How to Start a Podcast with Less than $100

In How to Start a Podcast with $100, Sarah St John A.K.A. the Frugalpreneur, joins host William Glass to discuss the keys to starting a podcast and building a lucrative side hustle. You’ll learn:

• How to take your show from idea to reality
• How to avoid podfading (when podcasters quit after the first 10 episodes)
• Key tools to run your show for less than $50 a month

Our Sponsors

Ostrich helps you go from being one of the 92% of people who fail to achieve their financial goals to one of the few who does. 80% of Ostrich members are on track to achieve thief financial goals. Sign up for free at https://www.getostrich.com/download

About Sarah St John

Sarah St John is an entrepreneur, podcaster, online course creator, and author. She has created several startups throughout her entrepreneurial career of over a decade. She currently owns a podcast production agency called PodSeam. She is also the podcast host of “Frugalpreneur: Building a Business on a Bootstrapped Budget” which aims to show people how to launch and manage an online business on a budget.

Learn more about The Frugalpreneur, Sarah St John.

Transcription

This transcription is autogenerated and may contain errors.

William Glass: [00:00:00] Sarah welcome to Silicon alley podcast. Super excited to have you on today. 

Sarah St John: [00:00:03] Well, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. 

William Glass: [00:00:06] I’m excited to dive in as someone who , brands themselves as the frugal preneur and has a podcast by that name. And I’m really excited to dive into bootstrapping and, and all the different things that you can do in terms of building a business on a tight budget.

But we’d love to get a little background on you, Sarah, and kind of open up to the audience as to who you are. If they’re not. 

Sarah St John: [00:00:27] Sure. Yeah. So , I started my entrepreneurial journey probably over a decade ago,  2008 is when I really started. I had had six different jobs that year, not at the same time, but throughout the course of the year and realized that I wanted to be my own boss.

And , so I started a photography business. And I realized that while I liked taking photos of animals and landscapes and architecture, I didn’t like taking photos of people, but that’s where the money is. I was doing weddings and portraits, but the bigger issue than that was actually just the expense to maintain and, you know, equipment and software and all that stuff.

So I decided to switch to an online business model, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. So I. A bunch of different things like affiliate, marketing, drop, shipping, blogging , it was in that process that I discovered all these free or affordable tools, resources, and software to run a business on a budget.

 And so I decided to, or I got the idea to write a book called forego preneur. Uh, that kinda covers like the different online business models and how to run them on a budget. And then while I was writing that, I got the idea to start a podcast, to coincide with the book. Also called frugal preneur, but it was just going to be, you know, like 10 episodes or something, an extra marketing outlet, I guess.

But I was getting more traction and leverage with the podcasts and the book, and I love the connections I was making. So I kept doing that. , I’m been doing that for a couple of years now have almost 90 episodes and , I’ve been producing my own podcast all along and the way and,  enjoy. And I decided, well, why not launch a podcast production agency and get paid to do it for other people.

And now I’m working on a podcasting course. And so I’m kind of all in on podcasting, but it took over a decade of trying this, that, and the other thing. Before I finally landed on that thing. 

William Glass: [00:02:31] That’s quite a journey. It sounds like you’ve ran the gamut of, of ways to,  build out businesses online.

 going back , what  motivated you to make that leap. You said you’d had six different jobs that year and  wanted to take over your own. I guess schedule in life through entrepreneurship. Like what was the impetus though, to really make that leap? Have you always been an entrepreneur at heart?

Sarah St John: [00:02:54] I feel like I have been, it was one of those things where I didn’t really realize until I started doing entrepreneurship and then kind of looking back on my life and realizing, oh, I think it’s always been there because when I was a kid, I would gather up. Stuff that I got for free, like candy or pencils or whatever, and sell them to my friends and just different things like that.

But I guess I didn’t really make the connection. , I just kinda went along with the expectation of going to college. I only got as far as an associates degree in journalism, but, um, but you know, just kind of followed that path that’s expected and didn’t realize. Think about entrepreneurship, I guess maybe it was just buried or suppressed or something until I had had a few jobs after college and was like, Hmm, I don’t know about this.

William Glass: [00:03:54] Yeah, just,  , over time developing , , that interest in going back to, as a kid, being able to, to sell everythings that you got and make some cash that way. So you started off in photography, realized that wasn’t going to scale. And man, people are a lot harder to take pictures of than landscapes and sculptures, and they’re much more demanding.

