Welcome to Podcasting Tech, a podcast that equips busy entrepreneurs engaged in podcasting with proven and cost effective solutions for achieving a professional sound and appearance. I'm Matthew Passi, your host and a fifteen year veteran in the podcasting space. We'll help you cut through the noise and offer guidance on software and hardware that can elevate the quality of your show. Tune in weekly for insightful interviews with tech creators, behind the scenes studio tours, and
strategies for podcasting success. Head to podcastingtech.com to subscribe to this show on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform and join us on this exciting journey to unlock the full potential of your podcast. Trying something a little bit different here today on the show. We are chatting with Roy Collin. He is a seasoned serial entrepreneur and, having founded 20 companies across five countries, and he's also successfully launched six podcasts to the top of the
echelons of their industry. Roy, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you very much, Matthew, for having me on the show. Oh, it's our pleasure. So I have to imagine that the entrepreneurial piece of your life preceded the podcasting part of your life. So I gotta ask, after having some success as an entrepreneur, what made you want to dip your toes into the podcasting world? It was more about getting a message out, It kinda through my journey of kinda
losing everything, I wanted to expose the whole lot. And I thought, oh, podcasting is a good way. So I basically started joining Toastmasters, became very good at public speaking, and that was my first podcast. The speaking podcast to help people become better speakers. Wow. Alright. So what were some of the other podcasts that you've had in your career? The meditation podcast. So, like, a lot of times people will say, I don't have time to meditate, and it's helped me in my journey when
I lost stuff. And I wanted that. It's always free. And your meditations from one minute to two hours, but also interviews talking about breath work, meditations, chakra, yoga, all that kind of stuff. I've got the crypto, which is talking about all things blockchain technology, awakening, exposing fraud and corruption, but with solution, and the Learn Polish podcast, which is kinda like five to ten minutes helping people to learn the Polish language and, like, the
student and then there's the teacher that's going through it. Very cool. So, I mean, these are very different industries. Right? These are not it's not like, oh, I launched an entrepreneurial podcast and then I did five more just like it. No. You, you are hitting up all the different categories over here, different audiences. So what was it that you noticed in your first show that lets you to believe that you were good at this, that, you know, convinced you to start launching more shows?
I think it was getting into number one in a couple of countries was was one of the things, you know, it wasn't something I was expecting. And just the feedback, you know, not everyone will actually write the feedback on, say, Facebook or something like that. But just when you meet them, and they'll say, I'm listening to your shows like it. And at one stage, I was kinda using the marketing team trying to get into different countries, and I'd reach out to
friends and say The UK. And then they'd come back and they go, I actually like this. I'm starting to to follow it. It was so just just by doing that and knowing that I was making an impact and just listening to feedback when someone thanks you and just realizing, hey. I can make a change in the world. So all of mine are kinda relating to
improving the world as such. And this the last one was the the pod fodder, which is basically trying to keep people in the podcasting world because, you know, we keep away from CNN, BBC, and things like that because they're just regurgitating lies. But when you've got the podcasters, they're getting a lot of information out. But, unfortunately, a lot of them throw on the towel, and that was my thing. I was sharing tips and tricks to try to keep them in the
game. Okay. So what did you find I mean, did you do a lot of research prior to launching that first podcast? Were you, you know, obsessing over podcasting hacks and strategies, or did you just kinda throw it out there and see what stuck and and used your instincts for being an entrepreneur to, you know, guide the show and and help it be successful? There was a guy who had done a workshop for about five hours. So that
was my first kind of introduction, and I got, I can do this. Then Then I went to it, and it's like, for any business I get involved in, I'll read about 10 books. So I read a lot of the books to basically try to understand everything. And regarding, like, editing and sound quality, I know you you've been you know, you've massive experience in that. I'll never be at that level. What I did is I brought a guy in, paid him, show me how to edit this, use it on Audacity,
and he said, do this, this, this. I just logged it down and kind of followed that system for a few years. So what would you say were some of the things that you were doing that helped you to be successful and then encouraged you to continue to, you know, keep launching shows. And again, very different shows each time, no two really the same. A lot of people, what they're doing is they spend a lot of
time making sure the quality is perfect, which is great. It's great to have great song because, I mean, there's times that if I I didn't do a check once, and what happened is it kicked into the the camera microphone, and the quality was turbo. So after that, I kinda make sure I have a check that I check everything prior to recording an interview. And but what most people do, they're getting the sound right, they're getting the studio right, and they
do their interviews. One, are they doing their interviews properly? That they're preparing properly for the guest that's coming on. So you'd have a fantastic conversation. So, for example, sometimes people have whether you're using PodMatch or different systems. There's loads of different. What happens is people will list kind of typical headings and typical questions. But if you're doing that, you're going to have very sim similar interviews, and you don't want that. You want something unique.
