499. The First Money Mistake Podcasters Make

0:05 Good morning podcasters. Today is Monday, April 20th, 2026 and today hitting your first $1000. Now what? Ralph E Step guides a Money Monday conversation on how to turn that exciting milestone into a smart, strategic next step. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button top right hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast, YouTube, etcetera, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds. We'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. The Podcasting Morning Chat is powered by Ironic Media, helping podcasters launch, Polish and grow great shows, and by Content Creators Accountant, helping creators build real business behind their content.

1:20 Good morning again podcasting morning chat. Thank you so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronick and currently on stage with me we have my Co hosts Dr. Faye, Sid Meadows, Ralph Estep, Alex Baelish, Nick Nalback and BC Babbles who's just joined us over on Riverside. So if you didn't know, we also do this thing via video live streaming every single morning to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, etcetera. And you can find us at Podcasting Morning chat.com/join us. You can find all the different ways to connect. And today is an important day.

2:02 No, not because it's episode 499. Well, that is important, but no, not because of that, but because it's time to find out who our winner is of Ralph E Steps roadcaster duo. And also one monetization strategy session, I got DRS Timpani playing here today. So that winner, by the way, we had 2000 entries total today, well total over the past of the, of course of a couple weeks. And the winner, Justin Costello. Justin, I don't know Justin personally, at least I don't think I do.

2:42 And Justin is the winner. So congratulations to Justin. Tomorrow we will share the runner up Who Will Win a free year of True Fans, the podcast hosting company that we learned a lot from Sam Sethi over last Friday, this past Friday. So we will announce that winner on episode 500 tomorrow. But congratulations to Justin for winning that duo. Ralph will contact you. We have your e-mail address, so Ralph will contact you with details, including how he will send that duo to you. And he'll also help get that strategy session settled and ready to go for you.

3:23 So congratulations, Justin. Let's keep things moving. As I said earlier at the top of the show, today is Money Monday and Ralph's going to lead us in a conversation around our first $1000. What? What do you do when you get that first $1000 from your content? Ralph, good morning to you. Take it away. Good morning, Mark, and good morning, everybody. I'm so happy you chose to join us today. And Justin, congratulations, man. I'm looking forward to working with you. This is going to be fantastic, but the truth is a lot of creators spend a lot of time trying to make their first money. That's a great thing and it feels so great when it happens, but almost nobody talks about what happens after that first payment arrives.

4:08 And that's really what I want to start off today's discussion with. So I want to open this up to the room right now and ask this question. Do you remember the first time your content made money? So I'm going to start. I want you to if you want to comment. What was the income source and how did that moment change how you saw yourself? O questions are good again. Do you remember the first time your content made money? What was the income source and how did that moment change how you saw yourself now that you're a AID content creator? I'm happy to chime in if you want, Ralph. I don't. Is this supposed to be for the chat or just an open discussion here? This is an open discussion for everybody who wishes to chime in.

4:50 OK, cool. Well, my first thousand that I remember anyway was probably with my old podcast, the Mark and Lowell Show, I believe. Yeah, I was trying to think earlier about this and I was thinking at first, was it merchandise or was it something else? And I think it's the something else because if we're talking specifically the first thousand, I think I got there quicker with this other product, which was a digital product. We basically did a bonus episode every week and we charged for it. This was before or in the early days of Patreon, so we didn't go that route. We actually found a third party company that was that would host and help with the e-commerce side of things.

5:36 So they would host the files and we had options like you could buy a la carte. So every week if you just wanted to buy an episode that week, you could do that. We had monthly packages and we had yearly packages or subscriptions. Probably the better word to use. And yeah, I would say that was our first $1000 for the Mark and Lowell show. Was there another question I can't remember? Yeah. So, and, and I don't want to make it just $1000 just the first time you got paid. But Mark, how did that moment change you? How did that moment change how you saw yourself in that content creation or podcasting sphere? I would say that it gave it, it validated some things for me.

6:19 It made me feel like, yeah, you know what? This audience, they're not passive. They're actually really interested and want more of what we're doing. And so that I would say that probably gave me some additional confidence about what we were doing. It valid. Like I said, it validated me, yeah. How long did that process take, Mark? Did you feel like, oh, this is taking forever? I'm never going to get anywhere? Well, we waited a bit before we started doing bonus content and your question is really just what did it? Was I feeling impatient? No, I very much because I think a lot of content creators think and I like what Dave Campbell put in the chat.

6:59 He put Buy Me a Coffee has been fantastic for my shows, how it made me feel seen and heard. And I think that's kind of where I was going, Mark, but I don't want to cut off what you were saying. There. Yeah. Well, I think that's what I mean by validation. Is feeling seen and heard really seeing that my audience, like I said, loves, loved my content, wanted more of it and was willing to pay for it. So yeah, that I felt very with my free content, felt very seen and heard because I, like I said, it wasn't just downloads or listener retention rates that I'm paying attention to now. I'm seeing people are actually taking action and paying me for what I was doing. Yeah, I mean, there's a ton of validation in that. And I remember when I made my first, I was like, wow, this is cool because I had heard so many people saying, well, you know, your super fans are about 3% and I'm looking at numbers and going, OK, well, 3% that might be 6 people, you know, So it's hard when you first get started.