So talk me through  the journey of all these different things that you tried from affiliate marketing and blogging and pod, like, talk to me about like that journey and  what you’ve learned.  Cause it sounds like you’ve tried most, most everything in terms of ways to make money on. 

Sarah St John: [00:04:31] Yeah, I feel like I have.

 so after the photography business, I tried a bunch of different things. Like , I still do some affiliate marketing, but I did have a drop shipping business. , which what I liked about that was that you didn’t have to have an inventory, so there’s still very little overhead, but depending on what your drop shipping, I mean, I was doing baby onesies.

And so the average sale is what I, I mean, I was making maybe making like 20 bucks profit or something per sale. And it was just kinda like, I don’t know, , small margins. Yeah, exactly. And then blogging. I didn’t do a whole lot, um, okay. But, you know, try to incorporate affiliate marketing with that. But I do affiliate marketing through the podcast like if I have an author on, in the show notes, all linked to their book or, you know, something like that.

 Or if they own a software program, you know, something like that. But, um, let’s see, I did print on demand, which is kind of like drop shipping, but I was creating. My own designs and things like that.  I had a, 

William Glass: [00:05:43] that process, like what, what were some of the things from the drop shipping print on demand?

Like what, it sounds like the margins are really small. Like what made you move? 

Sarah St John: [00:05:51] Yeah. The margins are small and. It’s  hard to, I mean, first of all, you have to run ads pretty much to get traffic. So then your profit margins even smaller and like to compete with Amazon. Yeah. It’s difficult. I mean, I know there are people who do it successfully, but I realized that it wasn’t me.

Passion. Oh, I also had an online travel agency which actually did pretty well , had that for about five years while I was kind of doing this, that, and the other thing on top of it. And I thought that that was where I was going to end up , you know, stick with that. The problem was especially with COVID.

 so I closed that. Like a month after COVID hit, because all my bookings got canceled. And the thing with a travel agency is you don’t get paid until the person completes their trip, basically. And so I did a bunch. So I did a bunch of, you know, work researching and booking all this stuff for people, but then never got paid on it cause they didn’t get to take their trips.

And so I was like, oh, plus I was really getting into podcasting and enjoying that. And so I was already thinking about stopping the travel agency and going all in on podcasting. But then when COVID hit, I was in all of that intense. I was like, okay, now’s the time to close up, shop on that.

William Glass: [00:07:23] 

Makes sense. . So, so talk to me a little bit more about the podcast frugal, preneur. You have a book by the same name and the podcast sounds like kind of accidentally spurted from the book. , talk to me about the podcast and how everything’s 

Sarah St John: [00:07:35] going. Yeah. Yeah. Accident in a way. I mean, I guess it was intentional that I started one, but that wasn’t something I was planning from the get, go and.

I wasn’t planning on it being a long-term thing. I just love the connections that I’m making, like meeting people like you and I actually recently interviewed pat Flynn. I’m assuming you know who he is. Yeah. 

William Glass: [00:08:03] Yeah. I was looking on YouTube earlier and saw that you did the interview there.

Sarah St John: [00:08:07] Yeah. So just like getting to, well, maybe not technically me, like not in person or not right now anyway.  meet these people, but like being able to talk with people and, you know, even people I didn’t know before podcasting, just interesting people and their stories I feel like with podcasting, you’re almost kind of getting like a one-on-one consultation in a way.

 and learning. And then that person might know someone who might know someone and it just kind of snowballs. I feel like. so I I’ve just loved it and found like people find you easier. I feel like with podcasting then maybe blogging or even YouTube or whatever else.  

William Glass: [00:08:51] I’m a, obviously I’m a big fan of podcasting since why we’re here.

And I completely agree. It’s a great way to connect with people. What are some of the things? So whether it’s from the conversation with pat, or just in general, like, what are some of the things that you’ve learned or taken away from some of your conversations with people that have built businesses with little to no money?

Oh, 

Sarah St John: [00:09:14] wow. So. Originally, when I started the podcast, I was interviewing  CEOs or founders or people within companies of like various software programs that I use that are free or affordable. Then I kind of started interviewing people that I admired or looked up to in various niches within, entrepreneurship, whether it was.

Podcasting or affiliate marketing or whatever. And then this year I started interviewing people who started their business with less than a thousand dollars and built it to at least seven figures. In any timeframe, it doesn’t matter what the timeframe was, but without any kind of like outside capital or loans or credit or investments or whatever.