So I have my own kind of form, and I try to get something out of that. And when I'm even doing research, I'm looking at their a YouTube channel. I'm looking at a load of things. I'm looking at what was popular. So I'm trying to create questions that will create a unique interview, which one, allows me to create a very good podcast, but also the guest realize, hey. This is I've got hundreds of my guests kinda saying how much they enjoyed the
show, best interview we've had. Like, it's not that's not rare for me. It's, like, constant. But what that does is that thing gets them sharing it as well. So I'll tag them on LinkedIn and all the different platforms, but they're also happy to share. I'll create charts. And it's like you put a lot of effort into the marketing, whereas some people forget that side. So one, preparation is very important. But two, don't just go next. You have to market, unfortunately,
more time doing the marketing. At the start, you're doing it yourself, then you can get, you know, virtual assistants to do a lot of it. But it's it's painful. You don't wanna be doing that. You like, the creative side is actually interviewing people, enjoying what you're doing. But if you want people to find it, you have to go out there and show them where to do it. So there's, you know, there's a few different things you can be doing. Like, for example, Facebook groups.
Like, sometimes people, they just blast it out there. But, say, the Polish one. I went to foreigners in Poland, foreigners in Warsaw, Polish in The UK, Polish in Ireland, Chicago, Polish, because they're all places where people would be usually, they'd meet meet a partner that they're trying to get to learn the language that when they go home talking to the grandparents or the parents, they'll understand the language. So I was reaching the
right group where some people, they just blasted out there. So it's kind of targeting where you're going to do your marketing. How did you have time to do all that prep work that you were talking about doing and do all the post production marketing that you were talking about doing while also, you know, being a serial entrepreneur? Right? I I know lots of entrepreneurs who don't have enough time to sleep and yet you seem to have way more time than the
rest of us. I think I like to systemize everything. I'm always looking, how do I make this better? So for example, one of the things what I did on the form is what bio will I use? What where's your links and everything? Because what I was finding is I'm going into your website after the interview. I'm trying to find what will I write about, who my guest is, and then what links to do. You know, this was prior to even using PodMatch where sometimes you'll find the links easy. But I asked
them to give me that as well as the picture. So I have everything in one place. And then when I'm uploading it, I'm uploading the audio, but I do it on Spotify. So that's video as well, but not all platforms have that. But then I'll do the YouTube. I'll do the Bitchute. I'll do the rumble, and I'm doing them all at once. So a lot of times, people are kinda doing it all when they get time and they get time. So I'm just cutting and pasting title, show notes, and
then posting that. And I kinda do that with everything. I'm constantly trying to go, how can I make that easier for myself? And I know, like, because I've heard so many people, even with one show, they go, oh, I don't have time. And they they're throwing it all because of that. And it's a case of allow set out certain times that you're doing things. So I know, like, some some people, you can only book them on certain
times to do the interview. Whereas there's others, they'll have their calendar open the whole time. I don't do that. My calendar is blocked out for certain times. When my son when I'm with my son, that's blocked out. Nobody can book an interview at that stage. So I kind of respect my own time as well. But at the same time, I systemize everything to make it, I suppose, production wise, because everything gets done. And then I started outsourcing, creating the shorts
and stuff like that. But the way I do that is I actually edit everything myself. I do it by two. So even if I'm watching stuff so, you know, regarding looking at, guest preparation, I can listen to stuff at by two speed. Even if it's audio, I can go up to three and a half. Spotify allows you at three and a half. And I've kinda trained myself that I can listen to a video twice. Unfortunately, when it's just a video, they don't allow you to go past two and a
half times or two twice by two. But if they could, I'm sure I'd be able to comprehend that as well. And it's not that I go from one to two. I kinda build it up, you know, one quarter, one half. And sometimes with within seconds, I can go, yeah, I can understand this. So when I'm editing, I do the exact same. My measuring is at a at twice the speed, and that just allows me to to get more done in short time. When it comes to your marketing assets, and I know you talked about, you know, going into
