SquadCaster Krystal Proffitt joins Rock Felder on the podcast today for a chat about all things content. Krystal is a Texan, a mother, and a very prolific content creator. She hosts a daily podcast AND a weekly podcast. Krystal also has a podcast coaching course, wherein she helps entrepreneurs create podcasts for their businesses.

Rock wants to know: what kind of impact Krystal’s unique last name has on her. Krystal also reveals another nickname she went by as a kid…Moose!

Krystal discusses the importance of mentorship in business. She cites her ferocity and teacher’s pet-isms as some of the main reasons she’s been able to find success in this medium. Krystal encourages everyone to learn from her mistakes.

Extras

Our podcast stack

  • ATR 2100 Mics
  • Apple AirPods Max Headphones
  • Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interfaces
  • Adobe Audition
  • Buzzsprout

Episode Transcriptions

Matthew: [00:00:00] Hi. Before we get to this week’s episode of Between Two Mics, I want to tell you about another show I think you’ll enjoy. My name is Matthew Stevens and I host the Q’d up podcast on podcasting. It’s all about giving actionable tips and advice to help independent podcasters and brands improve their podcasts, grow their audiences and reach their podcasting goals. From improving your podcast content to podcast marketing, we’ve got you covered twice a month. You can find it on Apple, Spotify or wherever else you listen to podcasts. All right, let’s get back to this week’s episode of the SquadCast podcast, Between Two Mics. [00:00:35][34.9]

Zach: [00:00:40] Welcome to Between Two Mics, the podcast that brings you remote recording resources from SquadCast dot FM. [00:00:47][6.5]

Rock: [00:00:48] I’m Rock Felder, co-founder and CFO of SquadCast. [00:00:51][2.8]

Zach: [00:00:53] And I’m Zach Moreno, co-founder and CEO. [00:00:55][2.0]

Rock: [00:00:56] On Between Two Mics, we bring you interviews with podcasters, experts in the field of remote recording. We discuss current events in podcasting and so much more. [00:01:05][8.5]

Zach: [00:01:06] Twice a month, you’ll hear a founders episode. That’s just the two of us chatting about all things remote recording updates to SquadCast, what we’re up to and what we’re listening to. [00:01:16][11.0]

Rock: [00:01:17] The other two weeks of the month, we’ll bring you interview episodes. Zach and I will sit down with experts in the podcast space to discuss their companies, their podcasts, their thoughts on podcasting, creating content and more. [00:01:30][12.2]

Zach: [00:01:31] The most exciting part? We’re recording all of this on SquadCast, the best place to record remote audio and video interviews in studio quality. [00:01:40][9.2]

Rock: [00:01:41] So let’s get between two mics. Hey, listener! Welcome back to Between Two Mics. Today we gave Zack the day off, so it’s just me this episode. But lucky me, because I had the great fortune of speaking with Krystal Proffitt. Krystal is a mother, proud Texan and the owner of Proffitt Media, where she is a podcast coach and the host of her podcast, The Proffitt Podcast. We’ve known each other for over a year now, and Krystal is someone who we at SquadCast really look up to. She’s doing great work in the space and an excellent example of someone to learn from. In this episode, Krystal shares what she’s learned helping podcasters for the last seven years, what it’s like to have a unique last name, and what’s helped her keep up that amazing energy in everything she does. Thanks for listening and hope you enjoy. [00:02:27][46.8]

Rock: [00:02:31] All right. Krystal Proffitt, hello, thank you for joining me today on Between Two Mics. [00:02:34][3.5]

Krystal: [00:02:35] I am so happy to be here. This is so much fun and it’s funny because we were just all together in Arizona and I was like, Why didn’t we do this in person? I think it’s because we were having too much fun, right? Like we you just forget about those things. [00:02:48][12.8]

Rock: [00:02:48] It’s funny how those happen, right? Like, I usually try to come in with a strategy and want to, you know, make the most out of the event. And then just once we get there, just stuff kind of happens. And it’s usually a lot of fun, right? But yeah, it kind of goes never as planned. So yeah, I hear you having a lot of fun. Let’s talk about that. So how was She Podcasts live for you? [00:03:06][17.7]