And so I’ve learned some really interesting or heard some interesting stories from some of those people. Like one guy I interviewed who, when I was looking at my statistics, actually I have currently the most downloads on his episode, I don’t even know if people know who he is.

 but he came from Africa and came to America with only a hundred dollars and has built three different businesses to seven figures by all bootstrap. And so just in his process, was that. So, I guess here’s one thing I learned was that his process was, he would try to remember what his first business was.

I think it was building websites or something and you know, start that for hardly anything. And then. As he started getting income, then he would spend like maybe 2000 that he earned and then he bought a camera and then he started doing photography. It seems to be a common thing that people try where he could charge $2,000 per, wedding or whatever he was doing.

With just a $2,000 investments, a one gig, you know, canceled that out. Then he would take money here and from that, and then he would invest in something else. And now he has a software company. That’s kind of like an all in one business management platform and then let’s see someone else I interviewed recently.

She. A lot of these people were immigrants. Actually. She came from Germany and started a business  bootstrapped it and. One of her businesses. It was actually also photography, whatever, a lot of photographers. Yeah. But her particular type of photography was like for magazines, like Vogue and stuff like that.

And she was able to sell. Her photography business to bill gates for seven figures  but I’m just like, wow. She started in dead actually 130, 5,000 in debt. Bootstrapped sold a company to build gates for seven figures. Now she has like a coaching business and whatnot, and yeah, just different stories like that.

It’s inspiring to know that, other people have done this and you can do it. It just takes determination and hustle and resources, like just being creative, I guess, in a way of how to kind of. The almost like stepping stones or building blocks. 

William Glass: [00:12:55] Yeah. No, that makes a lot of sense. And it’s really, yeah.

Really interesting.  to hear other people that have bootstrapped and, you know, I think that’s obviously a very attractive, attractive model, especially because most people don’t have a ton of money that they can throw at a business or trying to. create something because they need to pay a bill or X, Y, and Z, you know, whatever, whatever the motivation is.

So, you know, being able to lean on and see other people that have been able to do it and know that it’s possible to build, build businesses with little to no capital. It’s. , very important to talk about and share those stories. When you think about What you want people to take away when they listened to an episode what is it that you want people to come away feeling or knowing, or what action should they be taking after they hear a, an episode?

Sarah St John: [00:13:44] So I guess with episodes like that, it would be inspiration. And there’s usually in those episodes, the person I’m interviewing usually gives. Kind of a strategy or tips or something that someone can implement or consider. And then if it’s an episode where I’m interviewing, someone who’s an expert in some area of entrepreneurship, or maybe they work for a particular software company, if something that I use and recommend, just, taking away.

A lot of times people  haven’t even heard of these platforms that are free or really affordable. They’ve heard of competitors that are,  expensive, but they haven’t heard about these, these just as good, if not better, like free or affordable options. And so a lot of people I’ve heard, like, there’ll be taking notes, like, oh, I gotta check that out.

I gotta check that out. And then they, sign up for it and whatnot. And, um, So, I guess just like, I feel like in the process of writing the book and then the goal of the podcast is saving people time by them not having to research these types of things. Like every day, I feel like I’m online looking for new tools, resources, and software to try out or to recommend.

and so I think. It does save people time or people might not even spend the time anyway, to look up all that stuff and do comparisons and whatnot. But, I like doing it bigger. 

William Glass: [00:15:25] Yeah, no, it makes sense. Yeah. Being able to save people time or depending on, like you said, the type of the episode, whether it’s strategies or tips from guests of how they can, how they were successful and implementing it makes a ton of sense.

In terms of, of pod team.  How did you develop the business and talk to me a little bit about going from producing your own show  learning all about all these tools and resources,  sharing them with, with other,  frugal preneurs.  how did you end up starting pod scene?

Sarah St John: [00:15:55] So. I’ve always produced my own show and people would compliment me on it and say that it was, you know, for doing it myself, that it was done pretty well. So then I got the idea and then I implemented it by, I mean, there’s so many tools that I use myself for my own show, whether, and all I can just list some of them, So like a D script is a good one for creating transcripts or even I like to edit my audio and or video through Descript because you can edit out, you can remove filler words and with a click of a button.

So basically you edit the audio or video by editing the transcript so you can remove ums and UHS and things. And then you can even create like audio grams in there now. which I also use headliner or,  repurpose I l.io. Those two I use for audio grams . So before I started doing video podcasts, and it was just audio, I would create through repurpose a.

