Episode 66: Monetizing Your Assets - Podcast
One of the most important goals of a nonprofit is visibility. A nonprofit needs to be seen to have its services utilized, but most importantly for Funders to find it. Leverage the Podcast platform for credibility, accessibility, and visibility–but also to generate a consistent revenue stream.
LINKS:
Wild Apricot CRM
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: NatureBridge
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Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learned to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding impact and sustainability. And now here's your host and resident, Philanthrepreneur, Amber Wynn.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, fam, it's your girl, Amber Wynn. You're on air. You're on air with me. I'm so excited to be here today because we have a whole new series focusing on your assets. So as I mentioned before, as a nonprofit, you always have all of these things you have to do, but generating revenue is at the top of your list because with money, you have choices. And so in this series we're talking about how to monetize your assets, and today guess what we're talking about. We are talking about utilizing a podcast to help you monetize your assets. Now, it's interesting because when I talk to people about my podcast, they're like, yeah, I'm thinking about starting a podcast. Nonprofits are the perfect entities for having a podcast. You can establish yourself as a thought leader, you get visibility, all of these things, but there are opportunities as well for you to monetize your organization. When we come back, I'm going to dive into all of the different things that all of the different benefits you get from starting a podcast, but most importantly, all of the different ways you can monetize that whole platform. When we come back,
Speaker 3 (01:50):
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Speaker 2 (03:05):
Welcome back to On Air with Amber Wynn, your resident. Philanthrepreneur. Today we are talking about monetizing your assets using a podcast. Now a nonprofit needs to be seen. It needs to be seen in order for it to recruit potential clients. It needs to be seen in order to recruit potential collaborators, but most importantly, your organization needs to have visibility so that funders can find you. Today we're talking about starting a podcast because this is the perfect way for everybody to find you all in one fell swoop. You can utilize a podcast to set you up as a thought leader. That's what I do with my program, right? I'm sharing my wealth of knowledge with you, my expertise. You can do the same thing as a nonprofit. If your focus is on youth with special needs, then you have those conversations. You talk about statistics, you talk about programming, you talk about resources. You can bring people in and interview them. You are setting yourself up as a thought leader. You want to have credibility so funders can find you that way too. So once you do your podcast and you start marketing and you start trending, people will look you up and find you. Funders will find you. That is extremely important. The other reason why you might want to consider a podcast is accessibility.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
When you have a podcast, you can put yourself out there, Google, SEO marketing, all of that is possible. Before I decided to do my podcast, I tried my hand at blogging. It was a challenge all primarily because I'm an English major, and so it would just take me forever to write the article and then uploading it and all of that other kind of stuff. I like people. I'm a people person. And in this space, I get to just talk and share my knowledge. I don't have to think about it and process it and edit it and all of those things that have stopped me from moving forward with blogging. So I think nonprofits may not think it's for them, they think it's for speakers and trainers, but I'm telling you, this is a perfect opportunity for you to get out there. Now, how can you make a podcast something that generates revenue?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So in between my conversations where I'm sharing information, I pause, I pause, and guess what you hear? You hear a commercial that is called advertising. If you generate enough following, people will want to be on your show because they're interested in getting access to your followers. So you can generate revenue from advertising space. You can generate revenue from promoting your own products. In a couple of weeks. You're going to start hearing my commercials from my products. If you have things that you can sell, if you have merchandise or if you have a workbook or if you have a training curriculum, if you have a conference, you can publicize that. It's your podcast. You get to determine the narrative, you get to determine the topics, and you're not beholden to other people. So in that space, you have advertising, you have products and services that you can generate.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So if you are interested in starting a podcast, there's generally two ways that people go about it. One, they're going to do streaming where they're doing it from a platform or they're going to do it like I do it in studio. And I am excited to just let you know that I am in a studio, I have an engineer. Hey Felicia, I am here at Morris Media Studios here in the heart of Los Angeles off of Crenshaw, and I come in studio for several reasons. One because I don't know what I'm doing, and I leave that up to the experts. I leave that up to people who have the talent and the skill. And I started off here in the studio and Felicia has walked me through, if you guys listen to those first episodes, Lord help me. I was nervous, I was scared. I started off with the hour long and she was like, babe, that's too much information.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
People aren't going to sit there and listen. So I prefer to have in studio, the lighting is done for me. I have the microphone, the cameras, I don't have to worry about it. I send my information before she gets it set up. She controls everything. And so for me, because I have so many things to do, it just makes sense for me to show up in the morning, let her do what she does, and I'm going to do what I do, and together we make magic. So I just want to pause for a minute and give a shout out to the platform that has put me on the map and giving me the opportunity to share my resources with you. Stress-free, and that's Morris Media Studios. And if you guys have an opportunity to look up Morris Media Studios, you see that this company number one is Black-owned.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