Krystal: [00:03:06] Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean, it was the first time I’d ever been to Arizona. And so I really, I mean, coming from Houston, where it’s always humid, it was really just a change of pace to go to, you know, it’s the desert. But I mean, the venue was great. The people were awesome. It had a very different vibe because, you know, I was fortunate to see you at podcast movement as well and meet a lot of your team. And so the vibe was just very different, and I think it just felt a lot more relaxed. It was a smaller conference, and I think that people were able to go a little bit more narrow with their talks, which I thought was really cool. I attended some that were very specific topics that you didn’t really see at podcast movement. So that was it was just fun. It was just a totally different vibe. And I’m I’m glad that they do it every year and I’m looking forward to doing it again. [00:03:55][48.9]

Rock: [00:03:56] Yeah, that’s what’s been so fun getting to know you over the past year. You were so gracious enough to have Zach and me on your podcast as a guest. And then now we are here. We are flipping the tables, but we’ve also got to meet each other in person. So that’s been really tremendous. One of the things, though, that I want to start off with is before we dive in deeper, do you know what makes you amazing in all the great work that you’re doing in podcasting? I want to start off with with names here. One of my favorite podcasts, one of the first podcasts I listen to was Freakonomics podcast, and they had an episode about the importance of names. And you and I have kind of unique names. You know, my name is Rock. I get, you know, some people think it’s awesome. Some people hate it and are like, What’s wrong with your parents? Your name, your last name, Proffitt, you know, is unique. And I’ve heard you mention like, Yes, that’s my real name. What’s it? Has that name had an impact on you at all? What’s that been like? [00:04:42][46.3]

Krystal: [00:04:43] Oh, it’s it’s so funny. So I tell this story all the time, and my husband is like, I do not remember that story. I think that you’re making that up. That’s that’s not how I remember us meeting, but I so my husband and I, that is my husband’s last name, its Proffitt. And we met in college and we were both going to business school. We were neighbors like we lived in apartments like right next door to each other, and I will just never forget. He told me his last name was Proffitt. I was like, Come on, like the line, right? I’m like, because I’ve never heard this name before. I’d never heard someone’s last name, Proffitt. So I told him, I said, Let me see your ID, and that’s the part he’s like you never asked to see, I was like yes, I vividly remember looking at your ID and saying, Oh my gosh, that’s really his last name, but it’s spelled with two f’s and two t’s and kind of along the way of my journey and starting an online business. And, you know, really getting into the space of helping people with our business. I had a mentor that was like, your last name is Proffitt and you’re not using that. Like, I didn’t have my LLC set up. Like, now it’s Proffitt media and I have the Proffitt podcast and I use it and everything. But it hadn’t even really dawned on me because it almost felt a little self-serving or narcissistic, and everyone was like, No, it’s it’s a beautiful play on words. You’re helping people run a business or make money with their podcast like it. Just it translates really well. So yeah, that’s that’s my story behind my last name. [00:06:07][83.7]

Rock: [00:06:08] Yea, well, it fits in too because I was wondering, like it was it always intentional for you to lean into it? Has it been kind of somewhat of an asset for me, at least having the name Rock, I remember maybe this is like from my football days, the coaches kind of messing with me, but they’re like, Oh, you got to earn that name. And you know, Rock’s my middle name. So I do have another name that no one calls me by. But yeah, so it’s kind of like, I guess, been ingrained that I have to be, I don’t know, not weak or whatever. I was wondering if it is the same with Proffitt where it’s like, you can’t be broke and your last name is Proffitt, right? [00:06:38][30.3]

Krystal: [00:06:39] Well, it’s a funny way to look at it. So I have to tell you about another nickname that I have and I love often talk about this, but my dad was the biggest fan. He’s a Cowboys fan like, tried and true, and there was a player, Daryl Johnson back in the 90s and, you know, and his nickname was Moose. And so I was always a really big kid growing up. I always was taller than all the boys like nobody caught up to me until we were a freshman in high school. So he always called me moose, so I always had. I’ve always had this nickname. But it wasn’t actually until college that I was finally like, OK, maybe I should just drop the whole moose identity. And then I met my husband and then it’s like, Oh, last I was Proffitt. Like, it just kind of went to the wayside. So I’ve always had this weird kind of identity that, you know, I just just nicknames are nicknames and you know, they are what they are. But Proffitt has never really had this significant pressure on it other than it’s. It’s just I have to walk around and explain to people, yes, that that’s actually my last name, like that’s not like a stage name or something, but. [00:07:37][58.0]

Rock: [00:07:37] Right, right, right. Yeah, well. Well, thank you. I’m glad we got to hear a little bit about your nickname, Moose. That’s really cool. Yeah. So as far as what you do in podcasting, like what made you want to make that transition, you were, you know, working in business similar to me, honestly accounting background. And then you make this jump to being this ultra creator. I mean, you got the full package going on. So what made you want to do that? [00:07:57][19.9]