A long form audio gram, or it turns it into a video, better than nothing, I guess, but now I’m starting to do like video podcasts, like kind of like what we’re doing and then put that on YouTube and then take the audio from that and turn that into the podcast.

And then like, caption social media,  like where it has clips of the interview. But it’s like caption. Cause a lot of people, when they’re on social media, they they’re in a situation at work or wherever where they can’t listen to it. So the captions, you can read it as it’s playing without hearing it. And there’s something called clip scribe for that.

And then I create graphics in Canva. I mean, all of these things are either free or really affordable. And so, and there’s some others I can’t think of at the moment, but basically just using all these tools and then it’s like, other people wouldn’t have to pay for these tools and they can just pay me to use these tools to create.

but then also. What I’ve discovered is that it isn’t really starting or recording a podcast that people have an issue with. It’s the post-production. And that’s why so many people pod fade that’s the term used, like when people usually on average, only put out seven to 10 episodes and then they.

They’re like, forget it because of all the post-production people don’t think about that when they start like the editing production intros, the outros, if you want ads put in, if which I don’t personally do, but some people do. And then, the audio grams, transcripts show notes, social graphics,

and some people don’t do any of that, but I recommend. If you want it to sound the best and make the most impact or reach most people or, or whatever. I recommend doing all those things. Right. , basically the way podseam works is that when someone just records their episode, whether it’s audio or video sends it to me, and then I do all the post-production backend stuff.

So then it’s, it’s. A lot less likely that they’ll pod fade. If all they have to do is record the episode. 

William Glass: [00:19:32] That, that makes it a lot easier. I, as someone who has self produced, I can, I can second that , it takes a lot of time and effort and things that you don’t realize. And  it’s not easy.

So I see the value.  in Podseam and what you’re doing. And I was not aware of a lot of those tools. Some of them I’ve used like headliner and Canva, but I’d never heard of Descript. 

Sarah St John: [00:19:55] Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. Descript will pretty much change your life. 

William Glass: [00:20:01] It sounds like it, it 

Sarah St John: [00:20:02] sounds like it, they do have a free plan, but it’s limited, like.

Only, I mean, you might be able to use it for a month or two, but the plan that I’m on is only $15 a month. And I’m thinking about switching to the, to the $30 a month plan because of what it offers. It’s very, it’s one of the very few things that I actually pay for to run my business, but it’s a big time saver.

Oh, 

William Glass: [00:20:31] absolutely. Yeah. I think the editing process is, is, uh, is definitely, one of the biggest times sucks, I would say.  even if it’s not necessarily hard, it’s a lot of time. 

Sarah St John: [00:20:44] I’ve noticed that for every hour episode or so that I have, it takes anywhere from three to five hours for all the backend stuff.

William Glass: [00:20:55] Yeah, it takes a lot. So Sarah w what would you, if you were advising someone who’s just starting a podcast or wanna start a podcast, like, what steps should they take? Like what, what are your thoughts around, around that for a newbie? So they don’t podcast. 

Sarah St John: [00:21:08] Yeah. Uh, well, the first thing is to find a niche.

there are some podcasts out there where they talk about anything and everything. but very few people can pull that off.  so it needs to be niche down, but it’s very specific topic and audience and then have some kind of,  clever, I suppose, name,  but something that people can tell. Means by, by reading it, I like you, the title of your shows, it’s Silicon alley and, you know, people think of Silicon valley.

And so I thought that was creative. So a creative title that tells people what it’s about. Some people want to name their show after them, but unless they’re. Well known, like unless you’re Oprah or something, I don’t recommend saying the, your name show or whatever. And then as far as like, cover are definitely something that pops out, not a whole bunch of words.

I guess you could have your face on it. If you don’t use your name. I think if you use your name, like the so-and-so show, And have your face on it. If no one knows who you are, then that’s just, it’s a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I think yours has your face on it, but it also has, , it has a building of some sort.

I can’t remember. Oh, it was, yeah. 

William Glass: [00:22:32] It’s the flat iron and, uh, the, the clock that’s in front of the 

Sarah St John: [00:22:35] building. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, having some kind of image like that, I think is good. And if you’re going to put your face on it and that’s all that’s on it, ideally it would be cart, like kind of a cartoon. I think those pop better than someone’s actual face, but each have their own.

