Mic to Money: Which Podcaster Persona Are You...The Artist, the Angel, or the Accountant? | #282

You don’t need a million downloads to monetize - but you do need to know who you are behind the mic.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the three types of podcasters I see over and over again (and maybe you’ll see yourself too): The Artist, The Angel, and The Accountant. 

Each brings something powerful.

And each can sabotage your show’s success without the right plan.

I’m also sharing real-world ways podcasters earn income at different stages, plus a few myths that need to be retired once and for all.

If you’ve ever wondered why it feels so hard to monetize, this conversation will feel like a mirror and a map.

Let's rock and roll!

Data from Fourthwall  + Castmagic 

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Transcript

Simplify Podcasting

Jen Rogers | Creator of the Podcasting Power Hour | Certified Coach | Keynote Speaker

 I teach experienced Christian entrepreneurs how to leverage podcasting so they can grow their impact, influence + income.

 If you’re a successful business owner and you haven’t launched a show, it’s time to talk about how to put your voice and proven offers to work for you!

If you've launched and it's not going well, book your power hour now.

2025 is the year of PODCASTING WINS with explosive growth + booming sales! www.coachjenrogers.com/VIPCoach

📲Book a call with me when you're serious about monetizing podcasting.

Mic to Money: Which Podcaster Persona Are You...The Artist, the Angel, or the Accountant? | #282 

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: When you started your podcast, who were you most like? Were you an artist? An angel? Or an accountant? The artist has so much passion. There's not a whole lot of planning that goes in. They are all about the message and the magic.

Artists love the microphone.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: They live for the creative flow. They believe in their voice, their vision, their uh, their vibe, and honestly, the voice, the vision, and the vibe, they all matter. But the artist also thinks, "I'll publish when I feel inspired. I'll grow a community naturally. I'll set up a Patreon and watch the money roll in."

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: They are passionate and winging it. Passion without a plan. That is a very costly canvas. Artists release episodes when it feels right, leaving gaps of weeks or even months between episodes.

Can you relate to the artist?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Perhaps you're more like the angel. The angel sees their podcast, it's a mission. It's a ministry, it's a movement! And they believe deep down what they're saying and what they're sharing has divine implications. They trust that if they show up with their heart and humility, the blessings will come and maybe they will; but there is a catch. Purpose without a path, it's praying, but not implementing.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: There's no plan, and we know that without a vision, the people will perish. Well, without a vision, the angel podcaster will perish. The angel avoids asking for money, and they avoid selling because it feels wrong. As if monetizing the message [00:02:00] somehow makes it less pure.

Do you have angelic tendencies?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Perhaps you're more like the accountant. Planning without publishing. The podcaster has a spreadsheet, (believe me, I can relate) a schedule and a strategy. There are goals and budgets and benchmarks, and they want to know what's the ROI on this microphone? How many downloads do I need to monetize? Where is the revenue coming from?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: They crave clarity, but sometimes they wait too long to launch. Or too long to test or too long to trust their own voice.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Too much measuring, kills momentum. 

 Accountants plan for profits, but they don't always hit that record button. 