7:58 But Mark, let me ask a follow up question because this is really where I want to take this discussion today. Were you prepared for it or did it catch you off guard? And remember, by the way, Dr. wants to chime in as well, so we've got to go to her before we move forward. Was it difficult? Is that what you're asking me? No, what I'm asking you is, were you prepared for? It was. I prepared for it. I mean, no, probably not. Probably not. I mean, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't. I was optimistic, but I didn't know what to expect. And once we started seeing people actually purchasing our bonus content, yeah, I mean, I would say probably not prepared. It was just exciting in the moment. And yeah, I just kind of, yeah, I, I don't think I was really prepared.

8:43 Quote, UN quote. Well, let's go to DRDR. You had a question or a comment? Yeah, well, for me it was when I got that very first client. Just to say the words I have a client was a huge validation thing. And it's kind of a a double edged sword. Number one, I'm so excited that I finally have a client and I can finally prove that I know my stuff. And then the double edged sword is, Oh my God, I got to prove that. I know it's so it works both ways. When the money came in, you know, I set that price so extremely low 'cause I, it was my first client. I really wanted to get it for his client. But when it finally, you know, when I, it was finally payday and I went, Oh my God, this is real now. This is really real now.

9:39 Yeah. And this is the one that I have boundary issues with as well because she is my first client. Yeah, I can totally relate to that whole, I mean if truth. Be told I probably would have paid her just so I can say the words I have a client. Now, right, I get it. I get it. Ralph, we have several people that are gonna that ask to chime in here, so let's keep it going if you don't mind. Sid, I saw you put something in the chat I thought worth cheering out loud if you don't mind. Oh yeah. Good morning, everybody. So I got my first sponsor for my podcast in 2021. We had a really great relationship for a couple of years.

10:24 The interesting thing is I resisted them being my sponsor for about a year. I had lots of emotional roadblocks around sponsorship. This community, the older community that was here, helped me work through that. And I correlated sponsorship with creative control, which is not the case at all. And I don't remember having any real feelings around it other than it just was another monthly bill, another monthly invoice being paid and coming into my business. So it did challenge me to figure out how to do things with the sponsor and how to communicate with them. But in general, I don't remember any specific feeling about it. But we had a great relationship and still do, you know, for a couple of years.

11:07 Thank you, Sid. All right, let's go to let me make sure I'm going in the in a fair order here. Yeah. So let's go to BC, BC. Good morning. Go for it. Yeah, good morning. So I didn't realize we were also talking about like getting clients for this particular question. So since the I mentioned it going into that same direction myself, when I attracted my first client, it was definitely kind of a wow. All the work I've put into the platform has reached has the signals been received by somebody. That's by itself is really cool. For my particular situation though, when I met my client and at the time I was just set to be an advisor, a consultant, someone who would teach someone about podcasting and help them kind of feel empowered to bring their idea to life. But during the conversation they said they had, they wanted nothing to do with post production, nothing with the creative lift.

12:02 And I'm like, crap, I don't have a team for that. And so I thankfully I do have a colleague who does have a team that I have commissioned officially to help out. But there's also this kind of another version of DRS double edged sword where it's now it's not just me proving my own capabilities as someone with a lot of background and a lot of expertise to provide as an advisor to my client. I now have a whole team handling all that creative lift for post production and distribution that I have to hope also meets the same bar. So it's kind of nerve wracking in a way, but it's great so far. The clients really happy, go lucky, really down for anything new, which is great.

12:46 I want to make sure the expectations are making are equating to the provisions. So it's a nice balancing dance every single time. Yeah. Thank you. BC yeah, I mean, we can apply this to 1st clients as well if especially if there's some kind of direct connection to creating content. So I think that applies. All right, before Ralph continues on, we had one more person wanting to chime in. Alex, good morning. What did you want to share? Hey guys, Yeah, we dabbled into this. We created our own poster, 2 posters for our seasons as well as we did March and you know, it kind of champion what you guys are saying. It is a double edged sword.

13:29 It was exciting to finally get it out like the poster, but and we did small quantities just so that we didn't have an outlay. But behind the scenes, we had to, you know, it went through my, my, my Co host's bank and, you know, working with print, print full and Etsy is sometimes, you know, a blessing and a curse. But it was what was really neat to going back to what you were saying, Ralph, is it's exciting when people, you know, do buy something that's yours. And it, you know, especially with the posters that we did, that's kind of something that is, is really special because we had a Commission and people really enjoyed it.

14:11 That wasn't as successful as we'd like it to be. Probably not, but it was exciting and also concerning because you're always worried about that. Those kind of numbers too. Now, we didn't have all the merch in our house. We just had pre done the posters. The rest of it was print on demand. Thank you, Alex and also Tim in the chat shared that he has two clients and that feels validating to him think and he thanks the empowered podcasting conferences 1:00 and 2:00 and also the podcasting morning chat as well. Very cool. Thank you, Tim, and thank you again Alex for sharing that experience. I think, Ralph, we are safe to keep things moving. Yes, we are. Now I want to do what I'll call the Grand Pivot because I wanted to start there. But now I want to talk about what I really wanted to really focus in on today and that is what did you do with the money? Because I think that is really the $1000 creator question. We all have different paths of how we got the money or how it came to be, what the structure was, what the system was for that.

15:12 But what I really want to lean into next is what did you do with the money? Is anyone willing to volunteer and say when I got my first paycheck or got my first pay for my content creation, what did you do with the money? I'll start and honestly, I would say no idea really what I did and I mean that lot because I don't remember, but general genuinely because I don't think I did anything specific with it other than I guess technically I let it stay within the business, right. But I didn't necessarily say, OK, here's this $1000, our first thousand that we've made. Now I'm going to apply it to XY and ZI, just kind of let it sit there for a rainy day, if you will, for whatever.