Um, and then of course with your title, I think it’s good to say whatever your title is with. So-and-so like your name. and then, okay, so those are just some kind of basics to get started. and then you need a podcast host.  There are a couple of free ones, but I personally recommend one. I recommend that this is one of the areas that you actually pay for.

I use captivate, which is like 19 bucks a month and they’re really good. You can have unlimited podcasts and all this stuff. They have a lot of like marketing tools within it, but there’s a lot of good ones out there. Like Buzzsprout is pretty good. So, yeah, usually you can get hosting for under $20 a month.

And then as far as equipment getting started, you technically could use your like, well, you have your, your buds w apple earbuds with the little mic that’s built in. Um, and. Oh, that’s just so you can hear. Okay. 

William Glass: [00:23:56] Yeah. Yeah. I try not to, unfortunately, sometimes I have caught myself post production that I did record with this and you’ll hear the, the little it’ll hit the 

Sarah St John: [00:24:05] collar.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I recommend a Mike. I have an ATR 2100, which was like 60 or 80 bucks. There’s also Samsung Q2 U, which is about the same. And then. It’s a USB mic, plugged it right into your computer and then like what you’re doing and what I’m doing using some kind of earbuds or headphones so that when you’re listening to the person so that it doesn’t come through the computer and cause an echo.

I would say those are like starting out. Those are the areas that you want to first focus on and invest in. If you want to go completely free, you could use your earbuds for both the listing and the recording, if you wanted to and use like anchor for your hosting. But I would say if you have like a hundred bucks and , a hundred bucks to start with, get a Mike and you probably have headphones or earbuds laying around.

Um, and then if you have $20 a month, then yeah. Get a podcast hosting platform. 

William Glass: [00:25:14] Why, why the hosting do you think it’s important to pay for versus using like an anchor or one of the other free tools? 

Sarah St John: [00:25:21] Yeah, so I think anchor has improved. but I know the issue with them and maybe this is the issue with any free one, which I’m not sure how much.

Or actually totally free, but yeah, it might 

William Glass: [00:25:34] be one of the few WordPress. I think you can use some plugins, WordPress plugins and hosted on your own website, but you still pay for the website hosting. So I don’t know if it’s really free. 

Sarah St John: [00:25:43] Yeah, yeah. That’s probably the last way better way to do it. but as far as I think the issue with anchor in the beginning was that, and maybe they sold you this, I don’t know, is that like, at least for apple podcast, When they distributed, it’s like through their account, you don’t do it through yours.

And so. Any kind of changes or any kind of, you want it, if you want to log in and look at your analytics or whatever, you don’t have access to that. And then if you try to change, it’s apparently a big mess. And then plus I think like maybe they put ads in. I’m not sure. I know in the beginning I heard negative things and now I hear it’s slightly more positive because they’ve made some changes, but.

I don’t know. So I just stay away from it. A sounder actually has a free plan and paid plans. and spreaker as well, I started on spreaker because it’s free up to like, five hours. I don’t know if it’s five hours. Yeah. It must be five hours total. So you, it doesn’t get you very far. But then the paid plan after that was like seven bucks.

So that’s a little bit cheaper. Or sounder, they have a free plan. Yes. 

William Glass: [00:27:04] So any, and then in terms of like, how do I decide if I want to do an interview show or a solo show or a panel, or I don’t know, what are, what are the, you know, how do you figure out what, what format to use for the podcast?

Sarah St John: [00:27:19] Yeah, those are the three main types. Um, I think the majority of shows are probably interview. And what I like about the interview style is that you get to meet people, connect with people, network with people.  but those could potentially become your clients. If it makes sense,  form friendships, they might know so-and-so that 

but then also. You’re getting someone else’s perspective. And,  so I think for the listeners, that’s good because you’re getting someone else’s perspective and learning from that person. But then for yourself, kind of all the other things I said, with a solo show, the advantage of that. And I’ve done a few solo episodes that I’m thinking about doing more, the advantages, then you’re more of the expert because when you have an interview and there’s the guest on, they become more of the experts.

So they get to really know the guest and not as much, the host. so I think really the best way to do it is to do both, like to have, yeah. To have interviews for the pros of that, but then have the,  solo episodes for the pros of that. So that you’re kind of, you’re kind of getting the best of both worlds.

And then as far as like a panel or like,  a co-hosting or something like that for some people it’s makes sense, but I don’t know. I feel like with that scenario, you’re almost getting the worst of both worlds and maybe the best, I don’t know, but I’ve never been interested in that format.

