We Can Miss The Most Obvious Things!
In hindsight, we wonder how we missed them.
Right before drafting this newsletter, I went live with Dagmar Khan | Clients For Life to share insights on podcasting for retention.
Before we went live, I messed up. Repeatedly.
I kicked us out of the live room - accidentally of course.
I couldn’t get my mic to work - you know, the fancy podcaster mic? Yeah, that one.
I set up a new live and couldn’t get it going.
All the while, Dagmar attempted to help. With the power of the DMs on Substack, Dagmar took the wheel, set up a new live, and invited me in.
I joined on my phone for the first few moments…
Until…
My phone died.🙄
Know what all this highlights? The importance of 3 things:
a great wingwoman
pre-planning
live irony
One can hold the space for the other for a minute. But ultimately? The connection and the voice have to show up and do the work.
Because…
The tech will fail you. The fancy mic will glitch. The phone will die.
And when it does? The only thing that keeps your listeners from bailing is the deep, unspoken trust you’ve already built with them.
If your message is weak, a dead mic is the end of the road.
But if your message is rooted in your CORE CONVICTION? If you’ve been doing the real work of connecting instead of just broadcasting? They’ll wait for you in the dark. They’ll refresh the page. They’ll root for you.
That is the difference between a podcast that’s just a time-sucking hobby and a high-trust, audio-first pipeline that earns its keep and keeps your clients.
Each week inside the Substack Podcast Studio, we build a podcast that is:
🔥 Memorable – Staking your claim with your CORE CONVICTION (because watered-down, middle-of-the-road advice is literally putting people to sleep).
🔥 Referable – Creating such a visceral, high-trust bond that your listeners can’t help but do your marketing for you.
🔥 Profitable – Moving people from “curious listener” to “premium client,” without burning your own life to the ground in the process.
Keep scrolling to pick your focus area for the week.
xoxoxo,
Jen
Become Memorable
First impressions matter. My client Amy Dial is closing in on 600 of them after just ONE trailer and ONE episode!
What makes Amy’s podcast so successful?
Amy didn’t do a planned launch for The Worthy Womb podcast.
That means no launch team.
So how’d she do it, without a big social media push?
Prep work - Amy invested in coaching to get her podcast right from the beginning.
Intention - Amy wrestled to get to her ideal person and once she did, she showed up for the one. This morning she shared the number was 550. I know when you read this, it’ll be higher.
Monetization Mindset - Amy knows what she is offering and why it is exactly what her woman needs right now. The authority she’s building with conviction is nurturing her audience and growing trust with each episode.
🎬Teeny tiny action: Want your podcast to be successful, too? Then let’s do some strategy together - your vision, my podcasting know-how using the Mic Drop Mastery Method.
Book your first Mic Drop Mastery Power Hour with me at https://thevirtualpodcastschool.com/podcastcoaching.
If you’re on the fence, and you are ready to invest $2k, then book a complimentary consult to see if podcast coaching is right for you at https://thevirtualpodcastschool.com/consult.
Become Referable
In my old school, we learned French like archaeologists.
Nobody actually SPOKE French.
We memorized vocabulary words. We translated sentences. We circled verbs like our lives depended on it.
But conversational French?
Absolutely not.
When I visited Paris at 17 and someone asked me a question in French, I smiled confidently… and immediately panicked internally.
There’s a big difference between studying a language and speaking it conversationally.
Same thing with business.
A lot of entrepreneurs are “studying” visibility.
Consuming content. Taking notes. Watching trainings at 2.0x speed.
But when it’s time to use their voice? Freeze.
That’s why I love podcasting.
You stop circling verbs. You start having conversations.
Parlez-vous podcasting?
🎬 Teeny tiny action: People don’t refer textbooks. They refer real people. They refer you.
Pull up the intro for your next episode (or your Substack ‘About’ page) and read it out loud.
Does it sound like you are reciting a corporate manual? Or does it sound like you’re sitting across from me drinking coffee, speaking normal English?
If you wouldn’t actually say it in real life, delete it. Stop over-studying, hit record, and let them hear your unscripted voice.
That is how you build the kind of high-trust bond that gets referred.
Need an example of how to keep it real? Listen to the Substack Podcast Studio episode #3, Top 10 Questions About Podcasting on Substack.
Become Profitable
We need to talk about the Pitch Panic.
You know exactly what I mean.
You spend 18 minutes delivering pure, unapologetic fire on the mic. Your listener is nodding along. The trust is high. You are in the zone.
And then… it’s time to talk about your paid stuff.
Suddenly, your voice goes up a full octave. You start talking like a caffeinated auctioneer. You mumble something about a link in the show notes, nervously laugh, and hit “Stop Recording” because you don’t even believe your own pitch.
I see you.
You are running a business, not a charity for people who like to listen to audio.
Remember the golden rule: Every single episode has to serve two purposes. A listener win, and a business win.
If you are building a high-trust pipeline on Substack, you have to invite people into the paid rooms. The $44 short-form workbook. The paid Substack tier. The premium coaching spot.
They want to buy from you. But you have to stop acting like selling to them is a weird, awkward inconvenience.
🎬 Teeny tiny action: Audit the last sales pitch of your most recent episode.
Did you catch a case of the Pitch Panic? Did you use flowery, complicated “coach speak” to cushion the ask?
For your next episode, write your Call to Action on a sticky note using normal, everyday English.
“If you loved this, the next step is [X]. It costs [Y]. You can get it right here.”
Read your pitch exactly like you’re telling your best friend about a great pair of jeans you just bought. Confident. Normal. Zero apologies.
If you are already doing this and you’re still hearing crickets?
Or if the mere thought of selling makes you want to hide under your desk because your podcast messaging feels like a disorganized junk drawer?
Your podcast is sick.
It’s running a low-grade fever of fuzzy messaging. It’s congested with random, disconnected ideas. And it’s likely suffering from a severe case of “friend-zoning” your listeners instead of converting them.
You don’t need to burn the show to the ground. You just need an expert diagnosis.
You can hire me personally for an audit, or you can start with a self-diagnostic tool and take the Podcast Health Checkup. Because a healthy podcast is a wealthy podcast. Go to thevirtualpodcastschool.com/healthcheckup.
(And psst… use the code SUBSTACKTLC to save 50% on the checkup!)
