Thriving in Online Business and Podcasting on a Budget w/ Sarah St. John

But I just knew that I didn't want to go into debt for, like a business I'm like the whole point is I'm supposed to make money, not like lose money. Of course you know you still have to spend a little bit money up front, but it's just a lot more attainable, I think, with an online business and, of course, the less money you have to spend on the business, the more money you're actually making or keeping.

The journey to wealth is a long walk and some may walk quicker than others, but what good is sprinting to the finish line if you pass out when you cross it? On Walk to Wealth, we enlighten and empower young adults to build wealthy, abundant lives. They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and your first step starts right now. This is Walk to Wealth with your host, John Mendez.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Walk to Wealth podcast. If you're tuning in on YouTube or any of the podcast directories, make sure to do yourself one teeny, tiny little favor and make sure to give us a follow, because I don't want you to miss out on any of the amazing guests I have coming on this year. Without further ado, let's get right into this one. Sarah, for anyone that hasn't had the opportunity to meet you yet, to get to know you, to follow in and hear about what you have going on, tell us your elevator pitch Now. Who are you and what do you do?

Yeah, so I'm Sarah St John. I have a podcast called Frugal Prenuer, which is about building a business on a bootstrap budget, and I also help people launch, manage, market and grow their podcast as well.

Amazing. So, sarah, so I got to meet you back at Podfest. So I'm not sure if I shared the story of how I landed my first I think I might have of how I landed my first keynote, which was at Podfest. It was the little Petra Kucha speech and it was 20 slides, 20 seconds, and it was the most like, probably like exhilarating thing that I've done. That hasn't been like a theme park or anything like that since, like playing football back in high school, like I never stood in front of that many people before, and I think it was a packed room. I think if they said it was about 200 people in that room. And so it was like super fast paced, full house and I was up there and I still remember like it was yesterday. I came back to sit next to you and you were recording for me and I remember that I think you it was you that told me that the MC I forget her name, I'm so bad with names. I just know that she's Andrew's wife, but the MC she had asked me to hop on the pot, her podcast, but because I had so much like pretty much excitement in adrenaline, I didn't hear anything. She said as soon as I, like, I got the mic, I just blanked out. But, sarah, tell us you know your, your backstory a little bit. For anyone who hasn't got the opportunity to get to meet you yet, take us back in a time machine. What was money like? What was entrepreneurship like growing up?

Yeah, so I mean I feel like I've always been an entrepreneur at heart, but I didn't realize it until I was, I guess, in my 20s. But I mean, I was selling candy and pencils and stuff that I got for free somehow and would turn around, sell them to friends, and you know, there were all these little signs along the way, but it just didn't register. Because I was told you know, go to college, get a degree, do a nine to five, blah, blah, blah. Well, in 2008, I had had six different jobs that year not at the same time, but throughout the course of the year and realized that I didn't really like working for other people. So I launched a photography business, because that was kind of what I was into at that time. But I realized that it was expensive to maintain, you know, equipment and software and lighting and just all the stuff. So I decided, okay, I think I want to switch to something online Because there's a lot less overhead. And I tried all kinds of things drop shipping, affiliate marketing, blogging, print on demand, all these different things. So but nothing really stuck. And so, but it was through that process I discovered, like all these free or affordable tools, resources and software that people can use to run an online business on a budget. So I got the idea to write a book called Frugalpreneur and then I decided to launch a podcast, also called Frugalpreneur, to kind of coincide with the book, to be an extra marketing avenue. But I got more attraction leverage from the podcast than the book. Plus, I love the networking and connections and friendships, all of that, and so it was originally supposed to just be like 10 episodes to help promote the book. But that's been over four years now and I'm still doing the podcast and loving it. And now I was doing like podcast production for a while, but now I'm kind of transitioning into podcasts like education, marketing and things like that, and so, yeah, kind of all in on podcasting.