It's female led. So that's one of the reasons why I'm supporting as well. Woo, whoop. Just keeping it real. The second thing is a lot of really talented people, a lot of icons have recorded in this studio, and it's amazing just to be in the space knowing that I'm sitting in chairs that icons have sat in. So if you are interested, if you are a nonprofit and you are in the Los Angeles area, south la, please, please, please check out Morris Media for doing your podcasts. They are here, like I said, been in the community for forever. Felicia, how long have you guys been in the community? Nine years. Nine years. Nine years. Strong handling it so you can come through and get some consultation. If you're nervous, you're not sure what to do. She has a whole course and she walks you through what to do, how to market, all of those things. But yeah, come through. We are going to pause for a minute so that you can get the information for Morris Media where they're located. I'm big in the community, but yeah, Morris Media Studios
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Thinking about hosting a podcast and don't know where to start. Morris Media Studios has you covered. Let us help you set up record and distribute your podcast. For more info, visit morrismediastudios.com or give us a call at (323) 815-4204. Start your podcast today.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Welcome back. We are talking about monetizing your assets by utilizing the platform, the podcast platform, and I want nonprofit leaders to think outside the box. You do the same things. You're going to get the same results. We learned during the pandemic that hosting galas and golf tournaments are fine, but they're not enough, especially what happens when those go away. You want to be able to diversify your funding strings and you want to keep up with what's going on in the times. There are so many podcasts out there because guess what? People are listening. I know I listen when I'm out on my daily walks. People wake up in the morning instead of listening to the news, they're listening to podcasts on their way into work, on their way back from work. So you want to be in the space where people are. Podcasts will get you there.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
All right, so let's keep it moving. The next part of our segment is Ask Amber. It's where you get to ask your questions of me because I'm constantly just throwing information out there and I want my information for you to be relevant. Today's question is from Tony and Rancho Cucamonga. They hit me up on Instagram and their question is how to hire new staff. Now, that is a broad question. There's a whole probably workshop on that, but I'm going to try and just whittle it down to something simple. If you have the revenue, I'm going to start there. In nonprofits, we tend to try and I don't know, we try and get more for less, which is the reason why we have such high turnover. So the first thing I would tell you is before you hire new staff, make sure that you don't stuff that job description with your wish list.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Make sure that the things that you list on that job description are essential duties. First things, second things, when you talk about hiring is the salary. If you want to pay minimum wage, then you're going to get minimum wage skills. Right now, it's a tricky bag for especially founders because I'm always telling you, you need to increase your capacity. How do you increase your capacity? You hire if you don't have the salary. I'm going to encourage you to do different things like you can go to a community college or a university and you can partner with the department. Let's just say if you do tutoring, you can partner with a teaching department so that they can get skills working with youth and get credit because that credit means something to them and they get hands-on skills. So I don't like to call them internships because internships mean something.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
When an intern comes into your organization, they're supposed to be learning specific skills. It's not because you can't afford them in this collaboration with the university or community college. You're partnering, they're getting some meaningful experience and you're getting support. If you don't have the salaries that you need to pay for quality people consider that first. If you do have the salaries, then what you want to do is create a job description that talks about what the skill sets are, and then it talks about what the qualifications are. Skill sets are like five years of early development. The qualifications, do they need a degree? And then you want to post. California has a new law that says you must post the salary. You want to post the salary and then put it on something like Indeed, indeed is where a lot of nonprofit people go. And then you interview, right?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
You interview, see if they're a good fit in terms of culture, in terms of experience. But most importantly, you want to make sure that you have a payroll system in place so that you can hire them. You want to be able to pay those taxes, even if it's a 1099, you want to be able to track that. So as I said before I started, that is not a simple answer, but I hope it helped you to at least start thinking about different ways that you can increase your capacity if you don't have salaries to hire. All right let's keep it moving. We are on air, and today's topic is monetizing your assets through starting a podcast. And the next part of this segment is called the Nonprofit Spotlight. And that's when I get to share the amazing work that a lot of my nonprofit leaders are out there doing. They don't always have the time to toot their own horn toot toot. So I'm going to toot it for them. And in this episode, I'm going to show you a real quick clip on Nature Bridge. Nature Bridge programs spark a lasting connection between people, science and nature. From lush green forests to vibrant coastal beaches, their programs take place in some of the most inspiring national park classrooms in the country. Yosemite National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the Danger Mom Preserve and California. Let's take a look at Nature Bridge.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Oh, hi, I'm Sean, director of Facilities here at Golden Gate.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
Hi, I'm Lily Pearson, she hers, and I'm the lab steward here at Nature Bridge. And this is my friend Hermit the Hermit Crab. Hi, my name's Adele. I'm a hostess slash housekeeper here at Nature Bridge. Hi, my name is Courtney Lane. I am an educator here at the Yosemite Campus.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
I'm Jim Sur. I'm the operations and outreach manager for the Mid-Atlantic region.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
I'm most excited for the students to try our camp food this year.