15:55 I was going to need it for expenses, maybe to invest in some merchandise or that kind of stuff. But yeah, I would say I was not very strategic with it, that is for sure. And I think that's part of the issue that I really want to discuss today because I think you have to be strategic because I think at least my journey has been, I was kind of surprised by the 1st money and I wasn't necessarily prepared for, OK, here's what I'm going to do with that. Am I going to reinvest it? Am I going to pay myself? What am I going to do with that? But I really wanted to see what other people did. I see Dave put in the chat, reinvested in other podcasts these, which I think is really cool. And I think that's one of the things that we all can learn from that is then we're kind of giving back.

16:38 But what has anybody else want to comment about what they did when or maybe what you're doing right now, even if you're getting some revenue from your podcast? I think Alex wants to chime in again. Go ahead, Alex. Yeah, I. Mean all we did was because of the fact it wasn't humongous numbers, and maybe if it was humongous numbers, it'd be a different thing. We were just trying to pay for the next poster and then the eventual goal is to pay for the podcast. Those are the only two goals that we had to make it to 0 because, you know, unlike a lot of the people in this room, when you have a podcast partner, that changes everything. I mean, you know, we were 5050. I wasn't taking any of the money. She wasn't taking any money. And that's just the way we worked it. And Alex, I think you bring about a good discussion point maybe for another show, and that is how to deal when you've got multiple parties involved in something. Because you're right, that is a difficult thing, Alex. I'm kind of learning that different things that I'm working on currently.

17:34 You know, when you're used to doing everything the way that you do them, and then you go into a place where you're doing it with someone else and I see Mark is nodding his head. But it's true. And it's something that's hard, Alex, And I'm glad you brought that out because I think we go into it with the best of intentions and then something happens and you're like, OK, well, how do I make this work? We got different personalities. We got different even think about it on the money side. You have different philosophies on money. I mean, in most people's homes, I'm going to throw, it's what I do for a living. There's one person's a saver, one person's a spender. You might have the same thing with your podcasting partner or your Co host, whatever that looks like. So Alex, I think that is a brilliant point and something that we probably should delve into in another show.

18:17 I think it's a great idea to talk about. Yeah, I am nodding my head emphatically because you know where Ralph has really partnered up with me when, you know, recently announcing that he's a Co executive producer now. And it takes some getting used to, especially when I've been more or less. I mean, certainly don't get me wrong, have had plenty of help with all of these fine people that I that are here on stage with me. And still at the end of the day, it was all on my shoulders where as now I'm sharing some of that load. Well, Ralph is sharing some of that load load with me and it's hard to get used to. I think that if I had gone into this with a partner, it might have been different because yeah, I just the experience I created for myself and originally was a solo experience.

19:06 So now getting used to somebody else having their thoughts and opinions and doing things maybe a little differently than I do. It's it can be challenging sometimes. Not in a bad way, just in what it it, just that it's just more challenging. I liken it to navigating a marriage sometimes, and everybody brings different things with them to the table and different ways to communicate and nuance ways to talk and how you see the world. I don't want to go on that sidetrack too deep, but Alex, that's a really good point. When you're talking about what do you do with your money and does anybody else want to comment? I have some ideas of like what are the most common things that people do, but does anyone else want to comment about what they're doing with the money they're getting from their show? I will say I'm done for the year now. That was my good idea idea, my good point. So, all right, good.

19:55 You can retire now. Thank you, Alex. Appreciate that. Yeah. Well, then let's hear some examples. And by the way, good morning to Jonathan Howard, who has joined us on stage since before when I made my introductions. So I just wanted to make sure in case anyone hears that voice. And, of course, just want to say good morning to Jonathan. All right. Yeah, Ralph. So, Ralph, why don't you share some examples? Yeah, And I think, and I do want to address Jessica Camacho, put something in the chat, is there a strategy to achieve monetization, even encouraging support via Buy Me a Coffee? Let me talk about that for just a second because I think that's something a lot of people come to this discussion. I was going to take in a direction of what you do with the money, but let's park here for a second.

20:36 The thing I will say, Jessica, in my view, working with people for monetization, especially if you're going to do buy me a coffee, is about repetition. You have got to mention this on every single show. The thing is, like I said earlier, most of the experts will tell you about 3% is what you're going to get and those are your super fans. But you've got to drive that message in if you want to support the show, if you want to support the show, if you, I know it sounds redundant, but that's how you build that, especially if you're going to do the buy me a coffee model. I'm a big proponent of sell something that you have yourself. I have Buy Me a Coffee on all of my shows. And if I was drinking coffee, I'd be in trouble because it honestly is a trickle of money coming in. It's not a bad platform.

21:26 I know people use it to offset the cost and some people have been very effective with it. Jessica, I will tell you it's not been a game changer for me. In my view, the best monetization strategy is sell something that you are providing, whether that is digital content, whether that is coaching, whether that is some sort of product that you have in your ability to deliver. I think that's a big thing. Did anybody else want to comment about the specifically buy me a coffee? I know Dave mentioned in the the chat that my community paid all the expenses for a new podcaster to attend Podcast Summit in Calgary. Reinvesting in podcasters creates a desire for listeners to continue giving to the podcast. I think that's a really brilliant way to do it too, is, you know, you could say, hey, you want to support the show, Here's what we're going to do. We're going to, I think the term is pay it forward. But did anybody else want to comment about that while we're before we move on to like, what do you do with the money? Well, I do see here that Kathy put also in the chat on Clubhouse.

