Chelsea Baldwin is a multi-business entrepreneur, and currently works as CEO and founder of Business Bitch, LLC. She helps new and growing entrepreneurs harness their impatience to grow their income rapidly. Her three main coaching pathways include freelancers and small agencies, consultants, and people selling digital products. She’s got a prolific background in online marketing, which she harnesses to help her clients stand out online, get the attention they deserve, and make the money they’ve been dreaming of.
What is The Business Bitch Podcast all about?
As it says in my podcast intro, my podcast is there to give “motivation, inspiration, and how-to information” for new & growing entrepreneurs. I feature interviews with entrepreneurs from all types of business models, as well as the important “doing business” information that is important for all new entrepreneurs to know: like covering yourself legally, filing taxes, getting health insurance, etc.
Tell us a little bit about your personal background – how, and why you started your podcast?
I started my self-employed career over 10 years ago, when I graduated in May 2010 with a degree in journalism. At that time, the economy was in a recession and a lot of print media publications were folding due to so much content going online. Because of that, I couldn’t get a job, so I had to figure out another way to make money. I figured out how to start freelance writing online, and started out with some lower-paying article assignments.
I grew in self-employment, started my first company, and eventually started Business Bitch (my company) and The Business Bitch Podcast as a way to provide the kind of help I wish I’d had while I was learning how to make money as a self-employed person.
What was the biggest problem you encountered launching your podcast and how did you overcome it?
I got really lucky with my podcast launch because I had a solid background and network to help me out with it. One of my clients in previous years ran a podcast that I produced for him, and I have a friend who’s a podcast consultant who’d put together a “getting started” guide that I followed step-by-step.
My biggest worry was that I wouldn’t have anyone to interview on the show, or that I’d quickly run out of guests. However, once I sat down to make a list of all the people I knew I could ask for an interview, I quickly realized I could get a years’ worth of podcast episodes out just from people I already knew, so that put my mind at ease.
What are some mistakes you made as a podcaster?
Consistency is something I’m definitely still working with. I started out with a once-per-week podcasting schedule, but now I’ve bumped it down to every other week. Podcasting is A LOT of work, and since my podcast is only a tiny part of my overall business, it doesn’t usually land on the top of my to-do list. When I’m able to hire more people onto my team, I may ramp up the consistency again.
I don’t think playing with you consistency is a “mistake,” especially if you’re in it for the long haul, but it is something to keep in mind when you’re starting: how much time do you have available (or does a team member have available) to commit to it?
Do you have any other projects or businesses you working on?
Yes, always!
I’m a business coach, have digital trainings I sell at BusinessBitch.com, regularly write blog posts there, and run my copywriting agency Copy Power.
Do you monetize your Podcast, or plan on monetizing, tell us how or how you plan to do it?
Right now, I monetize through brining people back to my website in some way.
In the outro of each episode, I direct people to sign up for my weekly newsletter where I put in one sales offer per week, and depending on the topic of the episode, I may record some “commercials” that insert in the middle of the interview for one of my products.
I would love to monetize via sponsorships and hope to approach that in 2021.
What are three books or courses you recommend for podcaster?
Can I recommend three resources instead?
This was the guide I used to launch my podcast
ClubPod on Clubhouse is a great place to get podcasting advice & insights from super successful podcasters.
I also suggest studying your favorite podcasters and how they interview to adapt the techniques for yourself to improve your own show. Imitation is the best form of flattery, and it’s a great way to learn!
How do you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business and podcast?’
I know there are so many topics out there that new & starting entrepreneurs need help on, and listening to a podcast episode with an expert is one of the easiest, quickest ways to get a grasp on the knowledge you need without spending needless hours searching Google until your eyes go numb.
I also know exactly what it’s like to be in my audience’s shoes, so I’m super motivated to get them out of the “feeling poor” stage of entrepreneurship, and into a place where they’re happy with their finances and their money.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your podcast?
I wish I knew how to weave in monetization with my podcast episodes. I’ve only recently started doing it with my “commercials,” and it would have been nice to have that on the earlier episodes.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your audience?
Creating collateral for the guests to share with their audiences as well: sending them the episode thumbnails, audiograms, and tagging them any time I share their episode on social media.
What is your definition of success?
Three types of freedom: time (do what you want when you want), location (not bound to a certain place), and financial freedom (you can do what you want & money is not stressful).
If you had to start a brand-new podcast today, what are the steps you would take?
- Decide on my show topic and what goals I have for the show
- Make a list of guests & interview topics
- Record and publish interviews
- Promote, promote, promote
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new podcasters?
Getting listeners is going to take A LOT more promotion than you think it is. Even if you think it’s going to take a lot of promotion, it’s probably going to take even more than that.
Publishing your episodes and asking your guests to share is only a tiny fraction of the “distribution” you’ll need to do to get listeners for each episode: you’ll also want to have plans to send the episodes out to an email list, share them on social media, DM them to people when you get questions about those topics, so on and so forth. AND you’ll want to keep doing it months (or years) after the episodes drop, because a lot of downloads happen AFTER the first week of an episode going live.
What is your favorite quote?
“You can get everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
-Zig Ziglar
How can readers get in touch with you?
I am most active on LinkedIn, When you send a connection request, send a note with it that mentions this interview and I’ll make sure I accept your request and respond!
You can also send me a DM on Instagram @businessbitchchelsea.
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