That's exciting. I want to talk to you because one of the things I always mentioned about myself is that I wasn't the typical entrepreneur. Growing up Like I wasn't selling candy bars or pencils or anything. And I had a couple of friends who were right. I had a couple of friends who, very early on, were like flipping sneakers and they will go in like a couple shoeboxes to like a sneaker convention and come out with like 10 and I come out with like a wagon behind them. It's like I don't know what you guys did in there, but they just they just knew what to do when it came to like selling sneakers. And so it's like let me ask you, at what stage of your life did that kind of start to go away? I don't know if you realize it or not. Right, what stage did it start to go away?

Did like what in particular go away.

Like the entrepreneur, like the selling pencils and things like that. Did that carry on through middle school and high school as well?

Or like no, I mean, I think it was mainly elementary and I think there were probably things here and there that I did in junior high and high school, but I didn't really, I don't know. Like looking back I can't think of anything in particular. So I think that kind of faded out a little bit, not because I don't know. I guess I was sticking to that path of yeah, figure out what your major is and go good degree, which I did, get a journalism well, just as an associates, but you know, but still, like I just didn't really think about entrepreneurship as an option, really, I guess, because they don't really present that really yeah, at all At all.

So let me ask you then so you mentioned too that you realize you didn't like working for other people and that's when you decided to get into entrepreneurship what was the environment like around you, like the people in your circle and your community? Like what did they or your family maybe, like what did they have to say? I know, for me, when I decided to get off this traditional track of going because I was over at University of Connecticut, which is like the big, like state school here in CT, and I was over there having a good old time and then a pandemic happened, of course, in my sophomore year I decided to drop out and I got a ton of whiplash not whiplash backlash for doing that, for making that decision. I have a typical, like Dominican, traditional immigrant family where, like, the college degree is like the epitome of, like American success. So what was like the backlash? Did you get any backlash when you decided to get off that traditional track and pursue like entrepreneurship at all?

Well, I mean, I didn't leave my day job initially. It wasn't like I quit cold turkey and all that stuff. It was several years while I was, so my different entrepreneurial pursuits were more like side hustles, I guess.

Okay.

Like doing on the side, kind of building them up. It wasn't until, you know, recently really in the past, I don't know year or so, that maybe a little bit more, you know, but yeah. So I didn't really have. Now, if I had just like up and quit my job and then went down the entrepreneurship path, I'm sure I would have gotten so much crap for it Because, like the people I'm around, especially my family, they're very, they don't like, they're not risk takers, they don't take risk and stuff which is so. That's kind of how I was raised and grew up and kind of the mentality that I had, which is probably why it took me so long to actually leave a day job to pursue. Yeah, but yeah, so I didn't get much backlash just because I didn't, you know, leave that day job initially, yeah All right.

So that's kind of transitioned onto the main conversation. So, frugal, right, starting a business on a budget. Most of my audience not all of my audience, but a good chunk of them are people who normally have much money, that, like younger, like myself, when trying to get into entrepreneurship, don't know where to start. And in other portions, people who are a little more seasoned are in that you know nine to five, but they already have, you know, mortgage bills, et cetera, et cetera, that they have to pay for, right. So it's like you mentioned a very key point. I think probably might have went over a lot of people's heads, but you said that you went to a digital business because it had less overhead, right. So I guess start there. Why digital business or online business versus something more in person and physical? What are some of the general pros and cons of each?

Yeah. So I've just found that it's just so much more affordable to have an online business because you don't have to worry about a building or you know utilities beyond like you know your normal ones that you'd have anyway. Wherever you're doing your business, you don't have extra expenses, I guess. So as far as like brick and mortar and retail and all of that, I just feel like if someone has I'm a big person on like not going into debt I wasn't dead for a while from personal stuff, but that's all paid off and so but I just knew that I didn't want to go into debt for like a business. I'm like the whole point is I'm supposed to make money, not like lose money. Of course, you know you you still have to spend a little bit of money up front, but it's just a lot more attainable, I think, with an online business and, of course, the less money you have to spend on the business, the more money you're actually making or keeping. Now, if it's like an in-person business where maybe, like you go out and meet people but you don't have like a brick and mortar type location, but it's more, so your only expense really is travel, like gas and whatever, then you know, I think that's manageable too, but yeah, there's so many things you can do online that it just. I just feel like that's the way to go, in my opinion. No 100%.