I think it’d be a lot more to manage with like scheduling and cause if you have two hosts and the guest, or if you have like three hosts and no gas, Any more than two people? I don’t know. It seems like it was scheduling. It would really become kind of a nightmare. Yeah. 

William Glass: [00:29:13] Yeah. You have to have like set times of  here’s when everyone’s free and.

 Some people that I know that have started off have started off with co-hosts and then they’ve split. And one person’s been like, I don’t think I want to do this anymore. So you’ve also got to make sure that the person that you are, if you’re co-hosting is committed or that you’re committed, if you’re, you know, that you at that way.

So that’s another consideration that I’ve at least I’ve seen. Hmm. Sarah in terms of like success. When you think about the podcast, when you think about,  podseam, like, what does success look like for you? Like what does, what does that look like? 

Sarah St John: [00:29:51] I think a couple of things,  probably the most important actually would be knowing that you’re making an impact in some way, shape or form.

 I think kind of the goal with the podcast that I have is. Helping people understand or know of different ways to make money online, how to do it affordably on a budget, whether it’s something they want to do. Full-time at some point, or just as a side hustle and for extra income, with their day job, you know, pointing them to the right types of online businesses, the tools or resources, software to run that.

So I think when you, when you get feedback, I think that is encouraging. And,  and then I guess another thing would,  would be on the monetary side, of course, would be, , once you start seeing income coming in of some sort, then, then that would also be. I guess the second thing. 

William Glass: [00:30:53] Yeah. Side success, right?

Yeah. You’re providing an impact to people who are, whether it’s through advertising or affiliates or subscriptions. However, however, the monetization works, being able to see that impact and that people are getting value and want to want to pay. And that’s coming down to your bottom line. 

Sarah St John: [00:31:10] Right? Exactly.

So how do 

William Glass: [00:31:14] you recommend people sort through kind of the noise around. Entrepreneurship and creating online businesses. Cause there, there are a lot of legitimate ways to make money. And then there’s a lot of people out there that are trying to sell, get rich, quick schemes, or, just take advantage of people or make it seem like some of this stuff is a lot easier than it actually is.

What are your recommendations for someone that is. Trying to navigate this space and, and figure out like who to trust . 

Sarah St John: [00:31:48] I think one problem, most entrepreneurs have, I know I’ve had a, is the shiny object syndrome where you start something and then you hear about, or think of something else you’re like, oh I got, just try that.

And that’s part of the reason I have so many different businesses and it took me so long to. Figure anything out. I feel like I waste a lot of time, was trying anything and everything. And so trying to recognize when that happens and reel it in.  But then also. When you’re trying to decide what to do, or how to make money online.

I would say there’s a few things to keep in mind. If there’s something that, you know, you’re good at or something that someone or that multiple people have told you that you’re good at, that should be a sign that, is there a way you can monetize whatever that thing is. and another thing is what is something that you enjoy doing?

That is maybe just a hobby, but is there a way you could monetize it? People make money in the weirdest ways, like it might be a hobby of some sort, and then somehow they’re able to maybe teach other people how to do that thing. Or, you know, maybe there’s something that they’re making. That they could then sell to other people, maybe other people want that thing, or, they’re an expert at something that they could teach and maybe it’s very niche,  if someone is into something the surely there’s a few other people out there that are into it as well.

so just like finding your hobby, what you’re good at. What you enjoy doing what you could see yourself doing long-term or something that people tell you you’re good at and finding a way to monetize that thing versus, trying this, that, and the other thing. Cause what I found was that I guess I tried a bunch of different things.

Cause I was curious, I just didn’t know what would take off, but it was like most of the things I didn’t even give it enough time to even see if it would take off. I just lost interest because it wasn’t like a passion or something. I was that interested in, it was more just like getting my feet wet or something, like with the drop shipping, for example.

And so, but with podcasting, for example, that was something, I didn’t know. It wasn’t like I tried. For the purpose of, I didn’t have long-term goals for it. It just, but then I realized how much I liked it and all that stuff. And it became a passion and I guess a hobby in a way. and so I found a way to a few ways actually to monetize that, through the production agency, but just, you know, filling marketing or whatever else.

And. So, yeah, I think that those would be things to take in to consideration. 

William Glass: [00:34:50] That’s great advice, Sarah. I thinking about what is it that you enjoy, whether it’s a hobby and then. Focusing on that, versus someone said a shiny object over here, you should try drop shipping or blogging, or, become a TikTok star and get a, you know, whatever, whatever it is, and actually focusing on what it is that, that you enjoy and then kind of what business might,  might be the best way to monetize that, that interest.