22:23 GoFundMe audio setup raised 1000 lbs which has provided me with a home setup and I gifted the levels of donation tiers with exclusive content. OK, I'm going to, I'm going to interject something because I think we need to be really careful. Now we've started to use the word donate and we stepped into something that I want to be very cautious about. And as a content creator, if you hear nothing else I say today, do not use the word donate. Use the word support. The reason I go there and I'm going to take a little sidetrack, a little Ralph tangent, but it's important. The word donate connotates that you have a, some sort of donation way.

23:05 You basically are a nonprofit. So if you are not a nonprofit, now there are podcasters and content creators out there who are nonprofits. I'm not speaking to you right now, but I am speaking to the person who uses who is not that. If you get money from GoFundMe, if you get money from Buy Me a Coffee, if you get money from Patreon, those are not donations. The person making that support does not get a tax deduction for that. That's piece number one piece #2 is that it needs to be reported somewhere on your tax return. And this is where I'm going to wear my geeky money guy hat. But I think, and I, it's funny because I call people out on this all the time and I don't mean to pick on anybody, but do not use the word donate.

23:51 That is a very bad term because people think, OK, and this is the biggest misconception about GoFundMe. Everybody assumes that when they give to GoFundMe, that's tax deductible. Guess what? It's not tax deductible. So a lot of people don't understand that. So, you know, be very careful. You can use the word gift, you can use the word support, you can use the word, you know, fantastic. You can use the word sponsor. But when you get into the word donate, be very careful because a lot of content creators get stuck on that. And then you get angry people saying to you, well, I thought I could take a deduction for this. And the IRS said this isn't tax deductible. So just be careful. Like what Dave Campbell said, donation can imply a tax receipt to the donor.

24:35 That is absolutely right. So I know that was a bit of a tangent, but I just want to let everybody know that is an area to be careful of. So anytime somebody gives you a single dime for your content, that needs to be reported somewhere. So Ralph, I had shared in Clubhouse a link to support the Podcasting Morning chat which is at Podcasting Morning chat.com/support and when it popped up and I shared it here in Clubhouse, it said donate to the Podcasting Morning Chat. I think that was a default from pod page and so I quickly went in there as you were just sharing and changed it up. Now it says support the podcasting morning chat, although it's a. Support Yeah, I got to fix it. Still, that is a default.

25:17 And I've actually called Dave Jackson out on that because I think you're promoting something that is dangerous. But I just that that is one of those pet peeves I have. And I just I'm trying to keep content creators out of hot water. And so just be careful in the words that you use. All right, cool. And I think we have some people that also want to chime in. Sid, you were one of them. Go ahead. Yeah, I just wanted to add on to what Raffle was talking about and to kind of comment towards Jessica, which was early on in my podcast, if you have an interview based podcast, I actually sought out to interview people who would be an ideal client for me. And that gave me an opportunity to bring them into my show, to get to know them, to let them tell their story, and honestly, for me to build a relationship with them, which led to several of them hiring me to do work with them, whether one-on-one or with somebody on their team or even some group events. So that's a pretty good strategy as it relates to if you've got an interview show, to bring your ideal customer onto the show and start building a relationship with them. Yep, absolutely.

26:20 Thank you, Sid. Appreciate that. And BC wants to add as well. Go ahead BC. Actually, the quick side question, so we've spoken about, you know, Buy Me Coffee, we've talked about Patreon of these different supporting platforms, do we know which of them tend to be more popular for podcasters specifically? And I kind of want to exclude Patreon a bit because Patreon compared to Buy Me a Coffee, you don't have to put content on Buying Me a Coffee, whereas Patreon you do to typically host like exclusive content. So do we have any kind of numbers that kind of say which ones are more popular amongst podcasters or is it kind of all over the place? I don't, I'm sorry. OK, I was going to say that I don't think so. I don't know any specific numbers that are out there that say, but I'm sure they probably exist. And from just my experience alone working with lots of different podcasters, I would say that Patreon is probably the more more popular because you can. Well, I know you could do that with Buy Me a Coffee too, but I think it because it's so structured around providing content, providing stuff to your audience. I think that I think that's why it's where people gravitate. And it was one of the first ones too, which I think gives it a little more of an edge.

27:37 But yeah, I would say just from personal experience, Patreon is the more popular. I also think the good thing about Patreon, and this is not a commercial for Patreon, is I think it helps to build an ecosystem and a community. And I think that's one of the things that I would say one of the best strategies that I tell content creators, if you really want to build revenue, build a community because that's how you're going to get more, more people that are going to get engaged. Those are going to be the same people that are going to talk about your content. And by doing that, I think you can be really effective in that. I'll give you an example of that. One of the people I work with has a daily podcast called Walking is Fitness and he's actually built a Patreon community and he's been doing really well with that because of the fact that he's building that community, he's making, he's putting extra content out there. He actually interviewed me for content that came out this morning about my journey with the beating diabetes and, and he's really building a community around that. And I mean, you're talking about $5 a month is what he charges. So it doesn't become this big budget thing for most people. So when you offer something like that, I think it's easier. And when you're giving them additional content, the nice thing about Patreon is they kind of build out the whole infrastructure for you.

