58- Podcasters for profit or hobby or independence — the differences

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In this episode, we discuss the topics brought about by Daniel J Lewis in his podcast show, The Audacity to Podcast. These topics spanned a couple of his podcast episodes where he discussed the differences among four types of podcasters — some of which definitely are in the area of entrepreneurs or businesses:

Professional Podcaster;
Hobbyist Podcaster;
Corporate Podcaster;
Independent Podcaster

We strongly suggest that you listen to these episodes, as it can give you an idea of the type of podcaster that each classification contains — especially the Professional, Independent and Corporate Podcaster, since these have a definite strong relationship to generating income for the business.

Note: we will NOT use the term “procaster” within the meaning specified by Daniel J Lewis in his podcast episodes.

In a very brief summary (which does not do justice to the details delivered by Daniel J Lewis), the main distinctions for each of the four classifications are:

A Professional podcaster uses podcasting within the business (either as an entrepreneur or part of another small business) — or maybe podcasting IS the business — to generate revenue and increase income, for which the business is totally dependent;
A hobbyist podcaster mainly podcasts as a labor of love and is totally free to create the show, record the episodes and is free to include whatever tactics and use whatever tools he wishes in order to post and publish the episodes — and he can withdraw at any time, since he is not dependent upon the podcast for any type of revenue;
A Corporate Podcaster is usually part of the marketing arm of a firm or corporation, where oversight and management will dictate and review the content (as well as editing it and approving it for publication from the legal and marketing departments) — and it can be related either directly or indirectly to revenue generation; and
An Independent Podcaster is usually a smaller type of podcaster who can decide if income generation or creation of revenue streams will or will not be a focus; and it is this type of podcaster that spurred the growth of podcasting to have over a million shows today.

As you will hear in these audio episodes from Daniel J Lewis, which are episodes from May, 2020, you yourself may ask the question: Which type of podcaster are you? or which type do you WANT to be, if you will add podcasting to your entrepreneurship or small business?

For myself, I have been all of the above in over 15 years of podcasting (since the beginning) — I started as an independent podcaster; then became a corporate podcaster (when I worked for the Marketing Communications Department of IBM Corporation) with a corporate show called “What’s new in IBM TV?”; then I became a Professional Podcaster as I used podcasting to sell products and generate revenue of my entrepreneurship business; and finally, I am now a hobbyist podcaster that records and publishes episodes in several shows more as a labor of love and a passion for creating and distributing my messages and content worldwide.

So, if you are going to be a podcaster, which one will you be as a start? and do you have a written plan to go from one category to another in your business plan and marketing plan?

We hope that you will succeed in your learning to podcast and that your shows will become successful — especially if you plan to monetize the podcasts and become a successful entrepreneur.

Thank you for your attention.