I like that a lot. In terms of your relationship with money. And I’m curious, could you, could you describe what that is? 

Sarah St John: [00:35:24] Sure. I grew up and a family that’s very frugal. I mean back in the day, maybe they probably didn’t make much, my parents, they got married young in their late teens, like right out of high school and started having, they had a kid and then we’re pretty spaced out.

But, and then my dad went on, like he has a PhD and so he went on with schooling for several years. And so I think. Maybe because they had tied finances because of schooling and being so young and having a kid and all this stuff, they probably had to penny pinch. But now all their kids are out of the house.

They’re all they’re practically retired or semi-retired, You know, their houses, you know, all this stuff, and yet they still penny pinch. And so I think, because I grew up that way, kind of the frugal mindset. I mean, they still use coupons and just all these different things and, So I think that’s kind of been my mindset.

I don’t know if I’m as bad as them, but, but you know, being frugal. And so I kind of incorporate that into the business, or a different kind of spin or take on entrepreneurship is that you don’t have to have a million dollars to start a business. I mean, well, it depends on what kind of business you have.

That’s why I like online business versus like retail or brick and mortar because you don’t have all that overhead. So I guess it’s still kind of on the frugal side, but it used to be where any kind of money that I would bring in from business.

I felt like I needed to. Save it or use it for bills and things like that, which I still do to some degree, but now I try to invest more of like what I bring in. I try to invest most of it back into the business so that I’m not really spending out of my pocket per se. I’m just kind of recycling the money, I guess.

I still manage my businesses. Well, my goal has always been under a hundred a month, but I think it’s actually down to like 40 or 60 a month. Wow. Yeah, 

William Glass: [00:37:44] that’s impressive. 

Sarah St John: [00:37:46] So yeah, I guess that’s my take on money. 

William Glass: [00:37:52] Yeah, the frugal focus and being able to recycle it in the business.

I mean, that’s how. You grow your business, right? Is,  obviously it depends on the model, but even whatever the model is, right. And being able to invest that back into whether it’s better tools or advertising or marketing or whatever it is to help you continue to grow and grow that revenue stream makes, makes a lot of sense.

Sarah, what would you say is the best investment that you’ve made?

Sarah St John: [00:38:26] Well, I suppose in terms of podcasting in particular, I guess it would be a mic which was a cheap investment.

William Glass: [00:38:34] Go good returns on that. 

Sarah St John: [00:38:36] Yeah. 

I would probably say books like. I have tons of books. I’m always reading a new book, always,  business-related but just,  10 and 20 bucks for a book and some books, you feel like you’re getting like a two or $20,000 education.  Yeah, so probably various business books.

I like 

William Glass: [00:38:59] that. Yeah. I’m a big reader, myself side. I love that answer. Are there any books in particular that stand out is, is ones that you recommend or must reads, 

Sarah St John: [00:39:10] Are you familiar with Russell Brunson?

William Glass: [00:39:15] I think so, 

Sarah St John: [00:39:15] but he’s the ClickFunnels guy. Um, yeah, I don’t, I don’t even know I use his software cause it’s like a hundred bucks a month. And since my budget is a hundred a month, then that would take it all up. Maybe that sounds silly, but I have his three books which are really good. Dot com, secrets, expert secrets and traffic secrets.

And they’re just so jam packed. Like I’ve read them both like twice, which I rarely read a book twice. I think in kind of business owner, especially online business owner would get value out of those books. And there’s a whole bunch of other books. 

Robert Kiyosaki. Rich coordinate. Yeah. Let’s see. I will teach you to be rich. Mike McCalla was, I don’t know if you’re familiar with him, but he has a bunch of books. I’m not sure. Mike McCalla it’s like profit first and fix this next 

William Glass: [00:40:12] profit first. 

Sarah St John: [00:40:13] Oh, are you familiar with John Lee Dumas from entrepreneurs? 

William Glass: [00:40:17] Uh, I, I am, I’ve listened to his, to a show, but I’m not, I don’t know. Does he have books as well? 

Sarah St John: [00:40:22] He just came out with one called, uncommon pat, on to comments as sec success or something along those lines, I’m totally messing it up. That’s a really good book. It has like 17, each chapter is a different, like thing that he’s noticed.

