How I Built It - Case Studies & Coaching for Creators and Solopreneurs How I Built It PRO

Imagine running a high 7-figure business with over 300,000 followers on social media, then launching a podcast. How many downloads would you expect? 100,000? 150,000? What about…10? 
We’ve all been there: we spend a TON of time pouring blood, sweat, and tears into a project just to have it launch to crickets. That’s exactly what happened to Yong-Soo Chung with his podcast. Despite the social following, no one cared about his show. 
But instead of wallowing in self-pity or shutting the show down, Yong-Soo took action. He reactivated his 12-year dormant Twitter account, and started basically from scratch, growing to 20,000 followers in less than a year. 
Now he has a great process for getting people from Twitter to his newsletter, to his podcast.
We’ll cover his entire journey and more. Plus, in the PRO show, we exchange notes on our production processes!
Life Lessons

Have a clearly defined niche, and know how to reach people in that niche. Yong-Soo’s initial problem was a mismatch between his businesses and his show. Once he started to find people in the right niche, he started to find listeners. 
Share personal stories – these are the things that resonate with people, no matter what platform or niche. By being a little vulnerable, people will want to learn more about you and your story.
Continuously hone your target avatar and make sure to grow your show to serve your audience and yourself. You need to be interested in the show – after all, that’s how you tell a good story. 
Show Notes

Yong-Soo Chung
Yong-Soo in Twitter
Yong-Soo in Instagram
Yong-Soo in Linkedin
Using AI to Craft a Listener Avatar
Want People to Find Your Podcast? Do More Than Just Tweet with Deirdre Tshien
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Cohort-based courses are on the decline if the tastemakers are to be believed. And it makes sense. Now that people aren’t stuck at home, they probably don’t want to spend time interacting online when they can interact IRL. But that doesn’t mean that CBCs have no utility. 
In fact, I think that there’s a great way we can make CBCs even better, by employing a tactic that has been explored in the K12 and higher education settings: the flipped classroom. In the episode we’ll: 

Check out the flipped classroom model, a way to get students more involved and boost their learning.
See how engaging teaching methods move past old school methods and foster better student participation.
Learn some of the pitfalls of the flipped classroom in a practice.
Measure the effect of customizing course material to suit students, a way to make education more personalized.
See how the topic matters when considering the use of the flipped classroom model.
Address how we can incorporate the flipped classroom model in cohort-based courses.

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I love Hibachi. I love the food. I love the experience. That seems a lot like building in public, right? After all, the chef is literally cooking in front of us, building our meal. But according to Kevon Cheung – a guy who’s built his entire community by building in public – Hibachi is entertainment. 
In order to build in public, you need to take your audience on a journey with you. That’s why he believes building in public is more like Omakase. This is where the chef will choose the foods for you, involve you in the process, and tell you a story about the food you’re eating. 
That’s what Building in Public truly is, and today, we’re going to learn how to leverage it to build great communities and better products.
Top Takeaways

You need to talk about something people care about, not just vanity metrics. No one cares what time you wake up to write. They want to know what you’re writing about, and why you chose to write about that topic. 
Only your competitors care about how you do something – your secret sauce. Your audience is invested in you, and they want to know about the journey…both the ups and the downs. 
You shouldn’t just announce something when you’re not sure it will do well. Instead, tell your audience you’re exploring an idea. Ask them about it, and involve them in the process. THEN, make a decision and share that with them, along with why you made the decision. 
Show Notes

Kevon Cheung
Kevon in Twitter 
PublicLab
Monica Lent
What Happened to Wirecutter
How To Build a $1000/year Membership with Jay Clouse
Podcast Workflows book
http://helpthisbook.com
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You need to tell a good story, no matter what kind of content you create. This is obvious in fiction, but it’s just as important in non-fiction. Don’t believe me? Take it from Emmy Award-winning producer, Cody Sheehy. He creates documentaries, and today he tells us why storytelling has been crucial to his work, and is crucial to yours too. In the PRO show, I couldn’t resist: I asked what it was like to win an Emmy. 
Top Takeaways

Everything comes down to having a good character. Your audience needs to associate with the character for them to feel connected to your content (this is why long-form> short-form). 
While Joseph Campbell’s formula is great in theory, it doesn’t fit perfectly in the real world. But you still need to take elements from it to craft something compelling. 
Finishing strong should feel like you’re running through a house, closing all the doors. Your character needs to grow and you need to close most, if not all, of the open threads.
Show Notes
Cody SheehySponsored by: Lulu | Sensei

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If you think about social networks as people, LinkedIn is TikTok’s dorky older, more professional sister…that the younger, more hip sister needs to borrow money from. That’s how Kathleen Celmins sees it, and she’s very effective at selling on LinkedIn. In fact, she says that if you’re just trying to grow your follower count on LinkedIn, you’re doing it wrong. Instead, it’s all about the connections. How do you convert those connections into clients? That’s what we get into during this call. Plus, in the PRO show we talk about the danger of creating tools that rely on social media. 
Top Takeaways

While every other social network is super content-heavy, LinkedIn is different. If you post more than once a day, you’re competing with yourself. 
Followers on LinkedIn are a vanity metric. Your goal is to fill your calendar with calls…so create connections and see if those connections are a good fit. 
Your LinkedIn Profile is your sales page. Optimize it for your offer, and start connecting with people in your niche.
Show Notes

Kathleen Celmins
How to NOT Burn Out While Using Social Media with Alex Marshall
Waalaxy
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I used to think that promoting my podcast was a matter of tweeting it (Xeeting it?) and hoping for the best. And while I’ve learned a TON over the years about what to do, and what not to do, Deirdre Tshien still blew my mind as we talked about her traffic pyramid. As the co-founder and CEO of Capsho (an AI tool to help create promotional assets), she knows a thing or two about how to market and grow your podcast. We’ll get into that, plus podcast discoverability tips that change my approach to this very show, and my audits. Plus, in the PRO show, we talk about what it’s like building niche commercial AI tools. 
Top Takeaways

Look for the 4 tiers of getting traffic to your content: passive, and active organic marketing, leveraging other audiences, and paid ads
There are lots of ways to improve podcast discoverability, including optimizing titles, descriptions, and even artist names for the words your niche is searching for.
The name of the repurposing game is dripping out clips from your show and giving the episode a long life. That’s why Deirdre started Capsho in the first place!  
Show Notes

Deirdre Tshien
MoPod
Podpage
Creative Studios
Voxalyze
Making Money on Marketplaces with Maddy Osman
Sponsored by: Lulu | Sensei

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