Facebook groups that are specific to your niche or things like that. But more importantly, when you are consuming your content, thinking about clips, thinking about quotes, right, thinking about the things that you are going to highlight for the audience in order to attract them to the show, what is it you're
thinking about? Right? What are the sort of, you know, things you're looking for, targeting, hoping to find the things that you find are most effective in not just getting people to like it, but actually getting people to convert into someone who will listen and subscribe to a show? It's like, that's one of the reasons that I actually edited myself because it's very hard to outsource that that they will pick up on key points. So as I'm
going through it, I'm just going, oh, that's a nice point. Whether it's something that I've responded to or I ask a question and the the answer is just great. So I'm putting time stamps on that, and then I'm sending it to the team. So they're just extracting that, creating the charts, and they're putting up. But what happens a lot of time is people, they create the shorts, they put it out there, and that's it. But no they assume
someone's going to go, oh, Matthew, I'm going to search his show. Or if you've got the name of the show, they're going to go away and search it. People are lazy. They're not gonna do that. So what I do is I have it in my in the the box that I create the shorts with. And say the Polish one, I created it like a Polish flag. And then sometimes I later have it on the on the post we're doing or else in the comments. And you have to just depend on the platform that you're actually posting to because
the algorithms work, you know. So sometimes you can't just put up a video because they don't wanna take you away from, say, Facebook to YouTube. So you have to be careful how you do it. But just being conscious of that and watching the way that you're doing it. It's it's funny you said that.
You know, whenever I was coaching clients about their podcast marketing efforts and, you know, trying to grow their show, I was like, the one thing you have to realize is that people and when I say people, I don't mean individually, I would just mean the as a whole, people are dumb and lazy. And so you have to explicitly state what it is you want them to do and then make it as easy as humanly possible for them to do it. And
so, right, that's that's kinda like the same thinking. Right? If you want people to subscribe to your show, tell them subscribe to my show, and then put a link somewhere right there where they click on that, and then the next thing they are doing is subscribing. Don't make them click here, click here, do this, do this, right? Because by the time you get to step five, we're actually subscribed, they're gone. Right? They've already given up. They don't they don't
need homework. They want, you know, roll out the red carpet and make it as easy as possible for them to do what it is you want them to do. There's, a lot of like, I've been doing that from the very start. You know, give me a thumbs up, five star rating, whatever. But what I've learned is a lot of people don't know how to give a rating, and I created a video on that. Like, now it's a bit I think this people are kinda embrace podcasting a bit more. But is it like, with
Spotify, you can't write a comment, but just showing them, hit the three dots. And then so make sure no for Matthew that you go and hit the three dots and give give the five star rating because it helps with the algorithms. It helps with everything. So then they start showing it to more people. And the same with, you know, Apple. You know how to do it, give the rating, give a nice title, give. And, like, with the website I do, I have on the
website that they can do it. So just make it easy for them. As you say, you have to make it easy. They're not going to go out of their way if it's if it's gonna cause them work. If they can just hit a button and then write something nice, they'll do it. So alone to have that flexibility. Yeah. No. And and I I would say, you know, for those of us in the podcasting industry who have been trying to educate and, you know, get people
more involved, We appreciate you putting those explainer videos out there. I'm sure you've, helped a lot of folks and saved us the trouble. But, you know, even even as Roy was saying, you know, more people are understanding and doing it, still, if you're one of those folks who really wants to encourage reviews, let's say, I love what you're saying. Make a video. Show them how to do it. Do a screen share from your phone. Record one on your computer.
