Hello and welcome to Unshakeable with Human Design, everybody. Welcome to our 300th episode. I’m your host, Nicole Laino. First of all, I just want to say thank you. If you’ve been listening to the show, whether this is the first episode you are listening to, or you have been with us for the entire ride, thank you.

Thank you for listening to this. Thank you for being here. I appreciate you more than you will ever know, because this is one of my absolute favorite things that I get to do, is this show. And the fact that we’ve made it to 300 episodes is like, crazy, bonkers, exciting for me. So thank you. I feel like I should have a noisemaker or something to commemorate this monumental event, but I don’t.

So here we are. We just have my voice and the enthusiasm that I hope that you are picking up from this. We are at 300 episodes. This is it. This is number 300. We are also coming up on our fourth birthday, which will be coming up in October, which I’m really excited about. And this show also brings in six figures a year, so we’re celebrating lots of things here.

Oh, and I actually forgot that by the time this episode hits, we will also be at 100,000 downloads. So, thank you for being any part of that. If you’ve bought something from us, you’ve listened to episodes. You have shared this with a friend. Thank you, the show is yours too. So what I wanted to do with this episode is I wanted to talk about podcasting because it really has changed the game for me in so many ways.

So many times we learn things. And I did this for a long time where I learned a lot of strategies. I learned a lot of things to do. I learned launching, I learned marketing, I learned content writing. I learned all of this stuff, but I never felt like I had a place to put it. didn’t know how to take the content that I learned to write and I put it on Instagram, but I was like, I feel like I start from scratch every day, like how do I grow this audience?

I remember when I first started on Instagram and I feel like I’m just shouting into the void here. And it also didn’t feel like mine. I put up a great piece of content and some people would see it and some people would just never be shown it. So I had to hope they’d come back to my profile and then find the post later.

It was just the whole thing. Never felt like it was in my control. So one thing that has just changed the game for me is podcasting. This show has been my saving grace. It gave me a place to channel everything. And a place where people could come and like, this is my house.

And you are a guest in my house and I’m so happy to have you. It’s wonderful to have a home to host you in. So what I wanted to do with this episode, talk about podcasting. I wanted to address some of the common misconceptions that we get around podcasting that I hear from people that I wanted to debunk and demystify a little bit of this and talk about, how we’ve had the success that we’ve had on this show.

Because I will say this, one of the things that we have been able to do here is we’ve really been able to build a very loyal listener base. That we grow every single month. We grow in subscribers. We grow in downloads. We grow in sales. Like we just see this consistent growth in this area. When I went to the Powerhouse Women event a few weeks ago, I had people coming up to me that I had no idea who they were looking for me in the crowd and telling me that they love my podcast.

That they’ve been listening to it for a long time. I have no idea who they are, but they’re just like, oh my god I love your show. It’s so gratifying to me to hear that and to know that this message is getting out there and suddenly I have this authority platform as I call it. I am an authority in this space And not because somebody anointed me an authority, but I took it.

I said, I am going to do this. I decided I was an authority. I have something, real expertise to share. But so do you probably if you’re listening to this. So I wanted to take you through the misconceptions that I hear. And then also just some other things that most people want to know about podcasting.

So the misconceptions that I hear all the time are that the podcasting world is saturated. It’s impossible to stand out. True. That launching a podcast is really hard. Also not true. Launching the podcast is not very hard. Usually it’s the way that we think about it that’s hard. And then the last one is launching the podcast equals the money will start rolling in.

That all I have to do is launch it and then I can just, let my bank account swell, watch all of the sales roll in. And if that’s been your experience, good on you. It was not my experience. There were other things that were needed. It does not mean, I just said that my podcast makes six figures a year, which is absolutely true.

But, that didn’t happen just because I launched the podcast. The if you build it, they will come theory? Has not panned out for most people. Unless you have this built in audience that you’re bringing to the podcast where you’re transferring this already devoted group of loyal fans and you’re saying, oh, come visit me over here now.