Krystal: [00:07:58] Yeah. So it’s interesting. I was I have this like weird background of when I started. So I graduated college at the height of the crash of the economy in 2008 2009. And so I kind of was lost for a few years trying to figure out what I was going to do. And then I went to work for a general contractor in downtown Dallas and in my like little watching Carrie Bradshaw sex in the city. I’m like, Oh, I’m going to work in a downtown office somewhere where my heels all day and I’m going to, you know, like this, this is my dream, my dream job. And it was an accounting clerk. And then after a while, I was like, Oh, wait, no, no, no. My gifts are better spent elsewhere. I the only cool thing about that job was the fact that I got to listen to podcast, which was awesome because I did a lot of data entry. But then from there, I kind of just transitioned from, I’m working this corporate job. I became a stay at home mom and I thought, Well, now this is my dream job. This is what everybody wants. You know, I’m in the south where a lot of people are like, Hey, you know, you should stay at home and take care of the kids and it’ll be a wonderful life, you know, happily ever after. But for me, I got really restless. And as you pointed out, Rock like, I’m just a natural born creator. And so not having an outlet to create things, whether it was writing or doing something with my hands or just doing something where I needed an outlet for all this energy. And that’s when I stumbled into blogging. I stumbled into. I wrote my first book and then from there I was like, You know what? I could probably do something else. And then I stumbled into podcasting in 2018, and I haven’t looked back since. It’s like where all of this creative energy goes. And I said this to my husband yesterday. I said, imagine if I hadn’t have started podcasting, would all these things? I talk all the time like, it’s what I do. I talk either to myself making solo podcast or I’m talking to other people and it’s just like, I’m so glad you found podcasting because you do know how to talk. I’m like, Yeah, I do. I could talk with the best of them. But yeah, that’s kind of my journey. [00:09:57][118.8]

Rock: [00:09:58] It’s so much more than talking, though, Krystal. Like, Sure. Yeah, words are coming out of your mouth, but you bring like a ton of energy with you. And that’s what I’ve truly I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you because like I said, it’s done behind the mic. But like also, we’ve met in person and you’re bringing that energy with you all the time, even when you have jet lag and stuff like that. And I think that’s a really important skill set that I’m learning a lot of podcasters can learn to embrace that. You got to kind of, you know, whether you’re maybe not feeling the best, like you got to come and bring it every time, like, you know, your audience is depending on you and listening to you, and they can hear when, when you’re not bringing it. So where does that energy come from? Is this just who you are naturally, where you like this as the accounting clerk? Or it’s just something about podcasting that just brings it out of you? [00:10:41][43.4]

Krystal: [00:10:41] Well, it’s lots of coffee like that. It’s always if you see me anywhere at a conference, I’m going to have some sort of caffeine in my hand at all times. [00:10:52][10.7]

Rock: [00:10:53] But it’s not fake. [00:10:53][0.4]

Krystal: [00:10:54] Yeah. No, no, no, no. Yeah. I get this question a lot because I have been told like, you are just naturally a motivator and you just seem to encourage people and you’re super optimistic. And I think that it just comes from I was a cheerleader starting at like age four and still like my older brothers played football and I was like, Oh, this looks like fun. I can go out there and scream and run around, and everybody encourages it. Great. So I did that from a really young age. And then then I got to where I understood football because my brothers played. So I was like, Hey, you know, I can scream at them when they’re on offense, when they’re on defense. And like, I really understood how to help motivate people instead of just looking pretty on the sidelines. That’s never really been my way of doing anything. And so now as i coach people with podcasting, I can really see when people are starting to beat up on themselves like, I’m not good, like I don’t have a voice that sounds like this person or I have a really thick accent or I’m not loud enough. I’m not. All the mental things that keep podcasters from really pushing forward in their journey and getting out of their comfort zone. I feel like I have a natural gift to tell them it’s OK. We all look dumb at the beginning or we all make a lot of mistakes, but you got to just keep pushing forward. And it’s really not even something that I knew that I had until people like you and I’ve had other friends that have pointed it out and like, Oh, I guess I do that. Does it? Does everybody not do that? I didn’t know it was a thing. [00:12:20][86.3]

Rock: [00:12:22] Again, it’s like how natural it is. And I think also like the energy that you give off is transfers to others where some other people unfortunately can have the opposite impact where they. Take that energy away and kind of zap you, you’re distributing it to everybody else, and that’s why it’s always such a pleasure. So when you are coaching up your clients, what have you seen work to get that mindset right? Is there any particular tactics that you’ve seen work with folks that maybe, you know, isn’t going to apply to people that have this endless amount of wonderful energy like you? [00:12:49][26.9]