List the step by step and say, oh, you wanna do a review? Here is how to do it so that they can't mess it up. And make sure you update it. Right? Because the systems change every few years. Right? I I don't wanna I don't wanna see you opening up iTunes desktop, to leave a review on a podcast when podcasts are no longer listed on iTunes. Right? So make sure that you are, you know, keeping those kind of resources
up to date as well, for your audience. Is there is there something you do when you are getting ready to launch a new show, that you think helps with its trajectory, with its ability to be successful? There is. And usually, I don't share that, but I will.
Because That's a lot, folks. Everybody everybody's got their own secret sauce, and it's I I did this with a first few, and then I took a course because I was cons I'm constantly re still reading books and just trying to improve because you'd pick up on stuff. And I did, London reels course, and it was about 3 or $4, the the price of this. But I met a lot of fellow podcasters, so there was an advantage to that. And I used their launch for the awakening one, and it's the first one that didn't get
into the top of the charts at the start. And, you know, so sometimes we'll think, oh, they know better, but just kinda try to look at what they're doing. And, you know, it's different when they've got millions of views and later on, you just assume, oh, this is a massive show. They're bound to know what they're doing. Have I mean, I tell people, have at least 10 shows ready anyway. Because you will think I'll I'll create a show every week and I put it out. I
think you need to have at least three going out fast. Maybe the next day and maybe not three into one goal, but one day, next day, next day that you're free. And then if you're planning on doing one a week, then do a one a week after that. Because what happens is if Matt puts out his podcast and people like it, they're not going to subscribe because they just see one. They
think, is this a one hit wonder? And they're gone. Whereas if they see a few, they'll come in and they'll start actually listening and going, oh, I'll start subscribing to that. So I think that's one of the advantages. And then you get into platforms where you know where you're in the charts and sharing. It's constantly about sharing where you are. Bragging as such, but like because so many clients that I have, like,
they feel like I shouldn't do this. They they they feel like it's bad, but what happens is if I'm putting out, oh, I'm number one in in in New Zealand or whatever, People are curious. And plus, you put the flag, and then you don't know some of the people that you're connected with might be from New Zealand or know somebody from New Zealand. I know the curiosity had come in. And every time you as you're getting in the charts
or you're somewhere new, put it out there. And if you know, like, sometimes, there's you you could be in the top 10. Someone does a blog post and and actually recommends your show. Put it out there. And I just constantly doing things like that. And I think that helps. And just ask as I said about the reviews, I remember I was selling properties at one stage, and we were coming back from the deal. Two guys, were going to collect their cars, and they asked me what was I doing.
And I said, I know the pod I made them both open their phones and give me a five star rating their own day. And it's like, most people are shy and ashamed of doing that. But by doing that, it's actually showing more people. And get as many reviews as you can. I mean, these people, they have family members in the house that don't even listen to it. At least get them to give you a review. You know,
even if they're not writing something in the five star, it'll all help. Because at the end of the day, what you're trying to do is get the popularity that it gets in front of the right people that will actually be true fans and start listening to you. And then they'll come back and come back, and then your numbers will just go up. Lovely. We've been chatting with Roy Collin. He is a serial entrepreneur and host of several podcasts. You can find more info on what he's doing, especially in the in
terms of podcasting at Roy Coughlan. It's r o y c o u g h l a n dot com. And, of course, I'll have a link here in the show notes so you can easily find that. Roy, before we let you go, there's three questions that we always like to ask all of our guests who come on the show. First one is, is there something in the podcasting space, whether it's on the production side, distribution, listening, whatever it is, Is there something you would like to see improved
in podcasting overall? I suppose that they put time into their marketing because I we've touched on it, but I don't want people leaving the space, especially when you actually start listening. I'm I listen to a lot of podcasts. There's not more than enjoying a podcast and then they throw in the towel and it's gone. And, yeah, you can listen to it, but it's so I think, you know, what what you're doing, you're sharing tips and trick. That's making it easier for people. And I
