Monetize This! Where Podcasting Best Practices Come to Die

What happens when a Hollywood storyteller discovers podcasting? Alan Katz spent decades working in film and television, including creating and writing for Tales from the Crypt , where getting a story from an idea to the screen could take years, endless approvals, and giving up a lot of control along the way. Podcasting changed that. In this episode of Monetize This! , Alan talks about why the micr...

Podcasting exists in this strange space where creators are told the medium is exploding, the opportunities are endless, and success is right around the corner — usually after buying one more course, one more microphone, one more strategy, one more growth framework. Meanwhile, most podcasters are making little to no money, fighting discouragement, staring at download numbers, and wondering whether...

Podcasting used to be relatively simple. You recorded some audio, uploaded it somewhere, and hoped another human being voluntarily listened to it. Now podcasting apparently includes Netflix shows, vertical video clips, content funnels, algorithm strategy, six-camera YouTube setups, and at least one person online insisting you need a specific microphone before you’re allowed to speak publicly. This...

What happens when a podcast isn’t a funnel for a business… and the podcast itself is the thing? In this episode of Monetize This! , David Beckemeyer talks with Andrew Lewin, host of How to Protect the Ocean , a podcast with nearly 1,900 episodes built around ocean conservation, science communication, and helping people care about the ocean a little more than they did yesterday. No mastermind. No “...

What happens when you take perfectly reasonable advice about “better audio” and follow it… way too far? This episode of Monetize This! features voice actor Jodi Krangle—whose thoughtful insights on sound, emotion, and listener connection are immediately (and aggressively) overproduced. We talk about why sound matters, how it shapes what people feel, and how quickly “good production” turns into… wh...

Most podcasts don’t fail because people run out of things to say. They fail because people start chasing something they never clearly defined in the first place. In this episode of Monetize This , I talk with Donald Dunn—who runs multiple shows, built a podcast network… and makes exactly $0 from podcasting itself. Not as a failure. As a choice. We get into why monetization advice often misses the...

What if your podcast… isn’t a strategy? In this episode, I talk with Travis Rhoden, co-host of Bestie Approved —a show that breaks just about every “rule” in podcasting. No niche. No growth plan. No real monetization to speak of. And yet—it works. Not in the way the industry usually defines success. But in a way that’s a lot harder to measure: they actually enjoy making it. We get into the reality...

Podcasting advice usually follows a predictable script: * Grow your audience. * Monetize the audience. * Sell a course teaching other people how to monetize their audience. But today’s guest accidentally breaks that formula. Alex Sanfilippo , founder of PodMatch and host of Podcasting Made Simple , builds tools for podcasters, teaches podcasting, and works with thousands of hosts… yet he argues so...

It feels slightly off for this show to be talking about ethics. But here we are. This episode digs into a tension at the heart of modern podcasting: * Be vulnerable. Tell your story. Go deeper. * Ship fast. Don’t overthink it. Repurpose everything. Scale the system. Those two philosophies don’t peacefully coexist. Tonya just launched a deeply personal storytelling podcast built on radical empathy....

Most advice about podcast guesting assumes you want to sell a course. This episode assumes you want to get invited back. Russell Van Brocklen doesn’t host a podcast. He doesn’t want one. He ignores most guesting “best practices” — and somehow keeps landing interviews, speaking slots, and follow-ups anyway. In this short case file, we look at what actually breaks when guru advice meets real hosts,...

First of all… apologies. This episode contains actual advice… sort of. A listener asked us to talk about microphones — the most over-Googled, over-YouTubed, over-affiliate-linked topic in podcasting. So today we’re doing something radical: We’re simplifying it. Instead of a Top 10 list. Instead of a comparison chart. Instead of a 47-minute deep dive into capsule patterns. We’re answering the quest...

Podcasting advice loves certainty. Rules. Checklists. Launch plans. Guarantees. This episode is for the people who already know that most of that… doesn’t really matter. We hear from Julie Marty-Pearson, a podcast coach and host of multiple shows, about why podcasting has become overcomplicated, how guru culture sells confidence instead of interesting audio, and what happens when you stop treating...

What if you’re not a guru…you’ve never taken a masterclass…and you’re still somehow surrounded by podcast advice culture? In this episode, we talk with Chris Castanes , host of You Are Gonna Be Great at This — a proudly demotivational business podcast with a six-minute attention span and zero interest in “the Top 10.” Chris isn’t selling a course. He’s not optimizing funnels. He’s just making a po...

Who gets to be a podcaster — and who quietly gets told they don’t belong? In this episode of Monetize This! , David talks with Dave Campbell , a Canadian podcaster behind nine shows and the creator of The How to Podcast Series , about the growing gap between podcasting as a creative medium and podcasting as a gated, guru-driven industry. They dig into how “best practices” turn into gatekeeping, wh...

We were recently listed in Podnews —the calm, global, highly respected podcast industry newsletter read by people who seem to have their lives together. Naturally, the only responsible response was to immediately turn around and bite the hand that listed us. In this episode, we roast Podnews, podcast industry news, and the strange ecosystem of press releases, “industry insights,” watershed years,...

Podcasting advice is loud, confident, and everywhere. Most of it insists there’s a right way to do things — and if you’re not doing that, you’re falling behind. In this episode of Monetize This! , I’m joined by podcasting pioneer Jennifer Navarrete to talk about why that pressure is unnecessary, unhelpful, and often wrong. We talk about podcast gurus, “best practices,” creator overwhelm, and why s...

Welcome to Monetize This — the contrarian, anti-guru podcast for creators who are tired of being told they’re “one secret formula” away from going viral. In this short intro episode, David sets the tone for the show by sharing a totally real, definitely legit, absolutely not suspicious email promising the Instagram Virality Formula. Spoiler: if someone is selling you “the formula,” it’s already a...

This is the official trailer for a show that was absolutely not approved by any guru, coach, accelerator, mastermind leader, or LinkedIn “expert.” Here’s what you’ll hear: * Why “best practices” aren’t actually practices or best * Creators who break every rule and somehow thrive anyway * Lighthearted roasting of the guru-industrial complex * Conversations with overwhelmed podcasters, contrarians,...