So, which one are you?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: If you are like me, you are a blend of the artist, the angel, and the accountant. We need the artist's creativity and we need the angel's conviction, and we need the accountant's clarity. We also need to blend those together so that you don't just have a passion project, but you create a powerful profit engine.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: In today's episode number 282 of Simplify Podcasting, we are going to break down how podcasters like you can get paid at different points in the journey. Whether you're just starting out, you're stuck in the middle or you're scaling up, we're going to bust a few myths. We'll share some money traps you can avoid, and I'll share a couple of models that could work for you.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Hey there. I'm Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist and founder of The Virtual Podcast School. Have you joined us inside the free community? You can head on over to www.coachjenrogers.com/community  to [00:04:00] join us inside the Virtual Podcast School. We go live every Tuesday at 1:00 PM Eastern and every single week we go live, there is a new nugget of wisdom and there are podcasters gathering.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Let me share this for a podcaster. Let me define podcaster. A podcaster is someone who hosts and guests. Now, this may be contrarian, but I've been in a contrarian mood lately. You host. Or you guest, or you do both. You are a podcaster. You are sharing your message with a microphone on podcast so you don't need to host your own show in order to be called a podcaster, not in the world of the virtual podcast school.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: So be sure you are in there with us, so you can participate live or catch the replay.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist:  Listen, you don't need millions of downloads, and we talk about this inside the Virtual Podcast school, whether we're going live on Tuesdays at 1:00 PM Eastern, or we're having conversations in the comment section and supporting one another -- both podcast hosts and podcast guests inside the school. We talk about this. Millions of downloads are not the answer. Is it nice? Would it be great? Sure. As long as you're monetizing on the way, you need the right mindset, the right model, and yes, you need the right moves. That's exactly what we're covering inside the Virtual Podcast School and on today's episode of Simplify Podcasting. Let's learn together how we can combine the artist, the angel, and the accountant to monetize every episode.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Okay. You don't need millions of downloads to make money. But, you do need to know where you fall in the downloads per episode because once you understand the number of downloads it's going to require for different types of monetization, you'll have a clearer picture of [00:06:00] how you can get from where you are to where you want to be.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: So the first stage is, hello new podcaster. You are early stage, or you are a small podcast, and you have anywhere from zero to 1000 downloads per episode. So that is a small podcast, less than 1000 downloads per episode.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: You could find yourself, mid-level. You are a mid-level podcast if you have between 1000 and 10,000 downloads per episode, you are a large podcast if you have between 10,000 and a hundred thousand downloads per episode.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: The top tier podcasters, those are the ginormous podcasts you know and love. The Joe Rogans, the Huberman Labs, et cetera, et cetera. They have a hundred thousand plus downloads per episode.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Now, according to fourth wall, 10,000 downloads per episode can generate between $500 and $900 per episode. If you are doing ads. So that would mean you would be a mid-level or a large podcast getting that 10,000 downloads per episode. You'd be right on the threshold between mid and large. So where are you right now?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Do you have 10,000 downloads per episodes? Because according to fourth Wall, you can generate between $500 and $900 per episode from ads. Before you get all excited and say, yep, I've got the 10,000 and yep, I want to generate $500 to $900 per episode. There are other things to consider. Remember your business goals.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: You need to ensure whatever decision you make to monetize aligns with what you set out that your podcast is going to do for your business. You also must remember, you have earned the trust of your audience, and that means you will only recommend things you believe [00:08:00] in because when you break trust, they're not going to come back.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: It's important you believe in whatever it is you are promoting on your show. That includes your message and that includes your ads. Okay. 

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Ads generating income are a form of direct income. There are two different ways, I like how cast magic breaks this down, they break down monetization into direct income, which is add revenue and indirect income, and I'll get to indirect income in just a little bit. Right now, I want to share a little bit more about direct income.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: So you can have the ads. You can also have sponsorships as another form of direct income. I've been working with a client who locally is seeking sponsors to support her show. She's doing that because she wants to create interest and have, uh, events in her area and promote local small businesses that are run by women. This is part of her goal.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: So you see how it's not just, I want to make money with my podcast, I want to make money aligned with my business goals and my desire is to get a sponsor who is local. Now, that doesn't mean she's not considering other sponsorships, it just means right now that is where she is focusing and it aligns with what she wants to do right now with her show.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: What do you want to do right now with your show?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: If you are pursuing someone to sponsor your show, they're going to want to know your episode downloads. They're going to want to know how long you have been podcasting. They're going to want to know the size of your social communities.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: I'm sure there are unique questions related to them and your show they will ask you, so you know how we do a one sheet when we're guesting? You may want to prepare a one sheet for monetization. You may need to create a workflow to [00:10:00] walk people through the opportunities.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: If you are a mid-level podcast between one and 10,000 downloads or a large podcast, between 10,000 and 100,000 downloads, ensure you have a workflow to evaluate the next best step when it comes to sponsorship and ads, and then as applicable, you can run potential candidates through there. So if you have people who are pursuing you, you definitely want to also consider having a screening process.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Alright. The other form of direct income would be the buy me a coffee, set up a Patreon account, any form that you have, whatever tools are out there where your audience Substack, for example, can contribute to you directly. That would be direct income so you can monetize with direct income with ads, sponsorships, and listener donations. 

