Alright. Gonna do something a little bit different here on the show today. We are

chatting with Kristen Chadwick. She's a podcast consultant and coach

to seasoned podcast industry expert, and she's been doing this since 2016

with a focus on Christian influencers worldwide.

Kristen, thank you so much for joining us here today. Thank you. Matthew, this is

awesome to be here. Oh, it's great to have you. And and I should stress,

it's podcast coaching for Kingdom Entrepreneurs is the name of the company, and

we'll get into the, you know, exact meaning of that title. But first,

you know, going back, what got you started in the podcasting

space? And then what took you from, you know, maybe curiosity

to expertise and and, you know, professionalism?

This is a a fun, origin story. So

my dad was a cameraman at

heart way back in the, I don't know, late sixties,

early seventies. And, as I grew

up in the eighties, I would tag along in the broadcast

rooms with him at Turner Broadcasting Systems

and which turned into CNN, and he pretty

much went from cameraman to top level, in in

that broadcasting zone. So

I grew up in broadcast. I I always say

that as, like, I I remember going into trailers at

Atlanta Braves games and seeing all the people editing, and,

it's just part of my background. Never in a 1000000 years

did I think that I would have anything to do with a mic and

headphones and being a voice behind a mic.

I actually thought I was gonna go into counseling, which was more

my mom's thing. And just the last minute of,

I got accepted at a master's program and just felt a little check-in my

spirit of nope. This is not your lane. And a

couple days later, I had a very good friend of mine who

happened to be, leaving radio to start his

own podcast. That was in 2016, and he

said, Kristen, I know you don't

actively you're not actively in broadcasting or

podcasting, but I think you're you're gonna make an amazing producer, and we would

love to have you. And in 2016, I was like,

what what are you talking about? What is a podcast producer?

And he pretty much threw me in the deep end at that point,

and we grew it almost overnight to a

top 25 podcast in kids and family. And I

worked with them for about 4 years. And so

just doing the back background things behind the scenes,

scheduling guests, creating the content, making sure that the show is

going where they wanted it to go. And,

in 2020 decided to,

start my own business and open up to more

more opportunities of producing other people's podcast. And

at that time, it was like, do you wanna write show notes?

And I was like, sure. I love to write. So little by little,

my business began to grow and,

had continuous conversations, especially on social

media of, like, Kristen, how do you start a podcast? How do you get

guests? How do you and so then the little light bulb went on

of, you know what? This is like a whole podcasting

consulting business because people keep asking me how to do it

and had just seen success over and over again. So,

yeah. So that's that's how I got started. So one

thing I love about that story is that you worked on a

show for 4 years before you decided to, you know, hang your

own shingle and and go out there and and be a coach and consultant. So

often these days, I think lots of people, you know, they record 1 podcast

episode, and then they turn around and they say, I'm a podcast coach consultant. And

and, you know, they're trying to, you know, sell expertise

where they they haven't really earned it yet. And, you know, I love the

fact that you really took your time and realized that it was there once people

started to to approach you. I'm curious because you had spent so much time,

you know, looking at the broadcasting world. I think

so many people like to say, you know, podcasting isn't radio. Podcasting

isn't, you know, major media. But I have to imagine that there are a lot

of things that you learn from observing your dad and being

around him and being around those institutions that you bring with you to the

table that are useful for yourself and your clients. Is that true?

Absolutely. I one of my so my dad actually passed away

right when I got asked to be a producer. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

And, yeah, it was it was rough. And I

think one of the most beautiful things that he taught me in all of

those years of either walking into a studio or him

in the more leadership type roles, and

in life is there was this through line of everybody has

a story. And no matter if he was

traveling, and picking up his suitcases off the

carousel, he would make friends with the with the airline people

or, he's like, oh, did you know that so and so at the ticket counter

has 4 kids and blah blah blah blah. So that

was one of the things that he instilled in me, whether it was

watching him interact with people at work

or in everyday life or, you know, listening

to he was avid NPR listener. And

so just learning that over and over and over

again of the power of story and really that

everybody has a voice and everybody has a story that's going to impact

somebody else. Yeah. I mean, it's true. Good

podcast. The best podcasters are great

storytellers. Even if they're not doing a narrative podcast, even if they're interviewing somebody

else, even if they're just trying to be funny, they they tend to

connect best with their audience when they are helping to tell a story

or when the content they are presenting itself is presented in the

story or the beginning, middle, and an end and, you know, takes the listener

on on the sort of journey, through that. So going back, you

know, we said, at the very beginning that the name of your company is

and, of course, I say that, and now I can't find my notes.