And so let me ask you like, what are for people that are going online, because there's so many things to you could buy, right, you know you could spend. You can buy a corset, you could buy domain names, you could go get your LLC filed Like, what are some of the biggest expenses that people don't account for when starting a digital business? Because a lot of people think, oh, it's online, I could use my laptop or my phone and wifi and I'm good to go and think that they could just get up a business up and running. In some you know circumstances you can. But like what are some of the things that people usually don't account for that they have? They end up spending a lot more money on.

Yeah, well, I like that. You mentioned LLC. I do have an LLC and honestly that was probably the most expensive thing. Besides, maybe like an occasional course here or there, that was probably the most expensive thing, but it's still. It was like maybe 300. I don't remember, it's been years ago, but it wasn't like ridiculous. But I definitely do recommend that, and of course each state I guess differs in how much that'll be, but I just think it's worth. It's a one time fee, you know. So I just think it's worth doing, because that basically what that does is well, it's called limited liability, so like if someone were to sue you in your business, for example, they can only go after business assets, not personal assets or personal money or whatever. So I think it's worth doing. But other than that, I definitely recommend having a website. A lot of people think they just need a social media presence, and that's important too. But don't depend or rely just on that, because you can't really control it. Like it could go away like MySpace did. Well, I don't know if you remember, I don't know how old you are. But MySpace, yeah, I just kind of disappeared overnight a few years ago and no one saw that coming, and so you just never know, like if something could go away or like they start limiting, like people's accounts get shut down, like you just don't know. And so, definitely, having a place that you totally control and own in websites, I mean, they can be as little as like if you did WordPress, that would be free. You just have to get hosting, which that could be as low as like three bucks, depending on who you go with, but three bucks a month. Or you could do like a Wix, a Weebly Squarespace, you know some drag and drop type thing for maybe 20 bucks a month, something like that. So it's still very minimal. And, of course, have a domain name. And I also recommend starting with an email service provider as well, so that you can get leads or will have a lead magnet like a free PDF of some sort or something like that On your website so that people can get on your email list. And then for email service provider, I use send Fox, which is free up to a certain number of subscribers, and then it's like I think it's like 49 bucks one time, or is it 29? And. But yeah, I just love it, especially as a podcaster, because you can connect your RSS feed to it and it'll automatically generate newsletters and send those emails out. But yeah, those are the things I recommend, like getting started, and all of that's really affordable 100% and another thing that's super affordable.

It's kind of what we're doing now is kind of segue into the next part. You mentioned podcasting right, and for I think it's fair to say for both of us it's changed the course of how our life turned out and how our business in general turned out. And for you, I know you've been doing a lot of amazing things as a very recently what your podcast, you know, achieved top 200 on the charts of what is it? An entrepreneurship or business?

Entrepreneurship, which I think is a subcategory of business In business.

Yeah, that's something which is extremely impressive, and so you mentioned it started off as something that was just to promote the book, right? And then you decided to carry out further. Take us through that journey of the first few months podcasting. Like what was going through your head, I know, for me I almost became part of like that statistic that never makes its past. On like seven episodes. Like I had a three week period of I was just say, if this, I'm done and not post anymore, Like what was those first few months like for you? And then what was it like after? You decided to like you know what, let me just keep this going. Like. What was it like during that time?