think the more people that do that, let's keep them in the space. So that that's one thing that I would like to do that that I'd like to see because I've seen so many people drop. I mean, you look at the statistics. It the statistics is saying, like, of the 3.3 million, you get different numbers. But they're saying, like, 90% is gone. And that's, you know, that's a shame to see. I mean, so let's try to keep them in there. Alright. I love it. Is there any technology on
your wish list? Whether it's, equipment or maybe a piece of software that, either you haven't purchased yet or hasn't been created that you would wanna, you know, incorporate into your podcasting? I was actually talking to somebody today who's doing, avatars. And the one thing that annoys me, and this probably happens to you, is you'll get bombarded with messages. And it's usually people going, I can promote your podcast. I can give you
10,000,000. You know, there there more you might find the odd one that might actually do something for you, but they're all scammers. They're all scammers. They're all taking your money. They're all pretending they can get you this, that, and the other thing. And, unfortunately, like, because you actually get genuine people writing to you as well because they really love what you do. I mean, when when you look at it, like, Spotify gives the the list at the
end of the year. And to see, you know, couple of hundred people that you're their number one podcast, that's beautiful to see. You know? It's like, you're going, wow. There's so many podcasts out there, and I'm their number one. And then they show you the top five and top 10. But just, you know, seeing that is actually, beautiful to to have. Very. Yeah. So so and I know I went on a tangent. There's nothing really
because I've evolved. So the lighting, I I done acoustics at once there's no I have got the I don't know what you call it, the acoustic thing that surrounds the mic. I like, you know, there's nothing that I go, oh, I need to get this because I just go and get it. But I I try to keep it simple. I mean, I look at all the different mics. I have the Audio Technics mic that just goes USB
because I'm not a technical person. And I I've I've had a few people that I'd interview, and they have, like, all the mixers and everything. And once it goes wrong, it's no problem to you. You can totally understand that. Well, most people don't. And when it goes wrong, they can't, oh, we'll have to reschedule it. So I never had a problem. I have a spare one there. I never need to use it. This is going seven years, and it still works grand.
Amazing. Love it. And lastly, are there any podcasts that you are listening to that are, you know, absolute favorites, the kind of podcast that either, you know, a new episode comes out and you're gonna stop whatever it is you're listening to to go check it out or, you know, you're not gonna let a new episode, just kinda go, you know, without checking it out. Are there any podcast, a few that, come to mind like that? I suppose the three that I like, Patrick Bet
David, I listen to all his episodes. I just love what they're doing and kinda understanding what's going on in the world, as well as kinda seeing that he's trying to make life better for humanity. So it's good to see that. Regarding, a Blind Boy podcast, this is a guy that he, it's just audio. He wears a plastic bag on his head, so he doesn't want nobody knowing what he's doing. And he just does a hot take. And it's he's funny. It's it's just very enjoyable. Every
week I listen to him. And there's another one, live love laugh. So that's, Lad Baby. And basically, most people wouldn't have heard of them. They've had five number ones. So they've topped, like, the the amount of people that got number ones for Christmas in The UK. They're they've had best selling books. The two of them are, autistic, and they they kinda do, like, funny videos. Both their podcast is very good. They they pause it
now for the Christmas one, so it should be starting again. Season three should be starting. But it's one of these ones that you're just listening, having a laugh, and enjoying it. The same with Blind Boy, whereas Patrick Bet Dave is one that you're kinda you're learning what's going on in the world. Love it. Alright. We'll, try to have links to all those in the show notes as well. And once again, we've been chatting with Roy Collin. You can learn
more about him at roycoughlan.com. Again, r o y c o u g h l a n dot com. Roy, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you very much. Matthew thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for joining us today on Podcasting Tech. There are links to all the hardware and software that help power our guest content and podcasting tech available in the show notes and on our website at
podcastingtech.com. You can also subscribe to the show on your favorite platform, connect with us on social media, and even leave a rating and review while you're there. Thanks, and we'll see you next time on Podcasting Tech.