Since October 2005, I have hosted over 200 episodes of Indie Business Radio, a weekly Internet talk show featuring my interviews with thought leaders and influencers offering practical strategies to help you achieve your goals. I originally launched the show because I was unable to respond to all of the requests from people who needed my help. Hosting a show with experts in different fields allowed me to simultaneously share my expertise and the expertise of others.
Listeners enjoy what amounts to free consultation, including tips and insights to help them be successful. My show is available for stream or download at Indie Business Radio, here at the blog and on iTunes. I hope to make it available through an iPhone app in the near future. One day, I'll devote an entire show to the benefits of having your own radio show or podcast. In the meantime, here are 3 reasons you may wish to consider hosting your own show.
- Hosting a radio show builds your brand. In addition to offering great products, nothing is more important than establishing and building the brand under which the products are sold. After all, you're not the only one selling what you sell, so you must milk every branding opportunity for all it's worth. This is especially important if your business is Web-based because the more traffic you get at your branded sites, the more sales you will have an opportunity to produce.
A website that archives your shows broadcasts your brand like nothing else, and increases your sphere of influence far into the future. When you have your own show, you record it only one time, but you benefit from it for months and years to come.
- Hosting a radio show is fun. Hosting a show is a great way to meet new and interesting people. Through my show, I have met Jack Canfield, Paula Deen, “The Secret” contributor and reality television show host Lisa Nichols, author and Food Network star Warren Brown and other people I would probably never speak with in person, but for Indie Business Radio.
Leading interesting discussions with people from all walks of life enriches my life in multiple ways. It encourages my personal growth, keeps me on my toes and makes things fun and interesting.
- Hosting a radio show is a great way to learn new things. To enjoy life to the fullest, and to maximize your potential in business, you must be a life long learner. Hosting a radio show is a great way to learn while building your brand and having fun. As the leader of each week's discussion, I am forced to learn a little bit about my guests's main area of expertise. This helps me be more effective in business because I am never without the resources I need to tackle specific projects.
(If you listen to all of the shows in my 2010 Archives and beyond, you'll have the same resources I have!)By hosting a show, you are forced to learn a little about a lot of things. For example, I knew little about search engine marketing before having Catherine Seda, a guru on the topic, on my show. Now, I know enough to have a coherent conversation on the topic. Even more important, I have enough of a basic understanding to know what questions to ask and what type of help to find when I want to better make better use of search engines. Likewise, I was struggling to be more organized when professional organizer Elizabeth Hagen was a guest. Today, I am a little more organized, and you have a timeless free resource to turn to when you need organizational expertise.
All of this is great, but just like everything else, being a radio show host is not for everyone. Aside from the obvious time needed to make a show interesting and successful, you also have to be comfortable talking to complete strangers. You must think quickly on your feet and it doesn't hurt if you are a naturally curious person.
Hosting Is For Everyone
I used to think that hosting a radio show was not for everyone. I have since changed my mind. Not only is the technology less expensive and more readily available than it was when I started out in 2005, but it's also a necessity to use multiple branded outlets to connect with your customers, their friends and people in your sphere of influence.
It helps to be naturally comfortable talking to people, but I believe this is a skill you can develop. You already need good “people skills” to talk about your business and the things that you are passionate about. Hosting a show is a great way to improve skills you already need to be successful.
Stand Out In The Crowd
You may survive in business for a while doing what everyone else does, but it is not a viable long term business strategy. Protecting the status quo will only get you more status quo. A radio show will help you stand out in the crowd, as you simultaneously create intellectual property that increases the value of your company.
Radio has no visuals so you have to be able to ask questions that stimulate your guests to display their knowledge and keep your audience tuned in and awake. You also have to be adept at directing the conversation where you want it to go. I didn't know how to do all of those things when I launched my show, proving that just about anything can be learned if the desire is there.
An increasingly popular way to host a show is podcasting. I have heard that a great book to get you started is Podcasting For Dummies by Tee Morris and Evo Terra. I chose to work with Global Talk Radio.com because they specialize in hosting talk radio shows and I didn't have the time (or the inclination) to learn about or buy the editing equipment needed to do it myself.
New technologies are born every day that make broadcasting your brand possible and cost effective.
Additional Resources
I plan to update my blog with more resources soon. I also plan to provide step-by-step instructions on how you can get started hosting your own show for just $20.00 a month, a mere fraction of what I pay. In the meantime, you can read up on a few options at Global Talk Radio, Blog Talk Radio andWS Radio
Question: If you have benefited from an Internet radio show, please share your experience in the comments section below. Also, if you are an Internet radio show host, please tell us about your show so we can tune in sometime.
