Entertain me for a few seconds and hear me out. I'm Chris Cownden, creator of the Podcast Launch Strategy, a strategy that can help you launch your podcast and unlock your fullest career potential.
Let's go back to December 31st 2018 where it all started for me. This is the moment, I celebrated a new year (a fresh start). I would be officially retiring from my professional career as a chef in the basement of this kitchen. Shoutout to Shane Delia at Maha Restaurant in Melbourne, Australia for making my dreams come true. A fantastic restaurant and a great way to finish my career.
The only problem, I didn't have anything else to fall back onto. I didn't feel like I had any other skills that would propel me into another career fast. I didn't feel worthy enough or useful to be honest.
And who would hire me as a marketer, with no marketing experience, right?
I had some personal health issues and needed surgery on my ankles (double ankle fusion to be exact!).
In early 2019, I invested in an NLP practitioner course with Luke Hawkins and got recruited by someone at the live event to join his network marketing business. At the time, I didn't know that I would be terrible at it and waste thousands of dollars. I got out fast.
In mid 2019, I started a delivery driving role at a local supermarket in the UK delivering food. I spent my day driving and listening to marketing experts on podcasts and audiobooks I'd downloaded absorbing as much knowledge as possible between deliveries (time well spent!)
In my spare time, I invested in my first video marketing course and found my first mentor, Cris Cunningham who introduced me to his network and community. I stayed close, implemented the training and got my first paid gig online as a video editor (Huge win for me at the time!)
In early 2020, I had no option but to rethink my professional career and enrolled in a Leadership Development Programme with City Year UK which allowed me to be a mentor for children in schools for a year. This year of service changed my life.
Nearing the end of my year of service, I needed to start looking for more roles, but I still had no clue what to do next so I took the advice from Chad, a member of that same video marketing community and he recommended me to start a podcast.
He challenged me to start a podcast interviewing experts in entrepreneurship and marketing because it would help me unlock my new career. I had no other option, than to accept the challenge and get on with it.
My initial challenge was not having a big budget to buy equipment so I got a dirt cheap mic, and used headphones I already had. I also had no production experience and was anxious on camera, hence the reason I invested in a NLP and video marketing course.
I set a goal to interviewing 4 experts a week for 13 weeks which would produce 52 episodes, or if I timed it well, 1 episode released a week for 1year. This is something world class podcaster, John Lee Dumas to launch his podcasts, Entrepreneurs On Fire.
That's exactly what I did. I fully emersed myself in the experience and got to work.
My first podcast interview. I recorded on video as well for times like this so I can see my progress, improve my confidence and camera and repurpose my content (This is my first ever interview with Filipe Goncalves) Enjoy! 👇
At the start my interview style was whack, but overtime I got good at it. I was given feedback by my guests, encouraged to stay consistent and got mentored by serial entrepreneurs and marketers who had collectively generated millions of dollars online for the cost of a microphone, studio lights & webcam camera and Zoom Pro at the time.
This is one of my favorite interviews with Richard White from Fathom, AI Note Taker for recording podcasts in Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet. This was interview was made possible by my relationship with Brandy Whalen, Co-Founder at Kitcaster who supplies us with world class guests. Enjoy! 👇
In March 2021, I started my podcast journey.
In June, I launched my podcast, Talking With Experts.
In August, I'd interview about 45 experts with some remaining after almost burning myself out.
In September, I interviewed the Head of Growth at AppSumo, Chris Schelzi.
In October, I got my first brand sponsorship with AppSumo for their $1M Black Friday Giveaway and got 2 episodes sponsored.
Listen to all sponsored episodes below:
Ep26 How To Convert Members into Clients Inside Your Facebook Group with Tom Wedding
EP27 How To Grow Your Business Online with SEO, TikTok, Video and Podcasting with Austin Armstrong (@socialtypro)
In November, I asked AppSumo if they needed help with the marketplace and they hired me because Chris Schelzi had a great experience with me. It was my first real role after leaving my professional career back in 2018.
I even got to feature in an AppSumo video.
In October 2022, I paused the podcast to focus on helping other people replicate my success. Since then, we've helped over 300+ (more like 600) full time professionals to take their careers to the next level and beyond with podcasting and are on a mission to empower 10,000 professionals by 2035.
If I can do it all of this with no experience and a limited budget, so can you!
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