Oh, I'm trying to remember exactly this was 2019. So pre pandemic I think. Actually, now that I think about it, I think I had like the first seven or so episodes out to go with the book and then there was kind of a gap there of a few months and then I picked it back up and from that point I kept going, especially once COVID hit and we were all at home and like whatever, like to kind of fill the time. I was doing tons of interviews and I think it was kind of during that where it really became a big thing for me and like it was during that time that I was able to get like Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas and Jordan Harbinger, mike McCallow it's all these bigger people in the entrepreneurship space or the podcasting space and the fact that I was able to connect, find a way to connect with these people and get them on my show. Plus, just you know other people that maybe people haven't heard of, but like then a friendship kind of forms or networking, or like you never know who someone else might know or how maybe you might work together in the future for some project or collaboration. I mean, there's just so many things, so many options and potential joint ventures, collaborations, networking. It's just, it's wild.

Yeah, no, 100%, and it's I was talking to. So one of my friends from out here he's a year younger than me. He started a podcast because he has a six-figure chess company and so he like he has chess, I know, super unique, right, like who would have thought he helps kids play chess and turn that into a business. And so it's like he has has a starting a podcast now where he plays chess with people, and now he has a conversation with people and then plays chess with them. Oh, interesting. He started off doing it like while you play chess, have the conversation, but then he started getting too intense to have a conversation because, like, they're trying to play chess and so the conversation kind of fizzle out. So now he's doing it where, like you know, they have a talk in the podcast, like in person, and then from there they play a quick chess game where he asks 30 seconds on a clock and you have three minutes, and so he's really good at chess. So that's why he gives himself less time and he's doing that now and I was telling him, like in the podcast, when he was interviewing me, I was like, yeah, this is probably like one of the best ideas you had, and I recommend this for so many young people because, like, the amount of access you can get to people when you have a platform is insane, because most people say, hey, you know, can I have 15 minutes of your time?

Or hey, can I take you out?

to lunch, right. That's what most people say, and a lot of time. The more successful someone is and the busier they are, the harder it is to be a cold stranger and get them to spend any time with you. It's like when you have something. And like I just find I love Buzzsprout because, like you don't have to be a top you know 10 podcaster to technically be a global podcast, right, because you can have listeners from everywhere. So it's like it's not like you're lying, but you know I say you have a global podcast and you start reaching out to people as, like I would love to feature your story on my show and help get you in front of a wider audience Right now, which is you're coming from a place of that's adding value to their lives, right? Instead of you, you know, bugging them for 15 minutes of their day, it's you're helping them to get their brand, their story, their message out to more people. And the names you mentioned may not make over a lot of people's heads, but those are some heavy hitting names. Like Johnny Doome is Pat Flynn, like those are some super big people in the entrepreneurship space and that's extremely incredible to land those type of people. And it's like I'm landing. I'm working on getting a president of Keller Williams on the podcast. Hopefully by the time this goes out, I'll have them on. But it's like people I normally would have no business talking to, I have an opportunity to get to interview and it's just amazing because, like it's changing everything. So let me ask you right, as I said, you started during the pandemic like really taking this serious. You know, when did the podcast start to turn into a business. Like when did that start to open up business opportunity? Because, like, interviewing people is one it's great. You get to learn, you get to connect, you get to, as you said, do collaborations, maybe some joint mentors and some you know business stuff with some people. When did that start to open up into business stuff for you, like what you know period? Because a lot of times people think they drop a couple episodes and it's like I should be Joe Rogan, right, and it's usually not how it goes. So, like, when did that? How did I play out for you?

