Why Do Podcasters Ignore Monetization Until It’s Too Late?

Have you been putting off monetizing your podcast because you're "not big enough yet" or afraid of sounding salesy? You're not alone—and it's costing you more than you realize.

After creating over 1,500 podcast episodes since 2018, I've learned that waiting to monetize is one of the biggest mistakes content creators make. The truth? You don't need thousands of subscribers or millions of downloads to start earning from your content today.

This eye-opening episode breaks down why podcasters avoid monetization until frustration and burnout set in, and provides actionable strategies to start generating revenue with the audience you already have. We explore how affiliate marketing, sponsorships, digital products, and memberships can work for creators at any stage—even those just starting out.

The most valuable insight? How to seamlessly integrate monetization without feeling awkward or "salesy." Through stories, examples, and benefit-driven calls-to-action, you'll discover how to make monetization feel like a natural extension of the value you're already providing.

By the end of this episode, you'll have a completely new perspective on podcast monetization and a 30-day challenge to implement your first strategic call-to-action. Don't wait until resentment creeps in because your content isn't "paying off"—start viewing monetization as an essential part of your podcasting journey today.

Ready to transform your podcast from passion project to profit center? Listen now and take the first step toward building a sustainable content business that serves both you and your audience for years to come.

If you've wondered why nothing is working in your business in 2025, you need a clear strategy. Download our free guide, Build Your Business's Strategic Foundation, where I'm walking you through a business model canvas and a customer journey map. You'll see how we use this at Proffitt Media, plus find templates for you to create your own. Go to krystalproffitt.com/strategy to download today.

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Click the "Send Krystal a Text Message" link above to send us your questions, comments, and feedback on the show! (Pssst...we'll do giveaways in upcoming episodes so make sure you leave your name & podcast title.)

Chapters

• 2:43 Why Podcasters Delay Making Money
• 9:30 Common Monetization Misconceptions
• 17:07 Profitable Strategies for Small Audiences
• 23:44 Making Sales Feel Natural, Not Sleazy
• 32:10 Your 30-Day Monetization Challenge
• 36:00 Shifting Your Creator Mindset

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:55

Let me guess you started your podcast to help people and not make money right, because I did too, and I fully understand where you're coming from if this has been the goal of your podcast journey this far. But here's the truth If you wait too long to monetize your podcast, you're actually missing out on real opportunities that can support all of your efforts that you're using to grow your show and your audience and your business. So in today's episode this is the third part of our five-part series why Do Podcasters Ignore and today we're talking about why do podcasters ignore monetization until it's too late, until you're already like I've been doing this for years and it's not making me any money. Or you're just like why am I still doing this? Like this is not like having the return that I thought it would, but if you never had the mindset that it was going to make you money, then why would your podcast make you money? So that's what we're talking about today why do podcasters ignore monetization until it's too late? So let's get right to it.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Welcome to the Profit Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, crystal Profit, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time-saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we Welcome back. I'm so happy that you joined us today because in this five-part series, we have just been breaking down why do podcasters ignore their audience, why do podcasters ignore their data, and now we have come to one that, like I truly love this subject. I love all of these subjects, right. I love talking about podcasting and all the different pitfalls that we like come into and the challenges that we face, obstacles and how we can overcome them. But this one, specifically, is one that I wish I would have paid more attention to at the beginning of my podcast journey.

Speaker 1: 4:20

So quick, quick backstory. I you know hello, if we haven't met, I'm Crystal Prophet. I'm a podcast coach, content strategist. If you've been around here for a while, you know the spiel about. You know a little bit about my story, but what you may not know is I've been podcasting since 2018. May not know is I've been podcasting since 2018. I have published over 1,400 podcast episodes to date. It actually might be 1,500 at this point. It's a lot. It's a lot of podcasts that have happened around here, and one thing that I wish I would have done sooner is looked at monetization strategies that could have a bigger impact, and so I want to start there.