Right? Like, that's what always happens as you're in the middle of chatting. It's the

podcast coaching for kingdom entrepreneurs. And in this case, when you talk about kingdom,

you're referring to, Christian podcasters. What led you

into this sort of, you know, specific niche, and what have you

found, you know, interesting about podcasters in this space compared

to maybe, you know, some of the other common

podcast groupings that are out there? Yeah.

So I think what really led me into this specific

niche is, a, this is the type of people that were asking

me questions, and, b, really, I

couldn't separate my own faith journey

and my own really understanding how to use my voice

by understanding who I was as a Christian or as

a, follower of Jesus. And so,

I I couldn't undo those things. And

not that I don't work with people who do not believe in

what I believe, but that is, like, my my main

framework is it's very much rooted in,

in a kingdom identity is what I say. So,

kingdom in the sense of a Christian,

like a heavenly perspective and a purpose filled

perspective. And so I think that's

really where I love is to dive into, like,

what are those strengths? What is the story? What

is, the impact that you can make that is not

only in today, but also as a legacy

you're leaving behind just like my dad left

behind as well. And, yeah, that's that's

pretty much why I'm in that genre is mainly because

that's that's the language I speak and that's what I believe.

But, again, like I said, I think everyone has a story.

It's so interesting that that's the reason why you found yourself

working in that space. I I essentially found myself

working with podcast clients for the exact same reason, having worked

at, you know, major financial

media company. Many of my early clients who found it were like, well, I used

to work at an institution for business reporting, so you'll

understand business podcasters better. And then, right, it was just, you know, once

you get a few, then the referrals and connections and, right, you you tend to

just kinda, you know, create a community of

people often in the same niche who are trying to work with you, and so

that makes total sense. So I'm wondering today, what are some

of the, you know, the newer pieces of advice or or what are some of

the newer strategies that you are finding that are

working best for podcasters to help them

grow and and more just grow their numbers, but really just help them to be

successful? Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. So

I love this question because I feel like it's such a popular question

with podcasters is how do I grow my show? And

I have one of my members in my community came to me one

day and she was like, but why? Like, why do I want

to grow my show? And it was a great question because

it actually uncovered a whole depth

of conversation that we weren't having, which was

what's the purpose. So, yes, you can grow your show, but

where are they going after that? So is it just to

create a story that they're connecting with and they can put in their

AirPods and you can say, yep. Me too. Or, yep. This is

one way that you could break through whatever scenario.

And is it a place of where are you sending them next?

So if they wanna work with you on a deeper level, because a lot of

my my people are coaches or they're leaders in the

ministry. So how do you once

you grow your show, where is the next stop? Is it do you

want to do group coaching? Do you want to lead something with them? Do you

want to walk side by side with them? So I

try to go, like, one layer deeper because of that conversation of,

like, yeah, it's great to grow your show. And what are

you doing with this honor that you have,

I don't know, a 100 people per episode listening or

a 1000 or a 100000 people listening. So what are you

doing with these people that can create an impact

on a deeper level? So that's kind of where I go as far

as, like, alright. What's the why behind that? And then

the other thing that I have seen that is working

is, really understanding your

keywords of who would be searching for your

podcast. So, like, opening up your app and searching for a

financial coach or a fitness coach or

menopause coach. That's a very popular one right now.

And making sure that that's actually in your title instead of, like,

you know, mom for life with a number 4 or

whatever. So making sure that we are very specific,

clear, and strategic on our titles, whether that's

our podcast title, our cover art, our

show description, making sure all of those keywords are

really going to be for the person that's searching for your podcast.

You know, that reminds me, I I remember taking a class in college about public

speaking, and one of the first lessons and, you know, something that a lot of

people say is, like, the perfect introduction for any

presentation is you tell the audience what you're about to

tell them. You tell them the thing, and then you go back and you

tell them what you just told them about. And and that's almost what you

were talking about here with keywords, with artwork, with SEO.

It's right. It's like, if you want people if you want a

specific type of person to find you, well, you better explain

to those people who you're looking for, talk about the

things that they will be looking for, and then, of course, follow-up by

presenting those things on your show that they are looking for. So, you know,

podcast SEO really being a a key strategy,

is there are there specific tools that you

use to come up with a good SEO strategy

or come up with those right keywords for the shows that you're working

on? Yeah. So what I like to do, I like to use

multiple avenues. So number 1, find out what's working. So

asking your people, how did you find me? If they were if they are one

of those that are, you know, like the ring

the bell, we got them to come and listen to our show. They went into

Apple search bar and they searched for our podcast and that's how they found us.