Krystal: [00:12:49] Its share in the messy stuff. It’s telling them my mistakes. I never you will never hear me walking around saying I tried something one time and I got millions of downloads or I got all the likes. I’ve always been very honest about my own journey. When I started my very first podcast and then I rebranded it to what I’m doing today, you can still go back and listen to all of those terrible episodes I did in the beginning, and that’s what I tell people like. I leave those there as a teaching tool. I could have easily, you know, scrapped it and said, OK, I want to shove that, you know, put it, push it under the rug where no one ever has to see it. But I think embracing your mistakes and knowing that I’m going to be so much better on episode three hundred than I was on episode two. And just knowing that I’m in this for the long haul, I’m not in this to just go viral and collect a million dollar paycheck tomorrow and then say, bye suckers. Later. Like, that’s that’s not my thing. I really want to encourage people because podcasting has been such a big part of my life. I mean, I’ve learned things. I’ve grown really close to some of my mentors because of podcasting and understanding their message. I have become a better parent, become a better wife, been able to show up better for other people in my life because of podcasting. So I feel like it’s kind of my way of giving back to the community. It’s like, Hey, you know, if I can do this, someone who had no idea what I was doing and I got in there and I figured it out. Then you can do this as well. [00:14:18][88.7]

Rock: [00:14:18] Yeah. And in a relatively short timeframe, I think three years, four years is a lot to get some substantial stuff accomplished, but it’s still a relatively short time period. So that’s what also I think is so impressive is just came in blazing the trail like just right away. Has it felt like it’s worked out pretty well? Or I mean, it definitely sounds like there was a lot of iteration as well. I guess the rebranding, I think that’s a great example of like not being afraid to make a change, which, you know, we hear podcasters kind of cornered themselves, wedge themselves into a certain mind frame. Where did that rebranding come from? What made you want to do that and what was that rebranding exactly? [00:14:52][33.1]

Krystal: [00:14:53] Yeah. So the very first podcast I did, it was called the Rookie Life, and honestly, it was just born out of this idea of, I want to start a podcast. I don’t really know what to call it. And then I was like, Oh, well, the idea of being a rookie is like, you got to just get started and then you’ll eventually get better. Maybe you’ll eventually make the team or, you know, get put out, get out on the sidelines and, you know, be a starter. Like, there’s so many different aspects to it. And so that’s what I started. And then after a while, I did it for about 10 months and it’s so funny, Rock. I was doing a training last night where I was showing people my downloads for the first 10 months, and it was basically like a flat line, like it was barely there. But you can see this immediate uptick in everything that I was doing once I rebranded to the Proffitt podcast, because what happened was I didn’t have the energy that I was giving to my audience for the original podcast because I was really excited about the behind the scenes, like what was going on and what was happening is I was getting questions. How did you start your podcast? What does this look like? What are the steps that you have to take? And so all of my energy was going to the DMs and emails that I was getting. Like this same energy that you see today was born whenever people started asking me questions about my show and then I had a mentor. One of my mentors is Amy Porterfield, and I had a really awesome conversation with her and she said, You know, there’s not really one female in the space of podcasting that stands out as the go to person. Have you ever considered doing that because I was kind of teaching podcasting, but it was like on the side kind of thing, and I was like, That sounds really scary, OK, but let’s do this right. And it’s kind of like if you rub the genie in the bottle, I get this coaching call with her. She tells me what to do. I do it. And the rest is history kind of thing. And I’m just I’m so grateful for that conversation because I felt like I needed that push from someone who is amazing in the podcasting space. But also I felt like she was kind of just holding up a mirror and telling me something I already knew that I needed to do. I just needed to hear, you know, from someone else. So, yeah, that’s been kind of my journey. [00:17:06][133.0]

Zach: [00:17:09] We’re going to take a quick break, but we’ll be back soon with more from Between Two Mics. Hey, SquadCasters, while we’ve got you here, we want to tell you a little bit about our YouTube channel. [00:17:20][11.0]

Rock: [00:17:21] Since we released our video feature in January, allowing podcasters to record both their audio and video on SquadCast, we’ve been working hard to walk the walk ourselves. [00:17:29][8.7]

Zach: [00:17:30] So what does that actually mean for listeners of this podcast? [00:17:34][3.2]