28:51 The not nice thing about Patreon is they take a pretty heavy cut of it. So you just have to understand. And as I've said many times on this show, you're building on their platform. So if they get sideways with you, they can de platform you. So this is one of the other times where I say, you know, build a community around what you own. Push them back to your website, push them back to the things that you own. Thank you, Ralph. And by the way, Dave also offering more good info here, he says Buy Me a Coffee does have a monthly Patreon plan option as well. They have a storefront as well. So yeah, they do have a lot of a lot of similar features as Patreon.

29:32 And I still think Patreon is the more popular among content creators. But you know, I also have no problem being wrong with that. It's just that's my hunch. Let's see here somebody is also Kathy is asking. Well, first before I get to her question, Nick is sharing that School SKOLL is another big growing platform right now for those sort of things. And he also mentioned Kajabi and Mighty Network as well. But I think that I do think that Buy Me a Coffee has some good QR code options as far because she's asking here about QR tip jar apps that are good for this kind of thing. I think Buy Me Coffee does.

30:15 Obviously Venmo and PayPal have those sorts of things that they can offer for you as well. So that would be my advice. I don't know if anybody else has any thoughts on that. I will say this about buy me a coffee. It is a very low friction thing, which is nice. You know, patrons, a little bit more friction because you've got to go join Patreon. And so I think that as you're thinking about this type of strategy for monetization, think about the friction points, you know, are you making it so complicated for people? Whereas, you know, Buy Me a Coffee, you can go make a one time thing. You can set up monthly. There's a few podcasters that I support monthly through Buy Me a Coffee, but there's not a lot of friction to it. It's pretty simple.

30:55 You just go out there and you bang, you're done. So be aware of that too, because you can build a lot of friction into the model. And you know, a lot of people don't get this, but the more friction you build, you know, the more complications. I mentioned a little while ago, send them to a website that says support to show, well, guess what, you're creating friction now because now they've got to remember the website. Now they got to go to the website. Now when they get to the website, they got to go, OK, what do I do next? That's friction. Whereas if you do something like, you know, podcasting, morning chat.com/support and it goes right to the end point. I'm not saying that's the right answer, but sometimes it is because, you know, if you create friction for people, it's no different than if you give multiple calls to action. If you give multiple calls into action, what they have found is people won't do any of them.

31:42 So the more friction you create. So as we're thinking about strategies, specifically think about how to make it less friction in what you're doing. Yeah. And also Dave in the chat says that he does a personal video. Thank you to all of his Buy Me a Coffee sponsors. I think that's a great touch, getting that personal. Thank you, seeing you, hearing you, I think that can go a really long way. Great idea, Dave. Go ahead, Ralph. Now, Mark, I want to talk about the strategy of all this. I promised today that I have some strategy tips of what to do with that money as you make. I used the $1000 sort of as an attention grabber. But I really think there are three ways that you can look at that money that's coming in the door.

32:24 And I just want to take a few minutes and talk about those. And Mark, you kind of alluded to the first one. I think your first path is to reinvest everything, and that seems like a responsible thing to do. It's an ambitious thing to do. A lot of people go out and they buy more gear, they go buy some more software, they do some branding, maybe they buy some editing tools, they get some more education and reinvestment is good. But even with reinvestment, I think you need to have a plan behind that. I think that's important to understand because Mark, and I'm not throwing you under the bus, but you said, well, I wasn't really it just we did what we did. I can't even tell you where it went. And I think that's one of the problem pieces. If you don't have a strategy for when that money comes in, and I'm going to throw this out to the chat, you know who here has a strategy for that money?

33:10 You know, when, what did you buy 1st? And when you look back at it, was it worth it if you took that approach of, well, I've got this money and I'm going to reinvest it. I will be honest with you. I, you know, it's easy to go buy gear. Sometimes that feels like a really good thing to do. But is that a good strategy? Well, I see Jonathan in the chat says that he would buy himself something nice with that money. Which? Look, Ralph, do you Would you say that? I'm guessing that Jonathan's somewhat joking, but probably also a little bit serious too. What? Is there something wrong with doing something like that? Like taking that money and spending it on yourself first. Absolutely not. I think that's important because you've got to feed, you know, think about like a fireplace, right?

33:50 If you don't keep putting wood in the fireplace, the fire dies down. Well, if you're not supporting yourself, if you're not investing in yourself, that's a problem. So no, I think that's a great idea. That said, I think there needs to be a system behind that. I'm going to talk about that in a couple of minutes. But no, I think that's a very valid thing. And it's actually the second path on my list, Jonathan. So you were reading my mind, my friend. And that is spend it personally. And that's normal because as everybody said, the beginning, that first money that coming in feels like validation. It does. It's like, oh, people are willing to listen to me. So celebrating is not wrong. Celebrating is fine, but here's the problem. So many people don't stop the celebration.

34:33 And when business income becomes random personal spending, that's when you get yourself into trouble. And that's when you had that knock, knock at the door. But hey, the tax man's here and you didn't set anything aside. But no, Jonathan, I think that's a very valid thing. I think there's a way to celebrate that, and I think there's a place to celebrate your first creator income. I think that's a fine thing to do. I just think the other side of this is to build some structure. But I don't want to talk the whole time, but that's what I want to talk about in a minute. But I think it's fair to say no, I'm going to reinvest. I'm going to spend it on myself. But I think there might be a way to build some structure into that Mark. And Nick in the chat says Chris Ducker talked about that. He always had a set milestones and one thing we had to do is decide what we were going to do for ourselves to celebrate when we get there.