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Before we flip the direct income into indirect, let's take a moment here and think about which of any of these three align with what you want to do with your podcast. Do any of them align ads, sponsorship?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Or a Patreon type of listener contribution, determine that first. So if you need a moment, press pause here and then when you're ready, come on back and we will talk about indirect income. One quick note. There are many different ways to monetize. You don't need to choose just one. You can have a combination of monetization methods.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: This is where great coaching comes in. If you need help with strategy and determining your next best step to monetization, I invite you to book a Power Hour with me.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Here's a small portion of what Jeremy had to say about his experience working together.

Jeremy Grater: So I think what I appreciated most about working with Jen is the homework that she did coming [00:12:00] into the interview. She already knew a ton about my background, what my goals were, what I was trying to accomplish with, the path that I was on. She came to the table with a lot of great suggestions and I also loved that she came into the interview with more confidence in me than I've ever had in myself in my entire life.

Jeremy Grater: So. I I, that I really appreciated that about working with Jen.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: One Power Hour, 60 Minutes, can give you so much clarity. Head on over to www.coachjenrogers.com/powerhours to book your first hour. 

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: That investment is part of your overall monetization strategy. Clarity is critical for you to monetize faster.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Let's talk about the indirect income, how you can earn, how you can monetize your podcast with indirect income. Do you have any of these or are you thinking about any of these?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Here they are: coaching programs, online courses, book deals. Consulting services or speaking engagements.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Real quick, I want to back up to the very beginning of episode number 282 of Simplify Podcasting. At the very beginning, I create intrigue or interest. I ask you a question. I set the episode up for you to know exactly what you're going to walk away with, so you stick around. Then after I introduce the episode and who I am, I'm going to give you a very soft call to action.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Now, moments ago I gave you my second call to action, and that's a stronger call to action. That was go book a Power Hour with me. The first soft call to action is go join the free virtual podcast school. The second book A Power Hour with me. So the way I'm monetizing my show is through my own opportunities that I have [00:14:00] for my business to help you monetize your podcast faster.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: By the end of this episode, I'm going to give a third call to action. Something else you'll notice about each episode is the uniqueness. There's not a canned intro. There's not a canned outro and the, the, uh, spot where I put my call to action, it shifts in every episode. The one you can for sure count on is at the end.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: You're always going to have a call to action at the end of each episode. Let's go back to the indirect methods. That's where you are offering what you do, your genius through coaching programs, online courses, book deals, consulting services, or speaking engagements.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Now there's something that's missing from the direct and the indirect. Do you have any idea what it is? I'll share it with you shortly. For right now. Take a moment again, pause this episode if you need to pause and think about how do I use coaching, online courses, book deals, et cetera, to monetize? Is this something that fits in with my overall business plan?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: And when you're ready, hit play and let's close out today's episode. I have a few more things to share with you in addition to that third call to action.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Remember the artist, the angel, and the accountant?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: We need the artist's creativity and we need the angel's conviction, and we need the accountant's clarity to blend those together so you don't just have a passion project, but you create a powerful profit engine.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: The reality. The unfortunate reality is there are myths and mistakes podcasters make before they ever hit record. Some of those are thinking that if I just produce this, someone will pay me to listen to it. [00:16:00] I can get a sponsorship and make money extraordinarily fast. I want to go ahead and monetize.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: I'm going to start. I need to bring money in the door. So I'm going to launch a podcast that will get me money, and I can sell my courses and my programs and my workshops right away. People are going to buy in right away. That's not going to happen. Well, it, it could happen. Okay? It could happen. Yet, it's unlikely.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Podcasting is the long game. If you are not in it to hit a hundred episodes and beyond, you are investing a significant amount of energy into something you're planning to love and leave, and I don't even know how much are you going to love this thing if you're not going to do that many episodes?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Podcasting is powerful and there are many different ways you can use podcasting. You don't have to record and release episodes weekly. But, you do have to have a plan for how often you are going to record and how you are going to release them, because you need to set the expectations for the audience. I will tell you, if you have a public podcast and you're not releasing weekly, it's going to be challenging for you to get growth on your show.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: That being said, there are podcasts out there where they are seasonal and they release a certain amount of episodes, they take a break and they say, we're going to be back at this time. And when the podcast host creates a following, creates a community, creates a desire to belong to something bigger than themselves, then people will come back.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: They'll be on the email list. So you'll notify people when it is time for the next season. These are all part of your strategy. What is your strategy?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Here are a few ideas that will help you prepare for monetization.