Rock: [00:17:35] Well, Zach, it means that in addition to listening to this podcast, Between Two Mics enthusiasts can also watch snippets of our show. [00:17:41][6.0]

Zach: [00:17:41] We’re working with our friends, Tristan and Justin, at motion agency Dot I O to bring you highly produced and exciting video elements to further illustrate the points that we make with our guests on this show. We encourage you to check out our YouTube channel and to see how we’re experimenting with video and how you might be able to experiment with video too. [00:18:01][19.8]

Rock: [00:18:02] So just head over to youtube.com and search SquadCast dot FM in the search bar. And please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button. [00:18:08][6.0]

Zach: [00:18:09] Now, let’s get back to the show. [00:18:09][0.9]

Rock: [00:18:11] That’s amazing, and it just shows you you know, how valuable a good mentor could be. I think Zach and I would, you know, individually. But of course, as the co-founders of SquadCast would say, like a large part of why we’re here is the folks that we’ve been able to, you know, who have helped us and stuff. And so, yeah. Amy Porterfield, that’s a heavy hitter right there. How do you how did you develop that relationship? [00:18:30][18.9]

Krystal: [00:18:31] Yeah. So I’ve been a student of hers for several years and then I’ve been part of her free community is her paid communities. And honestly, this is going to sound really silly, but this is just part of my personality. I was always the overachiever. So if I’m going to buy a course, I’m going to get into a program. I’m going to get it and I’m going to be that star student and I’m going to like, make sure the teacher notices me. I guess that’s my mentality of what I had in. And she did along the way, it was like, Man, you were just really pouring into the community. I was always answering people’s questions and, you know, really helping other people that would be in like our paid Facebook groups or in other parts of our community. And she took notice to that. And because of those different small steps of what I thought like, Oh, this is just again going back to my natural tendency to support and encourage people. She took notice and I was able to do this coaching call with her, and it was so cool because she actually said that she was like, You know, we notice that you’re always answering questions and helping people in the community. She didn’t ask this question this way, but she was almost like, Why do you do that? Like, you’re not getting paid to do that? Like, why like, where does that come from? So again, there’s that like quality being noticed, and I’m like, I don’t know. Like, don’t other people want to do this? But I guess I guess it’s just, you know, I’m one in a million, I guess, and that’s what we evolved down to. [00:19:56][84.2]

Rock: [00:19:56] Oh, I love. I love toot my own horn, but go for it. Yeah, no. Because you’re right, though, like it’s you’re not afraid to do the work, which I think is an important skill and something that I always try to. I gravitate towards people that are all about that first because I think it’s easy to think that you’re entitled to stuff or I don’t know, just a little bit of work is is all it takes. I mean, wouldn’t that be nice, right? But that’s just unfortunately or for better or for worse, it’s actually a good thing, I think, to have to strive and work for things given that you’ve been working with podcasters now for quite some time. Have you seen any trends develop or differences in why people are coming to you to podcasts? Like is there a change in the type of demographics for lack of a better term that you’re seeing out of your clients? I’m just curious. We’re always interested in talking about like the evolution and development of the podcasting industry or, you know, what content creators are doing on this show and someone at the ground level like you. I’d be interested in to hear like what that’s been like. [00:20:49][53.1]

Krystal: [00:20:50] Yeah. Well, it comes and goes like with fluctuations of frustration for me because I will get a large influx of people that come into my community. And their immediate first question is how do I make money with the podcast? And I’m like, You’re going to be sorely disappointed. Yeah, that’s that’s a forever like unless you already have an existing business where you’re making money and you’re generating revenue, and this is just going to be something that like supports everything else, then you just need to like, sit down and be ready to learn and take a lot in because it’s not as simple as flipping on a switch when you start a podcast and then you just are automatically making thousands upon thousands of dollars. Sure. But what I have seen over the last few years is one decent, sheer number of people that are wanting to get into the game. And what I’m grateful for, especially, you know, with SquadCast, you all have awesome tools is making it easier. Like the barrier to entry to start, a podcast keeps getting lower and lower and lower. And I’m so grateful for that. Like, I feel so old when I say, y’all have no idea what it was like to try to do it on Skype. Like I remember, one of my very first interviews was on Skype. It was awful. It was terrible. I had to have like two or three other plug ins just to record it and make it work. It was a nightmare. And then actually, the reason why I switched to SquadCast was when the pandemic started. I had used SquadCast as a guest on someone else’s show, and we had this issue where the power went out in my house and I was like, I don’t there’s construction going on. I don’t know what happened. And so internet dropped. Everything dropped, but he was like, Oh, it’s OK. We have the partial recording of everything that happened, and I was like, Oh my God, like, I’m so this is amazing. And then I never looked back since because once something is easier for me and it takes away that friction in the process like I’m I’m going to stick with it. And so that’s really what I’ve seen. You can record a podcast on your phone now. You can use other tools like I, I use Stream Yard as well. Like, this is another great thing. You could go live and then download the recording and use that. There’s just so many different aspects of podcasting transcripts, like blog posts like everything’s just getting easier. And so that’s fun for me as a coach because it does it. Feel like so many pieces of the puzzle are that far stretch to ask someone who is like, I’m really not a technical person because I think that that’s why a lot of people don’t get started there, like it just looks too tacky for me. It looks like I have to have a degree in like software development to actually make this work. And I’m like, Guys, if you only knew, you only knew like it’s it’s real. If I can do this, if I can figure this out, I promise you can, too. [00:23:38][168.2]

