Welcome to the Podcasting Revolution

These days it seems like everyone has one.

And if you don’t, everyone is asking you about when the “big day” will be.

That’s right.

I’m talking about your podcast.

I know firsthand podcasting is hands-down the best way to truly find and connect with your true tribe, and if you do it right, engage a growing community of loyal fans and customers hanging on your every word.

When I launched Wings of Inspired Business, initially as a passion project, I found my voice – and my purpose.

And as I stepped into “owning” the authentic me, I developed transformational relationships with a growing community of customers, fans, joint venture partners, sponsors, and investors – and ultimately it led me to innovate Podopolo - the world's first socially-interactive and gamified podcasting network where podcasters share the revenue.

And more about that in a moment.

First, a question for you.

What would it have meant for your influence, your career, and your life if you had started blogging in, say, 2004? Or YouTubing in 2005?

Now there are 600 million blogs and 1.3 billion YouTube videos, so if you’re starting now it’s much harder to be heard in all that noise.

If you think you “missed the boat” on podcasting, think again.

Podcasting is now the fastest growing media yet there are only 1 million podcasts.

To me, a 5-time serial entrepreneur, that says OPPORTUNITY.

Powerful trends have gotten us to this place.

Mobile, car play, smart speakers, and the fact that anyone with a laptop, a mic, Zoom, and a free audio editing software can launch a podcast. There are more tools than ever before to make podcasting low-cost and easy for you to produce and market – and more podcasters than I can count sharing their expertise helping others to leverage their voice in podcasting.

Then there is Google, changing the game in SEO by prioritizing voice search – so that anyone with an “audio brand” and the ability to answer search queries in speech now has a better chance to be found. Google Home and Amazon Alexa are hungry for audio, and consumers are demanding easy streaming, personalization, interaction, and the intimacy that only podcasting can deliver.

And now there’s this persistent, annoying virus that has turned our lives upside down, forcing business owners to find new ways to connect meaningfully with customers and all of us searching for new ways to connect, learn and be entertained.

It’s a time that calls for new voices, new perspectives, and new solutions.

So back to you. (And that unique voice of yours!)

We all have a “soul” purpose, a unique talent, an expertise, and a passion.

I’m inviting you to find and leverage the “true you” with a podcast.

Now is the perfect time if …

• You’re a business owner grappling with the economic impacts of Coronavirus and you want to stay close to your customers – and find new ones
• All that time “physically distanced” from work got you thinking you didn’t really love what you’re doing – and want to explore new avenues, perhaps grow a side hustle or a hobby into a business
• You can’t find the podcast you wish you could listen to – so it’s time to create it yourself
• You’re writing a book and you want to be able to sell it into an engaged community – and you want to leverage podcasting as your ideal marketing tool
• You have a passion, a hobby, a point of view you just can’t stop talking about – or you just want to stand up now and be heard and help
• You have a skill that others need right now to enhance their relationships, their health, their finances, their businesses

Still worry you’re too late to the party?

Of those 1 million podcasts, only 216,000 podcasts have sustainable longevity and have not yet succumbed to 'pod fade.'

So where are your odds of success better in standing out with your message?

One out of 216,000 podcasts, one out of 30 million YouTube channels with 500 hours of content uploaded each minute, or on Instagram being found amidst 500 million active users.

Those who leap now will reap meaningful benefits for YEARS to come.

And the podcasters in the Podopolo community are proving how many ways there are to sustain great content around your ideal lifestyle and find ways to make money doing it.

I hope you’ll find inspiration in the growing number of podcasts we keep adding to the Podopolo network – and we’re here to guide you if you want to leverage the opportunity to find your voice in this way. The time IS now.

Melinda Wittstock is the CEO and Founder of Podopolo - the world's first dynamic interactive podcasting network. She also hosts 'Wings of Inspired Business' and '10X Together' podcasts, and is the Comedy Category Director for Podcast Magazine. Sign up for her 12 Step Profitable Podcast Inner Circle here