I mean, I guess it's been kind of a gradual thing, but I would say 2020. So I guess maybe like a year in a podcasting did it kind of go and start going in that direction. And then it feels like each month even well for sure, each year, if not each month like it's just getting more and more, like whether it's the actual growth of the podcast or people or the connections and networking or the guests that you're getting on or the podcast you're asked to be on or whatever. It's just kind of it's a gradual thing, but it, relatively speaking, I feel like it doesn't take that long. It's not. I mean, probably no one is going to be Joe Rogan, but I think I've been doing this for years and I think where I'm at now, having at least spent some time in the top 200, it was like 120 something. That's not something I ever saw. It was never. Like it was more of a pipe dream, but it wasn't even a goal. It was just you know and so. And then it's weird, like to meet someone and say what your podcast is and they somehow know you or your podcast and you're like, oh okay, you know, just stuff like that. And like you were saying earlier about how the ability to have someone kind of big on your show, or I mean if you were to call up whoever and say, well, first of all, you wouldn't probably be able to get in touch with them directly. It'd be their assistant or somebody and you're like, can I get 15 minutes? Or if you email or like you're not first of all, you're probably not going to get a response at all. Or if you do, it's going to be no. Or if it's yes, it's going to be like sure, but it'll cost you 10 grand for an hour or something. But like when you have a podcast now all of a sudden and then it doesn't work. For I mean, depends on what your show is, but you're probably not going to get like the president of the US or the whoever, something like that really high up. But the people that make sense to have on your show, that you really want to talk to and all this stuff, it's a lot more likely and you'll get to do it for free. Usually 99% of the time they'll come on for free and it's like it adds to your credibility and authority. I think to be able to say so, and so was on my show, but then you also kind of know them a little bit and maybe run into them like okay, here's an example. Are you familiar with Jordan Harbinger? Probably yeah, because he's a big podcast guy too. So he was on my show and then months later like I don't know if it was a whole year, but it was a while I was at I think it was podcast movement in Dallas last year, I think that's the event. Anyway, there was this, like you know, there's always these after parties or whatever, and he was at one of them, and so I went up to him and I just assumed he wouldn't remember who I am, like I'd have to reintroduce myself and all this stuff, and he totally remembered. And I was even, yeah, sorry about that Because, like, when he was on the interview with me, for some reason my internet no, it wasn't the internet, it was my computer like just shut down and he only had, like I think it was 30 minutes, but it was a hard 30 minutes.

Yeah.

So we were kind of approaching the end of the interview anyway, and there was about maybe five minutes left.

Yeah.

But it wasn't to where it could just end like it would be an abrupt end, and so I was like, if I can just get him back on for 30 seconds to kind of wrap it up. Well, my computer's old, I guess, and was I don't know what was going on. It finally came back up when he had literally maybe two minutes at most left and we were able to like quickly, you know, pull it together to where with editing you wouldn't know the difference. But so I was bringing that up with him. I was like, yeah, sorry my computer. And he's like, oh, oh, like he remembered even that detail, like just stuff like that, and you're like wow, okay.

It's one of those things that it's so surreal. Like, it's so surreal. There's a guy. I just came back for a conference a couple weeks ago and I was supposed to have him on the podcast but he had to reschedule twice and then he was a speaker at the event and then I went up to him like hey, what happened? Before I could ask him hey, what happened? He's like man, I'm so sorry because he remembered me right before, like before I even got a chance to say anything to him, and then, you know, we chopped it up for about like 10 minutes, you know, started talking and I ended up giving me a copy of his book and then we're actually getting something re on the calendar again to have him, to have him on the podcast. It's like, as you said, you have to meet some of these people in person. It's like this is the same guy that was on stage, you know, 20 minutes ago or 30 minutes ago and speaking, and so let me ask you right? So you got the chance to meet tons of amazing people and now you're helping, like other entrepreneurs, with their business or at least with their podcast, to help that grow their business. For anyone that isn't in this world of podcasting or doesn't think it has anything to really do with business. And it's like why would a podcast help someone grow their business, whatever business they may be like, why would someone podcast as a marketing stream?

Yeah, so I think it's a must now almost for a business. Well, for one, people almost expect it now, Like even Wendy's has a podcast which seems like me like. What are you going to talk about? Like Burger? What about burgers? I don't know, Um, but about McDonald's and Burger King?

Yeah, fast food.

