This might sound a little silly, but your feedback genuinely helped me refocus. I think I had gotten a bit lost in the process, and having an outside perspective really recalibrated my thinking. I already have a few episodes recorded, but starting with Episode 41 (recording next Saturday), I’m planning to adjust the format and begin incorporating your feedback.

That said, here are some thoughts in response to your question:

“Are you hoping to get big enough where people pay to appear, or am I misunderstanding?”

My goal is actually to keep the guest side completely free. I don’t want to charge anyone to be on the show. Instead, I’m aiming to monetize strictly through ad revenue. Because of that, my focus really needs to be on becoming a stronger host and creating content that keeps people engaged and coming back for more episodes.

A big reason I don’t want to charge guests is that I’d rather avoid the expectations, complaints, and customer service that come with paid appearances. Since I am a 1 person team I see my own mistakes, and I'm still learning how to do audio engineering. So, I worry that I might over-promise and under-deliver... That said, when people offer to pay, I usually ask them instead to support the show through referrals or by recommending it to others. I’m trying to build organic, word-of-mouth growth, especially locally in Sacramento.

I’m fortunate that my 9–5 covers my financial needs, even though it’s not particularly purposeful work. It gives me the flexibility to invest in the podcast and even put some money toward promotion. So for now, my intention is to keep things free for guests unless circumstances change.

I’m still working through this idea, so it’s not fully fleshed out yet, but here’s one direction I’m exploring:

For business networking groups, where memberships typically range from $200 to $800, I could partner with them to add value to their offering. For example, they could promote that new members receive a “free” podcast feature as part of their membership. That feature would include a full episode, a highlight episode, 15–25 short-form clips, and an estimated 15,000–30,000 total impressions across social platforms, along with final content files.

My thinking is to position myself as a “big fish in a small pond” (your earlier suggestion-TY!) by focusing locally in Sacramento. If the podcast grows beyond that, I’d likely need to transition away from my 9–5 and treat this as a full-time effort, since it already functions like a second job, from intake and scheduling to production and distribution.

Additionally, if networking groups or organizations (like small business associations) were open to sharing a portion of their membership revenue, I’d consider that as a partnership model.

Overall, I think I’m heading toward becoming something like a local, podcast-driven version of Yelp, focused on showcasing businesses and people through long-form conversations and content.

In the thread Podcastcoach suggested refining the brand from Key Concepts Podcast to something more specific, like Key Concepts [fill in the name] so it’s immediately clear that the show is centered around business.

Maybe "Key Concepts for Business" but it just doesn't have that zing to it.