That’s different. But if you’re starting from scratch, there’s going to be more work for you to do there. So there certainly was for me. And I’m actually grateful for that journey because I have something to offer people. I’m coming from a place of, I didn’t grow this when podcasting was, a brand new thing and it was easy to grow on.

I did not have a huge audience that I just transferred to my podcast. No, this is like complete ground up growth here from zero. I looked at our analytics earlier and our earlier episodes had 80 downloads and in the first week they had 20, now, we’re doing, at a hundred thousand downloads for this show.

We’ve grown exponentially. I don’t even know how to multiply how much more that is. And that’s totally from testing things, trying things, and shifting our strategy. So I actually have that to share, so I’m going to share that with you guys today. I’m going to break this down, I’m going to address all of those misconceptions that we were talking about. While we address those misconceptions, I’m going to talk about becoming an authority and how important that is to your business.

I’m going to talk about making money with your podcast and what that actually entails. What the process actually looks like when you’re building from zero. And then I’m going to talk a little bit about growing an audience of raving fans and buyers. How do we prime the listeners to buy something?

And some listeners never will, and that’s fine. They’re here for this particular show. They might be here for the inspiration. I give a lot away for free. So some people are just like, I’m good. I just want this for a recreational thing. And then sometimes people may have been in that category for a long time, but when they decide to finally invest with somebody, when it comes to human design, I’m at least very much in the running at the top of that list.

Because I’ve demonstrated to them so thoroughly how I teach, the way that I teach, the way that I explain this stuff, and the depth of my knowledge. Okay? Let’s break this down. I’m going to take you through everything that changed my business with podcasting. How that had the effect and it isn’t just having the podcast, it’s so much more than that.

So, that’s what I want to break down for you in this episode. That’s what we’re going to be taking you through. I’m going to take you through that authority building, monetizing, and then growing an audience of fans and buyers. Okay? Sound fun? All right, excellent. Let’s talk about becoming an authority, and I talk about that on this show quite a bit, just because human design makes you an authority because the confidence that it builds.

Very difficult to be an authority to others when you are not an authority to yourself. But, how can you start to become an authority as you’re working things out? Now, for me I found and honed my unique voice using this show. If you go back and you listen to the really early episodes, you’ll notice a very big difference between the way that I presented myself then and the way that I present myself now.

The other thing that you will notice if you go back, way back to the show, because this show. Well, it had a different name. 2023 In April, we changed the name of this show from the Limitless Entrepreneur to Unshakeable with Human Design.

We said this is gonna be the real focus of the show now, and I want it to be front and center right in the name. So we changed that in April of 2023. We went to two episodes in October of 2022. We made some shifts there, but one of the biggest things that I did as far as becoming an authority and claiming that space that I was saying before how I decided I was going to be an authority in human design, I declared it.

I was at a mastermind and I remember standing there in front of the whole group and I’m like, I am going to be one of the top voices in the human design space. I just decided. Now it’s true. People have to choose me. But I chose to say, I’m worthy of that, and I’m going to start speaking about it, and I’m going to put that stake in the ground.

So I honed my voice using human design. I became a product of my product. I really dove in, and I let my 5’1 emotional manifesting generator, with a 64th gate, conscious sun, with all of my design. I have let my design inform the way that this show is presented, the way that I present myself. The way that I speak. The tone of this show, and the way that I structure it.

So, I present this as a practical guide to human design. That’s what I want people to come here for. I want you to be cosmically inspired, but I also want you to really understand how to use this information, this system. So it’s more than just information for you to actually change your life and to change your business.

Very much in my design with my 5 1, the fact that I don’t just do one thing, but I have made it feel like it does tie together. All of that through understanding my design. But the other thing, now if you look at that difference between when I was Limitless Entrepreneur and now I’m Unshakeable with Human Design, I got very clear on my niche because I wanted to say that when I shifted and I decided and I made that change that I was going to be the Human Design person. And that I was going to own that space and say, I’m coming for everybody that’s at the top of that list.

Not disparaging them at all. They’re really great, but I’m, staking my claim that I’m just as good as them. And I’m going to show everybody, right? The difference there when I made that shift was I know my niche. I got very clear about my niche. And this is really important if you want to be seen as an authority that you know who you’re speaking to.

