![The Fastest Path to Monetizing a Podcast [Day 24 30 Days of Podcast Notes]](https://images.beamly.com/fetch/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.rss.com%2Fstreamlined-podcaster%2Fpodcast_cover_20260916_122857_a7aaeae9723ee3f8a0758f9d13809543.jpg?w=365)
Every monetization path is hard, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something or got lucky. YouTube's threshold is a real climb. Memberships and affiliates both want an audience you probably don't have yet — and I've grown wary of affiliate links anyway, because in a trust economy the question "is he only recommending this because he gets paid" costs more than the commission is worth. Sponsorship is possible with a small, engaged audience, but it takes real cold outreach. The fastest path I've actually watched work is using the show to get clients: one of mine, a Florida law firm serving first responders, launched in December, published every other week, and was getting cases by August. Not a big show. A very clear one.
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Disclosure: this episode description was generated with AI.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Hey everybody and welcome to episode 24. Day
00:00:06 --> 00:00:11 24 of 30 days of podcast notes. This is looking
00:00:11 --> 00:00:15 at my handy dandy list. The last episode in the
00:00:15 --> 00:00:20 podcasting today series. Mini series of these
00:00:20 --> 00:00:26 notes tomorrow. I will start on the future and
00:00:26 --> 00:00:30 so. I want to wrap up this podcasting today with
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 monetization. You've heard my journey of monetizing
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 my podcast. I had sponsors before the show launched.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 It was very easy for me to get sponsors up to
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 and including the pandemic and not after. So
00:00:42 --> 00:00:46 what does monetize, what is monetizing a podcast
00:00:46 --> 00:00:55 look like today in 2026? Well, I think that there
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 are a few avenues. Yesterday I mentioned is video
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 worth it. And something I didn't mention because
00:01:00 --> 00:01:05 it's a moving target is if you get on YouTube,
00:01:05 --> 00:01:10 you can monetize assuming you can easily reach
00:01:10 --> 00:01:17 that 80 or 8 watch hours. And whatever the
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 subscriber limit is, they just doubled it. So
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 if you can reach that, great. But that's not
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 an easy path to monetization. What about sponsorship?
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 I'm a sponsorship coach. I help through Justin
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 Moore. I help people get sponsors. It's been
00:01:32 --> 00:01:36 hard in the podcast space. Your mission statement
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 will inform that. If you have a clear mission
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 and you serve an audience, even if it's small,
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 if they're engaged, there is opportunity for
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 sponsorship. You need to find the right sponsor
00:01:47 --> 00:01:52 though. dynamically inserted ads, maybe sponsorships,
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 maybe affiliates. I feel like affiliate links
00:01:55 --> 00:01:59 are dying. People are burned out on that. They
00:01:59 --> 00:02:03 they are more susceptible to, are you just including
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 this because it's an affiliate link? I'm thinking
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 about launching a community around tools for
00:02:09 --> 00:02:17 solopreneurs. And I have like one of the rules.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:21 for me in this community is to never use an affiliate
00:02:21 --> 00:02:27 link on paying customers. Never, because I want
00:02:27 --> 00:02:32 them to know you are paying me for my taste and
00:02:32 --> 00:02:38 judgment. And even though I don't let affiliate
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 links affect that, affiliate affiliate links
00:02:40 --> 00:02:44 make me virtually no money. It's really not worth
00:02:44 --> 00:02:49 it for me, but It's more about the signal. I
00:02:49 --> 00:02:56 don't want them to be some thought. Is Joe just
00:02:56 --> 00:03:00 recommending this tool because he has an affiliate
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 link for it and not the other one? I never want
00:03:03 --> 00:03:09 anybody to think that. So as we move more towards
00:03:09 --> 00:03:13 a trust economy, that is so important because
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 not only of internet hucksters, but also like
00:03:16 --> 00:03:22 AI slop. I think affiliate links are going to
00:03:22 --> 00:03:26 lower the amount of trust even more than in the
00:03:26 --> 00:03:32 past. So how do you monetize your podcast? First
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 of all, all of these are tough. Anybody who tells
00:03:34 --> 00:03:38 you monetizing a podcast is easy as a liar or
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 they got lucky. So I'm not going to sit here
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 and tell you what worked for me will definitely
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 work for you. Memberships are hard. You need
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 a big audience. Affiliates are hard. You need
00:03:48 --> 00:03:49 a big audience. Sponsorships are getting harder.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 You don't need a big audience unless you do dynamic
00:03:53 --> 00:03:58 ads. But you do need to make a concerted effort
00:03:58 --> 00:04:03 to do cold outreach to sponsors to find the right
00:04:03 --> 00:04:07 one with the goals that align with your show.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 I think really the fastest path to monetizing
00:04:13 --> 00:04:21 your podcast is around using it to get clients.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:28 And so you have your mission statement, you serve
00:04:28 --> 00:04:32 a specific audience, you solve their problem
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 with the show, and then you tell them, if you
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 want more help, you can hire me. And this is
00:04:37 --> 00:04:42 the thing I've seen work the best, right? I want
00:04:42 --> 00:04:46 to tell you about one of my clients, Paolo. He
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 is co -owner of a law firm in Florida called
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 Bickler and Longo. They help first responders
00:04:51 --> 00:04:55 like love their love their mission so much. They
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 came to me last year and they said, we want to
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 launch a podcast. We are still practicing lawyers.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 It cannot take up all of our time. And so we
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 came up with a format and a process that works
00:05:05 --> 00:05:11 for them. And I followed up last month. In August.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 I said hey how's it going just wanted to check
00:05:13 --> 00:05:17 in and he said it's good the the we're continuing
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 to be consistent the show is gaining traction
00:05:20 --> 00:05:25 we're already getting cases from the show not
00:05:25 --> 00:05:31 a huge podcast not a huge podcast and they publish
00:05:31 --> 00:05:36 every other week fortnightly if you will it launched
00:05:36 --> 00:05:40 in december and they are already getting cases
00:05:40 --> 00:05:44 because they are super clear on who they serve.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:49 So I personally think that is the fastest path
00:05:49 --> 00:05:53 to monetization. And it really goes back to the
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 first episode in this mini series on podcasting
00:05:55 --> 00:06:02 today, which is be clear on who you help. Everything
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 else is good. I help people get sponsors. I have
00:06:05 --> 00:06:09 sponsors. Not. really on my podcast anymore people
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 are more interested in my YouTube channel and
00:06:12 --> 00:06:18 newsletter but I think the fastest path to monetization
00:06:18 --> 00:06:23 understanding hear what I said six months right
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 they were doing the show consistently for six
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 months and now they're getting cases so I'm not
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 going to say like you're going to get clients
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 after your first episode but I think it is the
00:06:31 --> 00:06:35 fastest path That's it for this episode of 30
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 Days of Podcast Notes on the Streamline Podcaster.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 If you enjoyed this, be sure to subscribe wherever
00:06:40 --> 00:06:45 you listen. If you are a solo or small business
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 owner who has a podcast but doesn't want to spend
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 all of their time creating content, I can save
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 you 25 hours a month. Join my mailing list over
00:06:54 --> 00:06:58 at streamlined .fm slash join. Thanks so much
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 for listening and I will see you tomorrow.