So, but that's just an example of like. I feel like everybody, every business, has a podcast and can benefit in some way, because the first of all, if someone's searching, either in a podcast app or Google or wherever, so it's a way to get found, so the, and then the exposure as well. And then, especially like being a guest on other podcasts, whether you have one or not, I recommend being a guest on others. But even if you do have a podcast, I still recommend that because now you're getting exposure to their audience and if they're already a podcast listener, maybe they'll check out your podcast. But I just think it's a good way because people get to know, like and trust you with a podcast, because they're listening to you for maybe 30 minutes to an hour a week and plus they can do it while they're multitasking, like driving or doing the dishes or whatever it is, versus, you know, a YouTube video or a book or something like that where you have to use your eyes, unless it's an audio book, I guess, but for the most part, or like a blog, you know, I feel like it's becoming kind of more the go to for content consumption when someone's wanting to learn something or even just be entertained because they can do it while they're multitasking.

Yeah.

And it's just becoming more and more popular and like mainstream I mean 10 years ago even fun, no, five years ago, like, a lot of people didn't know what podcasting was, or if they did, they didn't really think anything of it. But now you have like whole TV shows that are centered around like have you watched only murders in the building?

I actually heard of that. Yeah, my, literally I was at my my best friend's house and she was pretty much watching and I think it was like Selena Gomez and they have a podcast and they cover murders. Yeah, something like that, yeah, okay, yeah. So I haven't watched the full episode on my own yet, but she kind of gave me like the brief overview of what it is.

Yeah, so I love that show. It's actually my favorite show right now and but that's kind of centered around podcasting. And then there was some show like a couple of years ago, called what was it? God friended me or something like that, but that was based around a podcast. And then I think there's some show with Octavia Spencer, that's about. I forget what it's called, though, but anyway, it's like there's more and more just TV shows, like not even reality shows, but like yeah, I don't know, it's just everybody. It's like everybody's got a podcast.

Yeah, and it's affordable too, and so. So let me ask you then so what does it take to start one up? Like how much money would one you know the frugality extra, I guess right. So like how could someone start their podcast if they were on a budget, like, what did they need and how much would it cost them?

Yeah, so my personal recommendation is to start with or set aside $100 and get a USB mic like a Samsung Q2U for example. That's what I use. I think it's like 60, maybe 80 bucks, but it plugs right into your computer or your laptop, so you don't even need to have like an interface. And then you'll need podcast hosting, and there's several different ones. I use Captivate, which is like 19 bucks a month, but I think there's some out there that are as low as like five bucks a month. And then I mean headphones or earbuds, just so that there's not echo, which most people probably have earbuds or headphones. Most people have a computer, so you can use a lot of things. You already have just the mic, the podcast hosting service, and then I mean, really that's all you need starting out.

Yeah.

And I recommend probably having a website as well for the podcast, but it's not must right, yeah.

All right, and then from there, right, what's like a quick if you can give us like a quick, like two minute launch strategy? If you had, we were at a restaurant and you only had a napkin to write out a launch strategy for someone and they wanted to start a podcast. What would you do to get as many viewers as possible in as little time as possible, with $0 in budget for advertising or marketing spend, aside from getting the actual equipment to start up the podcast? Like, how would you start up a podcast?

Okay, so not taking into account the naming and the cover art and all that stuff, but like you're at your launch Okay.

Let's say you get an idea like all right, you know, I'm gonna start a podcast talking to friends about sports or whatever it may be. Like I got an idea, I'm gonna start a podcast, all right, sarah said I need a mic, I need hosting and I need a whatever. I thought of a name and from there I got the basics out the way, like all right, how do I get this on the air? How do I get people listening when you're out the gate?