That you understand that. And now we can get a little bit stuck in the way that we think about niching. We can think about demographics, we can think about ages, we can think about, where do they shop, all of this stuff. But what I really would like you to hone in on, I teach it from a human design perspective.

But I got very clear that this was going to be a human design show. I got very clear that it was going to be human design for entrepreneurs. And every episode is passed through the filter of does this deliver for that audience? Will they be interested in this topic? Now it doesn’t have to always be something so specific to that audience where it’s like it’s me talking about it.

The guests that I bring on, when people ask me to be on this show. Before I used to say yes to everybody. Now I have to ask myself, Is there something that they offer that truly serves this particular group? So there’s lots of people who are wonderful who pitch me to be on this show but I’m very selective now, I only say yes to the ones that I feel will deliver insane value to what my people need.

And I can’t do that unless I know who those people are and I don’t need to have personal connection with every single person to know who my person is. I pay attention to it. But the other thing that made me an authority in this space through this podcast is I know my genius. I know and I own my unique genius.

When I say you can’t be an authority to others unless you are an authority to yourself, I mean that you have to stand in your power. That’s a phrase that gets thrown around a little bit in this industry. Be in your power. What that really means to me is being unshakeable, to be able to stand in front of people and say, I have this to offer.

Maybe you are or are not the person who needs what I have to offer. But I am still here and worthy of offering it all the same. You’re just not my person, if it isn’t for you. There’s nothing wrong with me. I know, my specific area within the human design space, too. I know what my genius is. It isn’t to help with certain aspects of it.

It is to serve this entrepreneurial community. All of this makes me a very tailored expert. Where when somebody needs someone to speak at their mastermind, to talk about how they can apply human design, where people actually walk away with something tangible, with a process to follow. If someone needs somebody like that to teach , or to speak at their event, at their mastermind, to their coaching group. 

I’m definitely at the top of that list. I get messages, I get calls, people asking me to speak at retreats, and that’s because I have put out such a body of work with this show. And that is possible for every single person listening to this podcast right now. If you’re sitting here and you are saying, I have a lot to offer, I know that I’m an expert in my space, I know that I have so much wisdom to offer people, I know that I could really help, but I feel like it either falls on deaf ears, people don’t really get it, or I feel like I just get drowned out in the algorithm. Then a podcast can help you.

What I’ve experienced is that you have to get really tight on the specific people that you offer it to and what your specific genius is. There can be really wide ranging niches. I help spiritual entrepreneurs. That might sound really broad, But when I get down to it, how I help them, what my genius is. Exactly how I do things, my practical approach. My message gets very clear and shoots directly at a certain type of person.

And I provide really high value for that person. So it’s about finding that level of specificity in your message, in your offers, in your show. So that when you go out and you are growing your show. That becomes a whole lot easier. We’re gonna get into that in my third section of this episode.

So let’s talk about monetizing. Everybody wants to know how do you monetize a show. And I think one of the misconceptions is that it’s through, sponsors. That people sponsor your show. The truth is, is that you need to have a pretty large show in order to get sponsorships. And we are just getting to the point where we get some sponsorship requests.

But I ain’t retiring on that money, I’ll tell you that right now. I am not near that level of, I’m not smartles. Where, BMW isn’t knocking on my door being like, we’d really like to pay for your show and pay for a spot for you to mention us and give you a car. No, far from it.

That’s not how I monetize my show. That is not how I bring in money with this show. But my podcast rather,, plays a very specific role in my funnel and in my business. It is the engine of my nurture. So this is where I want people to come and come again and keep coming back and keep coming back to be nurtured.

And while I don’t love this word now because it’s been co-opted in the political realm, but indoctrinated where they can really get to feel like this is or is not for them. I had a call with someone considering my program and considering hiring me today, and when I was speaking with her, she was just like, I know it’s you.

If I move forward with any of this, because just the way that you speak about it, the way that you explain it. I’ve listened to your podcast. I’ve binged it, it’s such a bingeable platform. . So she had gone in, she had done one of my masterclasses, and she had watched that, gone through that entire thing, and then in the interim between that and our call, she’s been binging podcast episodes.

