I’m here because no one understands your content & business value like I do. You’re talking to the last person on earth that had to edit his radio show on reel to reel tape, and then put it out on Napster (and later down the road, MySpace) for people to listen to hours later. I didn’t know I was making a podcast in 2001, but that’s all I’ve been doing since then!

I have created hundreds of projects and done thousands of deals in the creative & business space. Podcasts, YouTube channels, radio shows, TV pilots, short films, negotiating sports radio & television rights, Instagram/Tik-Tok shows, audiobooks, TV animations, stand-up comedy shows, and booking for touring music artists. I’ve reached two invaluable conclusions in 22 years of doing this…

1) Every artist & entrepreneur will burnout without support

2) Everyone sucks at selling themselves

People selling themselves short is at an all time high with this brand new wave of content creators and entrepreneurs that started in 2020 or just a little before the pandemic. Getting attention can be pretty easy these days, but what are you supposed to do with that attention once you’ve got it? As a content creator, we’ve been told so many times to “get your audience first, then get paid for it” which is some of the WORST advice I was ever given.

Can you imagine a business owner opening a shop and letting everyone know their products or services are going to be free until they get 1000 people to come in first? Sounds stupid right?

That’s how most content creation partnerships and sponsorships are evaluated. You have to get 1000 people watching and listening to your every move just so you can make $15-$20 every week. 1000 people is A LOT OF PEOPLE.

You should never wait to make money in the digital content business, that’s where the conversation should start! CPM deals, massive download numbers, big podcast networks, and chasing large sums of ad revenue is OUT. Making a sustainable business, and making sponsorship money work for you? That’s IN.

Hoping for that ONE BIG DEAL from your side hustle, so you can quit your day job, is not a plan. Just take the $1000 you’re trying to save and bet it on black at the roulette table instead. You’ll know your outcome faster and you might be lucky enough to keep doubling your money.

Hope is not a plan! I have seen way too many people give up on themselves simply because they feel like they have to keep doing SO MUCH MORE to be successful. I’m here to tell you that you don’t! You are probably already a success and don’t even realize it.

In today’s world, the content creator and the entrepreneur are the exact same. Starting a show or business isn’t the hard part, planning and executing a successful one is the hardest thing you will ever do. If you have made it to the end of this, you probably know that already. I am just here to make it easier for you and I know how, because I have been doing it before the iPhone was invented.

John Barchard | Owner