We want to know how did they type in whatever

word they found or typed in there and then how did they find us in

that way. Number 2, I love things like answer

the public or, the other keyword

finders. I'm totally drawing a blank on the other one right now.

But, and then also if you

simply just go look in your charts of Apple or,

like, Podchaser has charts now or Chartable, rest in

peace, and finding

those top podcasts that are in your genre

and seeing what keywords are they using. Because, obviously,

they're nailing nailing it on the head. So you wanna go

and find those people, look at what their titles of their episodes are.

You're not stealing their titles. You're just grabbing those keywords

and saying, oh, interesting. I can see that, this

menopause coach is talking about

cycle, motherhood, empty nest,

like looking at all of those keywords and making sure you're having a

running list. Every quarter, go in and check to see what is new,

what is different, what's popping up in Google search,

and just continuing to have that feedback over and over again.

Once again, just to let everybody know, we are chatting with Kristen

Chadwick. She is from Podcast Coaching for Kingdom Entrepreneurs. You can find

her at Kristenfield chadwick.com. Obviously, we will put a

link here in the show notes so that you can easily find her as well

as a link to all of her social media. Before we let you go,

Kristen, a few questions that we'd like to ask everybody who comes on the show.

So one is, is there a place in the podcasting

ecosphere, whether it's listening, creation,

distribution, or, like, anything that you would love to see improved in

podcasting overall? I think my number

one wish, which I know 2.0 is trying to

hit on, is that we could interact with our

listeners kind like YouTube, but with our

audio. So I know there's some apps out there that you

can leave comments, under episodes,

but that would be more mainstream. So, like, Apple adopting that

or Spotify, in their their platforms

and making sure that you could easily comment in

real time as they're listening, and it would be underneath

their episodes. That's a good one.

I think that has come up a few times from previous guests looking for better

engagement tools to to interact directly with

listeners. Right? The best we can do is, right, we ask for ratings and reviews

or we ask for feedback, but most of that doesn't actually happen on the

platform where they're listening. So it's hard to tell who's a real listener and

who's just maybe some troll trying to, you know, get under your skin or or,

you know, make a name for themselves. What about technology? Is

there anything on your wish list, whether it's something that already

exists that you've wanted to get your hands on, or something

maybe that you're hoping would be created? And by the way, it looks like you're

using a Shure SM 58 microphone?

Yep. You nailed it. Oh, okay. Yep. So it's a pretty good microphone anyway. But,

yeah, is there something on your, equipment or technology wish list, even piece of

software? Oh, you know, I do have a wish list of

the Shure m b 7,

or I I don't know. I've been eyeing the new Rodecaster mic

too. So I don't know. I

I I'm content with what I have, and I feel like what I have right

now is working. So I don't know.

You're you're not as compulsive and drawn to the new shiny things like some of

us are who No. Would, you know, try and buy everything and then realize, I

didn't really do that. That's very responsible podcasting, so good on

you. And then is there a podcast that you listen to

today or maybe a few shows that you're subscribed to that when

they come out, you are going to listen whether you stop what you're doing

or it's just you're not just gonna let that download sit in your your playlist

forever? Oh, you mean, like, other than yours, of course. Of course. I

am. You know, I love

anything from Dave Jackson. He's just

I love him. Dave's good people. I know. I know. And

I love the feed with Elsie and Rob, from

Libsyn. Those are my top 2,

specifically for podcasting.

Outside of that mind pump, media, which is like a workout,

very well balanced, podcast where it's 3 guys

plus their producer on the mic. And I just love

listening to them banter back and forth about fatherhood, about

recent fitness studies. It's just great,

like, background listening while I'm working out. So

You know, I I appreciate that because I've always heard people say I listen

to podcasts when I'm working out, and I'm always like, I I can. Right?

It's either too focused on the workout to hear what they're saying on the podcast

or so focused on on, you know,

what they're saying that it's losing steam or, right, it's not the

same as, like, really good motivating music. So that might be one that,

myself and maybe some others will check out. And, you mentioned the feed for just

a quick disclosure. I do now work at Libsyn and have recently appeared on the

feed, and we'll probably do some in the future. Kristen was not paid to say

that. So just just so we are clear on that. That was not

a ploy or, you know, something that was planted ahead of time. Well,

Kristin Chadwick of podcast coaching for Kingdom Entrepreneurs, thank you so much for

joining us today. Thank you so much for having me, Matthew.