35:21 Yeah, that's, I think that's some, that's a good strategy, good advice. And look, I also think it's just important to think ahead about these things, even just so that you feel a little more confident, a little more prepared when when you do make that first 1005 thousand $10,000. You know, I know my wife right now is doing an exercise in her journal every day. She's writing down. So she's starting with a fake $1000, her own for $10,000. She just earned it, right? What is she going to do with that $1000? And she writes down what she's going to do with it Day 2. She double s it. I got $2000.

36:02 What am I going to do with that $2000? And then day three double s it again. And I think it's like a 30 day challenge or at least it gets you to like $1,000,000. And the whole idea is to get your mindset in that mode of making money and what you're going to do with it. I think it can help. It can really go a long way. And with that, I'm going to go to Tide who wanted to chime in as well, AKA Nikki. Go for it, Tide. Yeah, I was just going to say that for me, when I develop a plan for something, I'm very Type B and I don't have a total plan for everything and I just go with the flow. But making a purchase with the money is starting to make more sense to me now, especially in recent months since we've been talking about it a little bit more, it's making a little bit more sense to me, the order in which I need to do certain things or take certain actions.

36:55 So for me, I have to ask myself what's the ultimate goal? And if I have an answer to that, but I don't necessarily feel like I can achieve that goal in the next day or week or month, then I have to break it down into a smaller step and just say, well, even if I can't achieve this in the next day, month, a week or month, what is the next logical step? So if that is equipment, if that is education, if that is a conference, whatever it may be, I can decide from there what my next step is as opposed to over investing in things that I don't necessarily need. Because everybody always talks about like, oh, you know, not in this space necessarily, but people always say take massive action and all of that.

37:38 And I don't necessarily disagree with that. But just because you're taking massive action doesn't necessarily mean that you have to take a big action, something that's well over the realm of what your capacity is at this moment in time with your money. So for me, the order in which I do things now and it's, you know, this may change, this may evolve over time, but as of right now, I feel like I'm in a fairly good rhythm. And the first thing I do with any money that I get, it doesn't matter if it's money from my side hustles, money from my actual job, or if it's money coming from a place that was unexpected. The very first thing that I do is I give to a church, God, a charity, something that I care about.

38:20 It's the very first thing that I do because it puts me in the headspace to not be necessarily attached to that money emotionally. And so from there, that's when I get into the planning, the small steps that I can take that'll help me see a little bit further down the line in terms of what's going to help my overall growth as a creator and podcaster. And then after that's when I do sort of I put the tax stuff to the side and then I pay myself. And that's sort of the order and the realm that I kind of stick in for right now. Again, it may evolve, but I just thought I'd share that. No, Nikki, I think that's brilliant. I want to thank you so much and for the courage to share that because you said a couple of things in there that I think we really need to land on for a minute.

39:01 And this is one of the biggest struggles I see with content creators. Our money comes in in drips and drabs, little piece here, a little piece there. It is super hard to manage that without a plan, without a system. I was with my my youngest son is a Barber and he and I spent half the day together yesterday and he's really struggling financially. He's doing better, but his is the same scenario. You know, if he has, if not a lot of people come into the Barber shop today. Well, guess what? He's not making as much in tips and they're, you know, in a lot of ways he lives off his tips. Well, we can look at it the same way as a content creator. We might get $10 from Patreon or $15 from Buy Me a Coffee. Well, if you don't have a strategy for that, it is real easy to watch that money disco bye, bye. Because it's little small pieces. Nikki, that's why I love what you said. You had an intent.

39:52 You have an intentional strategy. And I love what you said about gratitude and giving back. I think that is huge. I talk about that on my Daily Show almost once or twice a week. I think if you start out with an attitude of gratitude and I'm stealing that from somebody else, I'm sure, but I think that puts you in the right headspace. But then your next pivot, I like to you said, and then I've got a plan of I'm going to do this. I'm going to set aside money for taxes. I'm going to reinvest because you're right, Nikki, you might have a goal. Let's just say you have a goal. You want to buy a new microphone. You see this as a microphone. I really want this microphone. It's $300. Well. Most content creators I work with are not going to get a one time support check for $300.00. So you've got to have an intention of like maybe every week.

40:37 And I like to think I do this thing where I call your money, your weekly money meeting where you carve out a certain amount. Maybe 20% goes to your reinvestment in gear, maybe 15 or 20% goes to taxes. Some of it goes to you. You got to keep fueling that fire. But Nikki, thank you so much for sharing that because I think it's real easy to get stuck in the nickel and dime things that come to us as content creators. That is by far the biggest struggle for content creators who are doing this as a primary income or even a secondary side hustle. Because it comes in such this weird like roller coaster pattern of income that if you don't have a plan, it's really easy for the money to just go bye bye. And then you're like, what happened?

41:19 Real quick, just want to pause here for a second and remind you that if you have something, some experience, something of importance that you think you could share with your fellow podcasters and content creators on a stage, let's call it a physical stage and let's say it's might be in Charlotte, NC. And specifically at Empowered Podcasting, our conference, our third annual conference coming this August 21st through the 23rd, our speaker, the application deadline has been extended to May 1st and we would love to have you there on a stage. And by the way, speakers do get a free ticket. So if you are accepted to speak there, you get a free ticket to the entire weekend of activities and seminars and workshops, etcetera.