So my voice, my message has been nurturing her that entire time and helping her self select and decide whether I’m the right person for her. And this is somebody that is considering a high ticket offer with me. And that is how I get clients. That’s how launches became more regularly in those high five figures.

That’s how we get there because it’s a warm audience that is coming. And that warm audience, I used to think that you had to have people in your world for two or three launches, they had to be there for several months, they had to be getting warm and nurtured by you for a while, and you’re trying to do that through emails and all of this other stuff.

And what I found is that we can nurture people, we can get people to come in within a month, and find us, sign up for a masterclass. Listen to a bunch of podcasts, and then jump into an 8, 000 program. That’s what we’ve been able to do. And the reason that we have done that is this podcast is serving the whole funnel.

Now, let me break down a little bit more about how that actually works, that there are other strategic aspects that make this podcast work. It’s not just the podcast. There’s an offer that ties very directly with the subject matter of this podcast, with the episodes of this podcast. These episodes, I don’t wing them.

There are times where I’m doing just one of these, oh, I had this thought and I felt like I wanted to share it. I still have some notes to make sure that I’m delivering value for all of you. But when I do strategic episodes, which are like 95 percent of them. When I do episodes, there is a plan and I am putting it together because I know how to sell and I know how to build a conversion driven message.

That is helping people self select all of that stuff that I was talking about. So the nurture is effective and it’s not just them being like, you’re so great. I just love your show. And it’s so inspiring. That’s great and those people are out there, but I’m making sure that the people who are thinking of buying are considering me and I’m helping them to understand how I teach and understand why they need me.

So that’s what I help people do and that is what I have done with this show and that’s why it works. And that’s why we have been able to have a high fiive figure launches after people listen to any number of episodes of this show. After coming into our world after maybe a month. It’s pretty amazing. So speaking of this, if you are thinking about starting a podcast, if you are looking to get results like this, if you want to have an authority platform of your own.

Register for the upcoming free 5-day masterclass, The Authority Accelerator in HD: Create Your Million Dollar Message in 5 Days Using Human Design at https://www.nicolelaino.com/masterclass

It’s that time again, I’m taking everybody through this in my master class. In my Authority Accelerator Masterclass, this is all about how to build your million dollar message and your funnel in five days. I take you through that entire human design process of becoming an authority to yourself. Building your genius brand, What strategic messaging that builds demand for your offers looks like and how to build a funnel and podcast your authority platform all according to your human design.

These are all the pieces that I have been referencing here tied together showing you how my system works, how this becomes a sustainable business. for you because it’s built on your genius and how your authority platform becomes incredibly effective and you have the offers, the strategic offers that are built off of that.

So you make sure that all of that makes money. All the aspects of the funnel are working. Okay. , if you want to get in on that, DM me the word masterclass on Instagram. I’m at @NicoleLainoOfficial or go to nicolelaino.com/masterclass you can sign up right there.

Register for the upcoming free 5-day masterclass, The Authority Accelerator in HD: Create Your Million Dollar Message in 5 Days Using Human Design at https://www.nicolelaino.com/masterclass

Okay. So now the last point. Part of those misconceptions that I was talking about that, this market is saturated, that’s not true. If you are that category of one, if you are truly an authority, you can grow an audience of raving fans. But again, it isn’t just if you build it, they will come.

So how do we grow an audience? How do you grow an audience for a podcast? The key is to get people to listen again and again and again. You don’t want people to listen to one episode and then never think about your show again. Now granted, you’re gonna have people that pop in and out.

Listen to a few episodes here, and then they disappear for a while, and then they come back. I have people where they’re behind on some episodes, but then they binge five of them. We see it all the time. But they keep coming back. I’ve been listening to your show for two years now.

I hear people say that all the time. I’ve been listening to your show for a long time. Oh my god, your show is one that I always come back to. That’s what you want. And there are analytics in your back end that’ll tell you, you never know who’s listening. You don’t get that type of visibility into it, but you can tell how long they’re listening for.