One, have a clear purpose. Combine the artist, the angel, and the accountant into your strategy [00:18:00] to maintain your creativity, to stay true to the calling God has given you, to serve other people with the transformation he has taught you, and create a podcast monetization plan, and make your CPA happy! Decide how you want to earn income from your show.

Number two, the second way to prepare for monetization. Tell people what you are doing.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Use your network. Ask for help. Build connections. Increase your visibility in complimentary audiences.

Number three. Track your metrics.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Remember, earlier on I asked you, where did you fall? What level of podcaster are you? You need to track your metrics regularly, whether it's downloads, listen through rates, the high performing episodes or the high engagement convos that you're having with people and your email open rates and your click through rates. In order to monetize...

A fourth way to monetize is to build community.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: To have a group where people can come together. And here's the thing I alluded to earlier, the one item that did not make it in the direct or the indirect group: events, live events. What do you think live events are direct or indirect? Let me know. I'd love, I'm going to ask this question on the socials.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: You can respond there, or you can send me an email to jen@coachjenrogers.com and let me know where you think events fall, direct or indirect. Another way to build community is collaborations, to have some merch, to do some podcast swaps. There are several different ideas and methods.

The fifth way to prepare for monetization is to get a mentor, to hire a coach...

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Because not only is entrepreneurship extraordinarily lonely at times, talking to yourself in the microphone could make you a little lulu.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: So get some Lulu protection and hire a coach. Of course, if you are connecting with how I show up in this episode [00:20:00] and want to get the top-level service Jeremy received as my coaching client, I invite you to book a Power Hour with me. The link will be in the show notes. Active involvement with the coach increases the likelihood of your success because you get that clarity and the accountability and you work the plan. You actually have your plan, and you get to see movement in place.

And the final way that I recommend that you prepare for monetization is to think about what you do have to offer.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Obviously, you have your voice, you have a gift, you have a desire to share. 

In Proverbs 3, we are reminded, "Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce, then your barns will be filled with plenty. And your vats will be bursting with wine." Proverbs 3:9-10

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: You are here for a very specific purpose. The Lord has brought you here to hear this message. It's important you are crystal clear on how you want to leverage Podcasting for your business on either side of the microphone. As a host or as a guest, it's important to understand why it is that you're showing up to begin with.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: What do you want to produce? After this episode is released, what are you hoping it does for your business? If you are in ministry or you are in business, then you want to make money with your podcast to keep the ministry going, to grow the business.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: If you are here for a hobby, then you've got lots of great tips and tricks to help you put episodes together in a way that will keep your ideal client listening, so if you ever decide you're going to move to monetization, you'll have well a pretty good leg up on what your next steps are.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Thank you so much for joining me today. I love everything about [00:22:00] podcasting, including the editing and the producing, even though it can get putsy.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: The best part about podcasting?

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: It doesn't have anything to do with recording. It doesn't have anything to do with editing. It doesn't have anything to do with releasing X number of episodes.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: It (Podcasting) has to do with the opportunity it gives me to connect with you.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Inside the virtual podcast school community, creating content and resources and coaching opportunities that help you monetize your show, and it's just, it's. Podcasting is a beautiful community and I am honored to be in your earbuds today.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: If today's episode blessed you, will you consider sharing this with a friend? And if you're feeling especially generous today, would you consider leaving an honest review on your favorite podcast platform? Thanks so much. I will catch you in the next episode and hopefully live inside the virtual podcast school free community.

Jen Rogers, Podcast Strategist: Head on over to www.coachjenrogers.com/community  to join us there for the Tuesday lives at 1:00 PM Eastern. Alright. God bless you. I will catch you on the flip side.

Data from Fourthwall  + Castmagic