42:06 So go to empoweredpodcasting.com/speakers and join us there today. OK, Ralph, with that, you know, real quick, I want to say hello to Chris, who's been on stage waiting, I assume waiting patiently, unless he's just here for the conversation, which is cool too. But Chris, I wanted to say good morning to you. Did you have something you wanted to add to the conversation? And no pressure, just wanted to check in. Good morning. Well I wanted to ask maybe about selling swag but then I just it just dawned on me I'm not getting there but it looks like to me I only got $40 from buy me a coffee last year and but I don't remember getting any 1099 or any payout.

42:48 So is this and I just realized this wasn't on my taxes anywhere. I mean I don't know if the IRS is going to get upset about 40 bucks but. Yeah, well, let's hear from Ralph. Let's see what Ralph has to say about it. So couple things there, Chris. Number one thing is the IRS is not going to know about it because of the fact that it's less than the reportable amount that Buy Me a Coffee needs to report. But that said, technically if you received economic benefit, it should have been reported. But I want to go a little deeper than that. This is one of my pet peeves of people on these different platforms. Don't leave the money on the platform. Pick a time once a week, once a month, and pull that money into your own bank account.

43:30 I am not a big fan of using these platforms as a bank account. A lot of people do. And Chris, one of the things that worries me, you said I made $40 last year, but I don't know where the money is because basically what you're saying is did they not pay it out to you? Did you transfer it and you didn't realize you transfer it? So that's one of my things when I talk about doing this weekly money meeting with yourself is go out to your platforms and bring that money into your account because that way you'll see it. And when it comes time to report that income, you're going to see the income from those different platforms. Because again, like I said, with content creators, we might have 17 different platforms. And if we're going to think at the end of the year, we're going to go out and check all those platforms, you're not going to do it. So if you have a but if you have a system built in that I always pull that money back, I think that's a better strategy. Yeah.

44:16 You might want to log into your Buy me a coffee account. I know I have one. I just. Did I? Just did? Yes. And take a look there, Chris. Yeah. Also, does anybody use Shopify or anything else? And I'd like to sell some swag and I don't. And you know, I have no interest in being a store myself. I want, you know, just like Amazon does everything for me. I mean. Shopify, I'm hearing and maybe somebody else, but you know, it's hard to say out there. I just I don't seem very motivated unfortunately. Well, Chris, I would say Shopify is definitely a good one. I've used it for several years and it does similarly what you're talking about. I think it would satisfy that need of not doing anything and just basically letting the orders come through and be distributed through their services.

45:01 I think that's probably the best way to go. Yeah, 'cause you get into doing it yourself. And also I want to stress too, it's got to be international. Just can't be America. Yeah, yeah. OK, well, yeah, that's good to know. I'll see what's happening here, you know? Awesome. Yeah, I'll contact them and see what I can do with the shop with buy me a coffee though. Awesome. Thank you. If I take maybe the money will just, you know, appear as a payout this year and that's fine. But OK. Well, thank you very much. You have a good day. Bye, bye. Keep us posted. Thank you. All right, Keep it going, Ralph. Thank you. Yeah, And Chris, here's one thing I will say. I love the idea of having a platform to do that with. Like I sell a gear for my show and I use, I think it's called 4th wall or something along those lines.

45:45 The nice thing about that is you don't have to inventory that stuff. But let me get back to sort of a teaching moment here because that's why I wanted to do the Money Monday today. Here's what I think should happen. And Nikki sort of said all the things that I was going to say. Your first money should trigger a system. And here's the thing I will recommend to all content creators. Number one thing, a separate account for your business. Your first money should get deposited to that separate account. That's what you should do. Second thing, set aside money for taxes. That way you don't have that big surprise moment in April when somebody like me calls and says, hey, by the way, guess what, now you owe. Third thing I recommend is a reinvestment plan. What are you going to do for gear? What are you going to do for software subscriptions, all those things.

46:32 What is your reinvestment plan? And last but not least #4 is figure out a way to pay yourself. You've got to continue to. If you want this to be something that's going to fulfill your life, then you got to figure out a way to pay yourself. You can't just go into it with, well, I'm just going to reinvest the money. I'm going to reinvest the money and you're not paying yourself, you're going to burn out. And I think that's one of my big takeaways. So separate account tax set aside, reinvestment plan and owner pay plan. Those are really the things that I see are the most best things to do. So my question now is how many people have the system in place and how many people wish they had the system in place before they started having some money coming in the door? OK.

47:15 Before we answer that, unless Nick wants that ask or answer that as well. Nick, you put a question in the chat that I thought would be worthwhile sharing with the group. Yeah, good morning, everybody. The question I asked was, is, Ralph, you were talking about having that separate account, that separate business entity to collect that. Like how do you feel about PayPal? Because I think PayPal and Stripe and you can Venmo, like those are all very common for creators because they're so easy to set up and they are easy to separate personal from business. So what are your thoughts there? I don't have a problem with that, but I think they create a lot of friction. That's my only issue with the PayPal and the cash apps and all that sort of thing is they create some friction. Now if you can deal with AQR code where somebody takes a picture of the QR code and bang, they're there, I think that's easier.

48:03 But Nick, I do like the fact that they keep things separate for you. I think that's a great idea. I still would say that I'm not a fan of leaving your money there. I think there should say they are a good platform for generating that, but I still AM a firm believer in bringing that money back to your account and in in a frequent, you know, time, place way to do that. They're they're good plans to at the front end. They're easy, but I just believe that you bring it back into your money so you know what's going on. OK. Thank you. Yeah, he's giving you the thumbs up there, Ralph. All right, so again, let's reset your question for the group. Yeah. My question for the group is, now that we've discussed what this looks like, how many people have a system and how many people wish they had a system in place sooner?