Yeah, so to do it for free, I would recommend, like, submitting it to. There's various news letters, some that are podcast specific, so you could submit to them. Or, like, let's say it is a sports podcast, you could try submitting it to newsletters that have to do with sports. There's a lot of options that are free and then you could also submit it. So, okay, I'm pretty sure how I got in the top 200 on Apple was because it was in the. What do they call that? Is it the featured or the must listen or the? I forget the exact word. No, not that it was. Oh, what is the word? I think it's a new thing that they're doing a. Anyway, it's not new and noteworthy because that's like just for new shows, but it's kind of like that oh, essentials, it's called the essentials list. So and I think how I I'm pretty sure how I got in there was because I had actually submitted something to Apple like oh, it was well over a year ago, maybe two years ago now, maybe more for free podcasts and there's no guarantee that they'll pick your show and who knows how long it'll be. So so I'm pretty sure that's how I got featured. And then, because I was featured, then I got in the top. You know, I started getting tons and tons and tons of downloads because now I'm in the featured. And so there are a bunch of like free ways to go about getting exposure. They're not usually guaranteed. You won't always be guaranteed to get placement, but you can at least submit it to these various places. I think I have a list. I need to put down my website of different places you can submit to. So that's one way. Another way would be okay, so that's newsletters, but then there's also podcast player apps that some of them have the free, like Apple, but there's others that have a free option. And then I also kind of have noticed that TikTok like starting a TikTok channel for your podcast has actually worked, more so than like other social media. So, yeah, that would be another thing you could do like you know, create clips, like video grams, of podcast episodes with the guest or like, and then, if they have a Tik Tok you know, tag them. Or it wouldn't even have to be like a part of a podcast episode, it could just be like a quick tip type thing, but yeah, so those are a few ways to kind of get started for free and get some exposure.

Okay, and then let me ask you this right, you mentioned podcast guesting. We said, regardless of whether someone has a podcast or not, they should be hopping on podcasts. Is it good for your business? You know what are some ways that you would. You know some do's and don'ts, because, of course, you had tons of people who are now pitched to be on your show, right, probably a bunch of agencies, assistants, probably people themselves, probably secretaries, probably a whole bunch of people that have reached out, and you probably had some good pitches and pitches that, just, you probably don't even open, right? So it's like what are the do's and don'ts when asking someone to hop on their podcast?

I think, keeping it as short as you can, because sometimes you'll get pitches from people and it's usually not even well. First of all, if someone's pitching me and it's not even the guest and it's like an agency or something, I'm not as likely to take them on anyway. But some of the pitches are so long like I don't even read the whole thing. It's like 10 paragraphs. Well, okay, like three paragraphs, but I would recommend like maybe three sentences or something like a brief thing about you, but focusing more on, like the topic. If you can come up with like an episode title and like the exact thing that you'll be talking about. I think that that's helpful as well. And then, as far as like fine, like if you're doing it on your own, you're not hiring an agency to do it, which I recommend doing it on your own there's tons of platforms out there, like Podmatch and there's at least a handful of different ones, where you can find shows that are accepting guests and you can pitch directly on those platforms.

And then I wanted to ask you to because, as I said, you've been podcasting now for a while what are some things that helped you make the process easy to continue? Right, because, as you know, we talked about it earlier a bit as well right, we both almost podfated. We both had that situation where it's like we almost had our podcast go into the podcast graveyard and never pick it back up. Like, what have you learned now? So anyone who wanted to start a podcast to grow their business, right, like, what are some of the things you would suggest that would help them make this process as easy to continue so they don't get burned out or podfated or whatever may happen?

Yeah, so the first thing I'd recommend is batching. So whether that's batch recording or batch editing, batch scheduling batch everything right. Yeah, batch everything. So maybe do several interviews in a day, or at least maybe in a week, and then, or if you're editing your own show, like try to edit a few episodes at once and then maybe try to go ahead and schedule them out in your podcast hosting provider so that you don't even like have to think about it. So that would be one recommendation. Another one, and that would be more of like, if you're doing it all on your own, but, like you could also hire somebody or a company to do it, so all you have to do is just show up and record, in which case you could still batch your cord, but when it comes to like, editing and publishing and posting, and you could hire someone else to do that, so you're not as likely to podfade that way.