Speaker 8 (16:35):
This year I'm most excited for the kids to get back from Rain Lab and go to see wildlife and study
Speaker 9 (16:41):
It. And I'm most excited for our students to experience all weather that we have at Olympic National Park.
Speaker 7 (16:48):
I am most excited to welcome even more schools back to our campus in spring of 2023.
Speaker 6 (16:53):
We are both super excited this fall to be launching our community science program where students and educators are collecting macro invertebrates to support stable isotope sampling on the Elwa River brand new this fall. And we're super excited to support that. I am most excited for our students who play in the water and learn about watershed and everything that lives in Treat River. We're both very excited to open up the Marine Lab to students later this fall semester this
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Year. The thing I'm most excited for the kids to enjoy would be raising Miguel's Meadow recreation area of ours that we recently opened up. I'm really
Speaker 10 (17:34):
Excited to see how many Frisbees kids can get stuck on the roof this
Speaker 11 (17:38):
Season. I'm excited to have students at Nature Bridge because now more than ever, students really need to connect with nature and step outside of their comfort zones, which is
Speaker 12 (17:48):
Something that we provide here at Nature
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Bridge. I'm really excited for our students to get back into the field, but most specifically for our students to experience some team building early in season. I am most excited for students to have quiet time while they're here with us, either walking in the woods, sitting by the creeks in the rivers, and being removed from all the distractions back to that house.
Speaker 12 (18:10):
What I'm most excited about for students that are coming here to Yosemite is the first snowball. It's gorgeous. Also, when the upper and lower falls begin, it's the most beautiful thing that you could ever see.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thank you. Nature Bridge. If you're interested in any Nature Bridge programs or you want to donate, you can reach out to them at naturebridge.org. As we wind down the episode, I always pause to share with you my mindset minute, and it's when I share with you some ramblings in my head, just a thought that I want you to consider. And this week I wanted to share with you that I have been sitting in a place that a lot of my nonprofit leaders sit in when I say to them, Hey, you need to slow down, or, Hey, you can't do it all. And I have been trying. I've been trying to do it all, and I feel it. It's like there's always so much to do. There's this to-do list, and soon as you check off one thing feels like two or three more things are put on that checklist.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And recently I had a conversation with my mentor who was saying, oh, you're so quick to tell your nonprofit leaders. You need to build capacity and they need to invest in their organization. What's going on with you? And I had to sit with that because there's truth in there. I am guilty of saying I can't afford it, or I'm a solopreneur and I can't do that, or I can't hire because my brand is Amber Wynn. And the reality is, it was true. I need it to increase my capacity because taking on more contracts means doing more work and doing more work just depleted. So I did. I took that step and I hired a project manager. And the project manager does everything from my social media to helping me write content to building out my platforms. And when I tell you she has been a godsend, her name is Noemi and I couldn't be more grateful to have her on my team.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Now, she's not an employee. She is a consultant on her own, right? And this is what she does. She helps other companies by specifically doing content build outs. And she's a geek, she's a nerd. And I say that lovingly, but she is amazing. And she is amazing in my space because it has given me so much capacity. And so I'm saying this to you guys because number one, I'm confessing. I'm one of those people who was do, as I say, and not really listening to my own words, but having actually stepped into that space, having hired a project manager, and when I say hire, I mean contract. She is not on payroll. I'm not there yet. But even just in the space of having a contract person that I can say, can you handle this? It has changed my whole business, right? I can breathe.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I know that I have support, and am I paying somebody? I am. This is what I want you to know. Paying somebody is a good thing. Number one, it's because you can hold them accountable. But number two, I am saving, my hourly rate is $250, her hourly rate is $30. So if I am doing the work at $250 and it still doesn't get done, I save by hiring her because she's getting it done right the first time, right? And she's less than what I would be spending on my hourly rate. So it is a win-win. And I just really want to encourage you guys to look at it that way. How can you increase your capacity? How can you get something off of your plate? Have someone who has an expertise in that space do the work for you so that you can free yourself up, not just to do other work, but free yourself up so that you can rest because rest is resistance. Alright, that's all I got today. We will see you next week. We're still talking about monetizing your assets. So until then, I want you to take care of yourself, like you take care of your community. Bye y'all.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.net/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.