So you want to retain the audience, and that can really help to get your downloads up and to get your show ranking higher with the podcast platforms. Social media, everybody thinks it’s about posting your episodes on social media. So they invest in these companies that will cut up their podcast episodes into all of these little clips.

And then they just put up the clips willy nilly on these platforms and think that will grow their show. And in my experience, it hasn’t worked that way. Social media is a tool. That I use to bring eyeballs back to my podcast. However, it does not do all the work. Social media is a piece, but it’s actually a smaller piece than most people think that it is.

But, I do use my podcast to repurpose content, to make content creation. So much easier. And that comes from the way that I structure my episodes, makes it possible for me to repurpose those episodes into really valuable content that you would never know came from a podcast. It’s not a piece of content that says like on this week’s episode, I’m talking about, I do those to promote episodes, but there’s also all the rest of my content that you read if you’re watching Instagram, or if you’re reading my emails or anything like that.

They come from the content and source material of these shows. So all of that creative energy goes into the show. And then my team or myself, sometimes I’m still involved in that process, can repurpose the episode into something that’s truly valuable and that you would never know is the podcast. It’s pretty awesome.

But how do you grow the show beyond this? So that’s a little side note of another benefit of podcasting, but networking. Networking is a huge piece of growing your show and podcast guesting, collaborations, helping other people and collaborating with them and getting yourself in front of other people’s audiences that you’ve been lifted up by, that people are basically validating you and saying, Hey, I trust this person.

Networking is such an important part of podcasting that people don’t really realize because the show becomes your calling card. If you are networking properly, if you’re going to events all the time or you’re networking online, you’re doing coffee chats. If you have a show, you have a way of keeping those people in your world and getting them in your world.

If you have a really good show, you have a way of keeping them in your world for a long time. But a lot of times we end up where it’s either we’re sending follow up messages with these people, or we’re not really following up with them at all. This is a way that you can follow up with people where you’re constantly in their world, where when you drop them a DM, or you comment on something of theirs, or you reach out to them over email. They never lost touch with you.

They have been in your world for a long time. And Networking is how you can grow your show, where, again, you want to grow as many people as you can to get coming back to your show. And the people who know you will be more inclined to be doing that. So it’s such an unsung hero. We don’t hear people talk enough about networking, but it’s such a huge tool and so effective.

And then of course, podcast guesting, getting on other people’s podcasts. When someone’s on a podcast, you’re talking to podcast listeners. So telling them, Hey, I have a podcast too. It’s a pretty easy sell if they like what you’re saying on the show. And you’re being anointed by the person that had you on.

They’re saying, Hey, this person was good enough to be on my show. I trust them. You should trust them too. Highly effective. I hope that this episode was interesting for you. I hope it was helpful for you. I hope if you want to dive into all of the other pieces that go into building, growing and monetizing a show, building an audience of raving fans, really becoming an authority in your space, whether you decide to go with a podcast or not.

All of the other aspects are infrastructure of your business that help you make money on repeat, where you aren’t slaving every month to try to get more sales and starting from zero. There is a system that you can build. 

Register for the upcoming free 5-day masterclass, The Authority Accelerator in HD: Create Your Million Dollar Message in 5 Days Using Human Design at https://www.nicolelaino.com/masterclass

And if you’re interested in that, please, I encourage you to come to the Authority Accelerator Masterclass.

This masterclass gets the best feedback. People really love it. We always have people just raving about all of the value that they get from this, and it’s totally free. It’s like stupid how much I give away in this thing. So I encourage you to come. I would love to see you there. DM me the word Masterclass on Instagram.

If you would like to come, I’m at @NicoleLainoOfficial, or go to nicolelaino.com/masterclass and you can register right there on the site.

Register for the upcoming free 5-day masterclass, The Authority Accelerator in HD: Create Your Million Dollar Message in 5 Days Using Human Design at https://www.nicolelaino.com/masterclass

Again, thank you so much. If you have been part of our family for one episode or all 300, I am grateful to you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

And remember, in order to have an unshakable business, you must first become an unshakable human. So thanks for letting us help you become unshakable with human design, everyone. We will see you next time.