48:48 And what is going to be your take away from today? You know, what are you going to do differently after this discussion today? I think for me, which I know as my financial advisor, accountant, etcetera, you know, this too, it's for me, it's really creating more structure and more systems around my finances and really understanding like if, if I'm going to make X amount of dollars, where is where are all these dollars going to really go? You know, it's how much of it's going to be invested into the back into the business? How much of it can I take for myself personally and how much of it, you know, what else am I going to do with the rest of the money, right? So I think it's really having a stronger sense of not just the finances coming in, but really what I'm going to do with them once once they arrive.

49:36 What You're speaking to a strategy? Yeah. And that is the key to this whole discussion today is what is your strategy? I'm a firm believer in having a strategy like Nikki talked about. You know, when the money comes in, here's what I'm going to do. So, Mark, I think that's a brilliant way to look at it. Yeah, Thank you. Appreciate that. Anyone else want to chime in? OK, so there you go. You got my answer, Ralph. Well, that's good. We got some answers today. Answers are good. As Mike, I apologize here for a second. There we go. Ralph is fixing his background there. That's. Oh yeah, you know, it's technology is fun. Well, you know, Speaking of technology real quick, I think that I have a win to celebrate early this week and that is that my Internet connection has been quite stable today. I think I've solved the problem over the weekend. Ralph and I were talking because we got some feedback about the fact that the Empowered Podcasting live episode we did Wednesday afternoon last week, the audio quality wasn't great and we knew it had to do with my poor Internet issue. And if a lot of you here joining us live in the mornings know I've been really frustrated with my Internet connection lately. And I think it's been solved.

50:45 And it's basically, you know, I thought that these little Google Home mesh devices would help, and to a degree they definitely did. But the thing I wasn't doing was plugging my Mac mini directly into one of these mesh contraptions. And that has more than doubled my Internet speed. And I think that has stabilized things for the show and I am so relieved. I was quite excited over the weekend, wanted to test it out, but it was too beautiful of a weekend to stop and do anything work related. So I waited till today and I am so happy. Glad that I'm coming through crystal clear today. Yes. So Mark I, I really just wanted to leave everybody with this thought today. The first money that you make as a creator is exciting. Enjoy that, celebrate that.

51:32 That is a fantastic place that you've gotten to, but what really matters in the end is the system that you build around it. So think about today, what is that system I'm going to build? Maybe you haven't made any money with your content yet. That's OK. You will eventually. So think today about. I love what your wife is doing. Mark is having an intentional idea of what would you do with this. So that's why I want to challenge with everybody as we close out today. This is the challenge I have for you today. Enjoy the excitement, enjoy that moment, but build a system, build a plan around it so that when that happens, and I hope that happens for every one of you listening right now, when that happens, you know what you're going to do with them. I think a funny thing always, people always talk about, well, if I hit the lottery, what would I do with the money?

52:16 Well, think about your content in that same category. If all of a sudden people started paying you and you started getting coaching clients, you started getting money through Patreon or buy me a coffee or PayPal and all the things we talked about. A great idea selling merchandise, all great ideas. But let's talk about a system that we're going to build to manage that once it comes in. Because here's the problem. If you have a non system or if you're in chaos right now, when the money starts coming in, guess what's going to happen? The chaos is going to get worse. So build that system today. And I admit, Mark, I really appreciate you letting me share this thought today. Yeah, thank you, Ralph. Thanks for another great money Monday and a little Fast forward next Monday, we are back to Obsession Worthy podcast with Jonathan Howard.

52:59 And since we've got Jonathan here, Jonathan, you want to tease what next Monday's Obsession Worthy podcast breakdown is going to be? Are you free to do that? He may not be. I know he's got three dogs running around. So maybe that's. Yes, when I find the mute button. Yeah. So next, next. It's actually a podcast that Dr. says every single week and we're going to figure out why that podcast is actually obsession worthy. Dr. What podcast do you say every single week? Are you there? I know what she's going to say, and I bet she's going. To get. It's not that one I. Have to give it. A thought. OK, so we are going to be attacking.

53:42 Give me a second. I have it in my notes here. I did catch you off guard. I did do this. You did. I didn't. Go ahead, Mark. What are we? Do you have it? It was the daily, wasn't it? It is the daily, yes. Yes, we're going to go that one often appears in DRS top five list and technically they are not DRS top fives. They are the top five she finds on the charts and the dailies. Always in the top five it seems with Spotify and Apple. I don't remember the episode though. Jonathan. I don't remember. Well, that's to be continued. We will share more about that and of course, you can learn more about those shows over at Podcasting Morning chat.com/owp Obsession Worthy podcast. Thank you, Jonathan, and thank you again to you Ralph, for a great Money Monday conversation.

54:30 We are back tomorrow to celebrate episode 500. Podcasting Morning Chat, since it became a podcast, has hit 500 episodes. It's been running way longer than that as a live stream on Clubhouse and we're going to have a lot of old friends joining us tomorrow. Fingers crossed. I've invited a lot of people. A lot have agreed to join us. So we will catch up with some old friends, talk a lot of podcasting as we all do so well. So come join us tomorrow morning, 7:00 AM Eastern, and you can do that at Podcasting Morning chat.com/join us and until tomorrow, tomorrow, make it a great day. Everybody take care.