Yeah, I went to episode I think 104 before I got any help. What about you? How long did it take before you had to? You got help on board.

Okay, so like I have actually been doing it mostly myself, really, Because I like over 200 episodes in now, almost at 200. Yeah, because I just I just like it, but I don't know, maybe it's a control issue. I there's like a certain way like to do things, but I do use AI now for like show notes, transcripts, descriptions, whatever. So that definitely speeds. Like I use descript for the editing which is speeds it up, and then like cast magic for all the other stuff, and yeah, so it's like, even though I'm doing it myself. So maybe that's another thing I could suggest is like, if you are going to do it yourself, utilize some AI stuff, like and it's not gonna be perfect, you'll still have to go and tweak a few things here and there, but it does save a lot of time.

No, 100%. And so, sarah, you dropped a lot of nuggets about podcasting, how that applies to business, how you can help on other people's shows, how you can start your own show. Right, where could we find you at? Where can we connect with you? If you wanted to get to hear more about what you have going on around your podcast, or even check out your website, Like, where could you find you?

Yeah, so for the podcast you can just go to frugalshow and then it has all the different platforms you can listen on or you can just search for it in whatever app you use for GoPreneur. And then as far as me and what I'm doing in my businesses and stuff that kind of are all around podcasting is thepodplanetcom.

All right, and now it's time for our famous five. So question number one. We're gonna get right into this one. What is the most impactful lesson that you've learned in life?

So this is one I've just recently kind of learned or figured out is to trust your gut, like your heart and your mind, regardless of what it is, could be deceptive or deceiving, or like it's not always right, so, but you can usually tell in your gut, like in your body, what you should or shouldn't do, or like something doesn't seem right about this or seems off or whatever. So, yeah, trust your gut.

What is the most admirable trait a person can have?

So there's several, but I guess, if I had to pick one, it would probably be honesty, because I kind of feel like if there's not honesty, then do any of the other traits matter.

Go point. If you had to change someone's life with one book, which book would you recommend?

So there's tons of books I love, but keeping in you know that this is like a walk to wealth type podcast there's probably three books actually. Can I give you three books? Give us three, so, and the first couple you've maybe heard of, probably, but the third one probably not. So the first two I will teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi. Secrets of the Millionaire's Mind by T Harve Ecker, and how to be a Capitalist Without Any Capital by Nathan Latka.

That's a nice title how to be a Capitalist Without Any Capital?

Right, actually, that book I saw in an airport. I had never heard of the book, I had never heard of the guy and I was just when I get to an airport I get there early and I like to look at the little shops and the books and whatever and that one really stuck out to me and like usually, you know, because I'm a frugalpreneur, I will buy stuff on Amazon because it's a lot cheaper than in an airport. But it captivated me so much I was like you know what? I'm going to pay twice as much for this book so I can read it on the plane. So I did.

Yeah, amazing. So let me ask you what is the legacy that you're trying to leave behind?

I would say to help other entrepreneurs or frugalpreneurs to successfully launch a sustainable and budget friendly business.

And for someone or anyone that wanted to embark on their Block 12 today, what is the first step you recommend they take?

I would say the very first thing would be to get out of debt, because if you're still in debt it's kind of hard to really accumulate wealth or get a business going. I feel like that's the first thing you really need to do.

Get a debt. All right, Sarah. Well, that is our time here. Thank you once again for hopping on. I'm looking forward to catching up with you over our podcast movement by the time this drops. It will be long gone, but still looking forward to seeing you to the next week and thanks again for hopping on the show.

Thanks so much for having me.

You've now finished taking the first step. Now let us help you take the next one. Subscribe to our newsletter at walk2wealthcom. That's Walk the Number Two Wealthcom, so we can keep you moving on your journey. We'll see you on the next episode of Walk to Wealth with John Mendes.