Rock: [00:23:39] Yeah. Well, I’m really happy to hear that. Thank you so much for that. That’s you know why we do what we do. And definitely agree, though, that there’s tons of amazing technology out there that’s really making it easier than ever to be a creator. But one of the things you touched on is another thing that I would like to see change. And I’m just curious what you think about it as far as making it easier to get paid right. There is money in podcasting, right? But it’s just I don’t want to say it’s not evenly distributed. It’s just it’s still it still feels like early days when it comes to, you know, making money from it versus other content creator spaces like, do you think we’ll get there? Do you think podcasting is just kind of this? This is how it’s going to be because it’s we built in this free expectation for this content. And so it’s already we already kind of have a somewhat of an uphill battle. Or do you see that more and more people will start to be willing and able to to to start to pay creators directly via places like super cast or patron where like, what do you foresee happening if you had to look into the future? [00:24:35][56.1]

Krystal: [00:24:36] For me, whenever I work with, you know, clients or members of my community, I always tell them, Don’t wait on someone else, don’t wait on, you know, like with YouTube, because I have a YouTube channel as well, it’s like you have to have so many subscribers in order to get monetized. And then you think, Oh, you know, I’m just going to make tons of money. It’s going to start rolling, in fact check. No, that’s not how it works. Like now I’ll just be really honest with everybody here. I have over 3000 YouTube subscribers and I make like a hundred and sixty bucks a month on my YouTube channel. So yes, it’s monetized and it’s been monetized for a while, but it’s still not a ton of money. So I say don’t wait for other people to recognize how awesome your content is and say, Oh, you’re finally worthy of being a great content creator. Let’s pay you for it, because that could take years and years and years. Instead, what I tell people is to go out and start exploring affiliate income like this is something that I have done. It’s been so lucrative for my business and I make I mean, so much of my revenue comes from being a part of affiliate programs. I know SquadCast has an affiliate programs. There’s other programs like for my email service provider and other tools that I use in my business, and I will create my own ads on my podcast. And of course, I don’t say this is sponsored by because they’re not sponsoring my show, but I say, Hey, I’m an affiliate or I’m a partner with my favorite transcription tool. You should go check it out. Here’s the link and then you get a commission off of that. I think that so often people are waiting for someone to knock on their door and have that, like Ed McMahon moment of like handing you a check and like, here you’re awesome. Like, Let’s just go take that and cash it, but it’s just not reality. So I’m just a really big fan of using affiliate marketing. And then my best way that I always tell people to monetize their podcast is to create a product, create a service for your listeners or even a membership where they get more access to you. Like you mentioned, Patreon and some of these other platforms that allow you to put, you know, other pieces of content behind a paywall. Take advantage of that and then see what happens, but always be constantly experimenting and trying new things because you just you never know what is going to work until you try. [00:26:55][138.8]

Rock: [00:26:55] Yeah, I think that’s great advice and something that we’ve seen work out well, too is trying to find other ways to monetize the audience that you’re building via your podcast or developing on the podcast. But there’s there’s other opportunities, and those are some great examples, some that, you know, I personally experienced or like a lot of financial personal finance podcasters or YouTubers, they’ll like have like a really cool spreadsheet, which sounds super nerdy, I know. But like, it’s it’s pretty cool when you’re like trying to track your investments that’s behind the paywall or local podcast or here in the Bay Area would monetize premium bartending products because that was their audience was like premium bartenders. That was like a very niche, unique audience. But they were willing to pay pretty high amount for these particular products, and they weren’t gonna hear about it anywhere else but on this podcast. So those are a few of those examples. It seems like you got the complete package going as far as being the media empire Proffitt media. Did this just all happen? One by one, you just started adding stuff or is it like it sounds like a lot of what you learned, either on your own or Amy Porterfield? Of course, sounds amazing. Is that really just putting all those that stuff into action and then just start to build it brick by brick? Or it just seems like you’ve kind of gone zero to. One really quickly, really fast, and I think, you know, living the dream for for a lot of people, I know a lot of podcasters that we’ve talked to would, you know, just like, how did you do it, Krystal? So I’m trying to speak for them. [00:28:19][84.1]