Entrepreneurs he’s interviewed, like that’s a recurring thing that, that every business should, I guess, implement. And then I’ve read like pat Flynn books, like super fans. There’s just so many. Yeah, 

William Glass: [00:40:55] yeah, no, I love that. Yeah. A couple more that I need to add to my list that you recommended.

So it’s not all good. Right. We don’t always make the best decisions. So what about the flip side? What would you say is the dumbest money mistake that you’ve made, 

Sarah St John: [00:41:14] okay. I had forgotten about this, back when I was trying this, that, and the other thing, I, one of the things I did was became like a white label reseller type thing for some different companies, but it was like a hundred bucks a month just for. To be able to be a reseller. And I was like, okay, this is getting too expensive.

I mean, That works for some people, but for me, I guess it was, I don’t know if that was my biggest mistake, but, I guess just wasting time and money on a bunch of different business ventures that I, once the website was up. That’s about all I did with it.

Yeah. 

William Glass: [00:41:59] That makes sense. Unfortunately, I think a lot of us have those have those. I know I’ve got a couple under my belt as well, 

Sarah St John: [00:42:07] so, or just like buying up domains because you like the domain and you think you. Have an idea for it, but then, but I don’t know. Sometimes that can be a good thing. Cause one time I bought a domain, a preneur press, cause I actually have three books.

Now they all end in preneur for prenuer authorpreneur and podcasts for newer. So I created like, I was thinking of how like my own little self publishing thing. And so I just bought preneur press because it was available. Never ended up using. And then not even a year after I bought it and I bought it for like a buck on, I always use one-on-one dot com for my Domains.

It’s the number one and one a, because they’re like a dollar. So I bought it for a buck and then before it was even up for renewal, someone contacted me like a domain broker or whatever, and wanted to buy it. And I made like 700 bucks or something. So nice. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a good return 

William Glass: [00:43:14] right there. Yeah.

A hundred percent. Yeah. 

Sarah St John: [00:43:19] So, I mean, I guess it’s okay to, if you think of a creative domain that, that wasn’t my intention to, you know, sell it when I bought it, but since I hadn’t started using it and I was like, okay, sure. I guess that wasn’t such a bad way to spend a buck. Yeah, no, 

William Glass: [00:43:42] not at all.

I would say that’s good.

Sarah. I appreciate you coming, coming down and sit down on the podcast. Is there any kind of final words of wisdom you want to impart on the audience? And then obviously, please let us know how we can reach you. If folks were interested in using, Podseam or just in general, following the podcast, how can folks connect with you off?

Sarah St John: [00:44:08] One mistake that I’ve made and sometimes still struggle with is spending so much time learning and not implementing,  like I read all these books and watch. Webinars or trainings and listen to all these podcasts and all of that. Stuff’s good, especially in the beginning.

But at a certain point, if you’re not implementing what you’re learning, then it’s pointless. So for every hour I spend learning, I try to spend another hour implementing. And I think that’s kind of a good thing to kind of keep in mind. Like the whole Justin time learning today, I was listening to a podcast and I heard him say, Just in case versus just in time, I’ve always heard of just-in-time learning where you’re learning, the thing that you need to know right now.

But I had never heard of just in case, which I guess would refer to the type of learning that I’ve been doing. You know, that I struggle with is like learning all these things just in case I need it. Of course, by the time you need it, you forget it. But anyway, which is why I’ve had to read Russell Brunson’s books twice.

But yeah, as far as finding me the podcast is called frugal preneur, which you can find in any podcast app, just search for an it’ll come up, pod scene it’s pod S C a m.com. I actually give away all three of my books for free the PDF version at the Sarah St. john.com forward slash free. And that Sarah with an H and then S T J O H N.

And then yeah, on my website, I have, Like there’s a tab up there that says like 27 tools. I use that’s all the tools. I actually need to update it because I started using a new one and stopped using one. So I need to switch them out, but I usually keep it up-to-date, but it’s all the tools that I use and recommend that are either free or really affordable. Social media everywhere at the Sarah St. John. 

William Glass: [00:46:02] Awesome. Well, thanks so much for sitting down and I appreciate you sharing your wisdom about how to build this. This is a, uh, on a frugal budget. It’s been a, it’s been a lot of fun, Sarah. 

Sarah St John: [00:46:13] Awesome. Well, thanks so much for having me.

End of Transcription

Shop the SIlicon Alley Podcast merch store!

Silicon Alley is a Financial Glass Production

Tagged : Entrepreneurship / Podcast