brands that you love what they do, that are very well established. They are already doing big things. I think we often feel like we have to recreate the wheel. Some people created the wheel and it's moving smoothly.
Don't think you need to recreate that thing. Work with them and create your own wheel. Create your own thing after. So the affiliate stuff is very important. Reach out to brands that are companies that have amazing affiliate programs and incorporate different affiliate links throughout the show. At the beginning, in the middle and the end perhaps too, but work with the affiliate and reach out to them and say, hey, I'm doing something unique on my show. I think your brand could really use this.
And if your affiliate is this amount for regularly, why don't we up to this for my company? So I've done affiliate for a variety of different people. And it's amazing because you are always going to have someone clicking on that link and being interested in it.
But most important with any brand partnership, this is like, I was like moving on without saying this, with every brand partnership and with every sponsorship, with every affiliate, you must see if they have integrity about their brand and their business the same way that you do. They must have integrity. They must be doing something of benefit into the world. That will help me have a full body yes when I'm working with a brand instead of like, maybe it's really well paid, but maybe.
And then it's just like, if it's a maybe, it's a hell no for me. When there is like full integrity, it's a hell yeah. Okay, that makes complete sense. And I'm so glad you said that because so many people, whenever they start podcasting, they think, oh, okay, I got to create merch or I got to create digital products. And it's like, no, you don't. You can start with affiliate products and be a partner.
And I also like what you said about making sure that it's someone who has integrity because far too many people are only looking at the paycheck. They're not looking at whether or not it aligns with their values. And so I'm just so glad you said all of that. That's fantastic. Thank you so much.