Krystal: [00:28:20] Yeah. Well, I mean, I appreciate you saying all that, but it’s just definitely has been a lot of waking up one day and saying, Is this all worth it? Because I wasn’t making money whenever I first started podcasting? I wasn’t making even a little bit of money on, you know, I was like, Oh, I’m going to do Amazon affiliates and I’m going to put it out there. And then that didn’t work, and then I tried a few other things. It’s the constant iteration of figuring out which message will resonate with your audience and what I have found, especially so many students in my community, they will say I launched my podcast and within the first three months, they’re rebranding it or they’re shifting something. They’re like, Actually, this is my target audience, or this is the format I should use for my show. So that’s kind of what I have done along the entire journey as like, Hey, do I like this? Is this fun for me? If it’s not, let’s go back to the drawing board. And then whenever I find something that’s fun to do and I can do it consistently, then I ask, Well, what can I add onto this? That’s not going to stress me out, because that’s a really big thing for me, you know, and we really haven’t touched on this too much other than I said I was a stay at home mom earlier. I have three kids, right? And part of me working from home is, I want to be there when they have school stuff. I want to be like, shut down everything when they get home from school. I try not to work at nights during the week. I’ll work some weekends here and there, but it’s really important for me to, like you said, lay the bricks. But also, I’m not trying to grow a business that is going to need me 60 hours a week. I’ve been trying to do things very slowly and because I’ve been intentional along the way, I’ve been concentrating on those pieces of SEO where I know people will be able to find me. I’ve been concentrating on, you know, connecting with awesome companies like what SquadCast is doing, and it’s really helped me learn more about the industry a lot faster than someone who’s just kind of in their own content creation world and not really branching out and, you know, talking to other people. So I think that that’s been one of the keys for me is being very intentional with my networking relationships, but also being very authentic about it. That’s like one of the big things is I can smell that inauthentic. I get podcast pitches all the time. I’ve gone on several rants about it, but people that just come to me and they’re just braggadocious and they want to talk about how amazing they are. And they’re this New York Times bestseller, and they’ve been a Fortune 5000, and I’m like, I don’t care. I don’t care about any of that. I care about my community. And I think by putting my community first and foremost has just helped me along the way because now that things have started kind of get rolling, I have to attribute so much of that to my network and my community that are saying, you should go check out this Krystal chick. Like she’s kind of crazy and kooky and go watch her YouTube videos and go listen to her podcast. So I think that laying some of that groundwork is starting to pay off, but it’s not something that you can rush through. It’s not something that you can. Just like I said earlier, flip on the switch and everything is all the lights are working and everything is in place like you just kind of have to do it over time. And a lot of people don’t want to hear that. They want to hear what’s the magic bullet like? What can I do to have this type of business tomorrow? And I just got to say it’s built on consistency and just keep showing up for your people and be authentic. And everything that you do [00:31:53][213.4]

Rock: [00:31:54] is so true and something that we totally agree with here on this show and talk about a lot it, you know, for better, for worse, you just there’s some of that stuff is just not capable. You got to go through it and you got to make mistakes. And that’s why I love directing folks to you as an example of like someone who’s the real deal doing it, doing all the things and, like you said, super authentic. You get your hands on all these different, you know, your YouTube, your affiliate marketing like you are the example of somebody and something something that you brought up was funny too is like, it’s unfortunate how much B.S. there is with these podcast pitches and stuff. But what I a little tip I’ve learned is if if anybody needs to feel that they feel the need to announce themselves and their accomplishments. Unfortunately, the people that actually do that stuff like Amy Porterfield, she doesn’t do that right. She’s not going to announce like that kind of stuff. She just says, Hey, Krystal, how’s it going? Blah blah blah blah blah. So anyways, good note, you don’t need to announce all that stuff anyways. Didn’t mean to get on that rant there knows. [00:32:48][53.3]

Krystal: [00:32:48] Like you shouldn’t have to start with your credentials. The people that have the true credentials, like you said, it’s like we already know who you are. Like if you send me an email, I’m like, starstruck. I’m like, Oh my God, it’s like, This is incredible. You know, I’m getting this email. But for people that are just like, they’re trying to stroke their own ego and saying all these amazing things about themselves, it’s an immediate red flag for me. So maybe that’s not. Don’t take that as like the word for anybody that like receives podcast pitches, but that’s just if you’re going to pitch my podcast, I’m just telling you right now, don’t start with that. Yeah. [00:33:20][32.3]

Rock: [00:33:21] Personalized, please. Yeah, yeah. Good tip. Before we let you go, though, what are you excited about? What’s coming? What can we expect from you and your show and all the other endeavors that you got going on? [00:33:30][9.3]

Krystal: [00:33:31] Yeah. Well, I’m always doing something fun over on the Proffitt podcast. This is my weekly show. I also have a daily podcast, which is the potty reports. This is more of my just silly rants about my business, my life. Like everything that’s going on, it’s all podcast related, but it’s more of that like personal touch, and it’s five minutes or less every day. So if you liked what you know, Rock and I talked about and you’re like, I could listen to her when I’m drinking my coffee in the morning, go check that out. But as always, I always have some really cool videos on my YouTube channel. And and that’s another thing too, is people will ask me now because video and podcast are kind of their meeting this interesting intersection right now. Like, We’re recording this. People are like, Well, how can I do both? How can I do both at the same time, like, I want to do what you’re doing? And I’m like, I have released at least 10 or 12 major pieces of content every week that was built on systems where I made all the mistakes and then I finally perfected what works for me. I can’t tell you what’s going to work for you, and I think that you have to just do something, be consistent, try something else, then be consistent before you start trying to do all the things. So for anybody that’s listening and you’re like, Yeah, I want to do a podcast on YouTube, I advise you do one or the other first and get a system down and then decide, Well, where can I repurpose this content or try something new? So that’s my my other little piece of advice we could we could rant about so many things with content creation. [00:35:04][93.0]

Rock: [00:35:05] But I agree, though it’s a good point, like trying to take on too much. And yeah, you should just probably break it up. And that’s one of the things we try to touch on, too is like, you know, just because we are so supportive and promote over folks having a YouTube channel as a part of their show. If it’s preventing you from creating a good podcast, well, maybe not yet. You know, like, wait til one of those are figured out and really solid and then start adding that stuff. So, yeah, great advice there and to learn more about you and you know these systems and how you do all these different things, where can folks go to learn more? [00:35:34][29.6]

Krystal: [00:35:35] Yeah, you can go to Krystal Proffitt dot com to connect with me, or you can come hang out with me on Instagram. I met Krystal Proffitt T.X. Krystal with the K Proffitt has two f’s and two tiers because I always get questions about that. But yeah, just kind of hang out with me. I’d love to know actually what you thought about today’s episode and tell me what your number one takeaway was from this conversation with Rock, because we always have fun. [00:35:58][22.7]

Rock: [00:35:59] Indeed, we do. And I look forward to seeing you again soon. And thank you so much for your time today, Krystal. [00:36:03][4.4]

Krystal: [00:36:04] Yeah, thanks for having me. [00:36:05][1.0]

Rock: [00:36:10] Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of Between Two Mics. [00:36:13][2.7]

Zach: [00:36:13] We hope you enjoyed our conversation. If you learned something or are we intrigued you a bit, let us know on social media. [00:36:19][5.9]

Rock: [00:36:20] You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn by searching for SquadCast fm. [00:36:26][5.6]

Zach: [00:36:27] And if you want to show the podcast Some Love, you can leave us a rating or review wherever it is you’re listening right now. [00:36:33][5.5]

Rock: [00:36:33] This show is put together by us, Zach and Rock. It’s mixed and produced by Vince Moreno with help from Arielle Nissenblatt. Our logo is designed by Alex Whedbee. [00:36:43][9.3]

Zach: [00:36:43] Since we’re a podcast about podcasts, we want to shout out the brands and products that we trust. We’re recording using SquadCast dot FM, and here’s our current stack. For recording, we’re using ATR2100 mics, Apple AirPods Max headphones, and focusrite Scarlet 2i2 audio interfaces. [00:37:03][19.5]

Rock: [00:37:04] We edit the show on Adobe Audition in our hosting site is simple cast. [00:37:08][3.4]

Zach: [00:37:09] That’s it for us this week. We’re back next week with more from between these mics. [00:37:09][0.0]