Speaker 1: 5:01

Like, the first segment of today is why are podcasters putting off monetization? For me personally, and some of the common beliefs that I hear when I get in conversation with podcasters in this community is well, I don't have a big enough audience yet, right, like I'll do that when I have millions of downloads and thousands of listeners, and it's a common one that I hear. Another one is I don't wanna sound salesy. You've said that before, haven't you? I see you, like those of you that are nodding along, like there are so many of you, you're not alone Like you're not unique in that there are dozens and dozens of people I talk to on a regular basis that say I don't sell on my podcast because they don't want to sound salesy. I get it. And then the other phrase is I'll wait until someone offers to sponsor me.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Now, this is a really interesting common misconception that I thought I was alone in thinking this and turns out when I talk to sponsorship experts like Justin Moore, my friend over at Creator Wizard, waiting for a sponsor to come knocking on your door is going to be a long waiting game, unless you already have millions of subscribers on your YouTube channel or you have a super large following that catches the eye of just the right like. It's one of those like right place, right time, lightning in a bottle situations, and I don't think that that's really the strategic move that we should have. I don't. I don't think it's the way. I don't think you should sit on the sidelines and wait and hope and pray and cross your fingers and your toes that someone will just knock on your door and say, hey, can I give you some money. It's laughable and it's not meant to be like, oh, I'm poking fun at someone for having this dream, because I've had it too. It's a very naive thing to think that I'll just keep creating and someone will just knock on my door and offer to hand me some money. It's not how it works, okay, and again, I've published over 1,500 episodes. No one came knocking on my door and said, please, let me offer you some money without a few things in place.

Speaker 1: 7:24

I will say I've had some really interesting partnerships and incredible brand collaborations over the years, but they all came with some hard work. It came with some effort on my part and it came with some proven strategies that I was able to implement before I went and pitched big brands or had partnerships with Riverside and Kit and spoke on stage at Podcast Movement. All of these things did eventually happen, but they didn't just happen because I was clicking my heels three times like Dorothy and hoping that things would work out. So that's a little bit of like why people put it off. Now let's move into ways to be like your big thing.

Speaker 1: 8:13

Before you have a big product or audience or channel or podcast, however, you want to think about your content, because I think that people get wrapped around the axle, thinking well, I have to have at least this and their this right. Saying that in quotes is 10,000 email subscribers, like people on your email list, or I need to have 50,000 followers on Instagram, or I need to have 100,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel, like I mean the this, like I'm big enough. When this happens, quote, unquote is typically what holds a lot of people back from pursuing anything, from pursuing any kind of monetization. And I can tell you right now, if I look at my content today compared to when I was first starting, I would say how are you monetizing? You're not at this level that we thought we should be before we make $20,000 on a deal or $1,000 recurring partnership deal a month from this one company. I'm not still at the level that I thought I should be based on when I first started this journey. Yet here I am and I've made tens of thousands of dollars in my business on very strategic pieces that I have looked at and evaluated over time and have seen a lot of success with specific strategies. So let's break those down.

Speaker 1: 9:48

Affiliate marketing y'all. I have preached this from day one that I love affiliate marketing. I got started with Amazon affiliates back in the day and then now I've branched out into programs and products and services and things that I promote all the time, like throughout the year. Y'all know if you've been around here for a while I partner with companies like Buzzsprout and Kit and Engie. I've partnered with Asana previously and Deadline Funnel. I could just keep going on and on with all these other brands. I've partnered with Riverside that's another one.

Speaker 1: 10:22

But at the end of the day, affiliate marketing is really powerful when you can recommend products and tools that you love and get you results. And it's even better when you can mention them casually in your content, like I just did, because you use them all the time and you really truly love them. So that's kind of my like introduction into affiliate marketing. And then that really dominoed into having a proven concept of yes, I'm an affiliate marketer, I can promote these products and services, I can get results. And then I qualified for programs like Marie Forleo's B-School or Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy and List Builder Society. I'm an affiliate. I'm a proud affiliate of all of these programs and it was because I got into action and started promoting the products and services that I love and I had proven success that whenever I made an application for the Amy Porterfields and the Marie Forleo's of the world, it was an easy yes to say yeah, well, we'll invite you into our affiliate program because you have these proven successes with some of these other partnerships.

Speaker 1: 11:30

So affiliate marketing, you don't have to be big to do that. You can get started with day one, go through all of your tech stack and the things that you use today that your audience would love and appreciate and lean into that first. The next one is sponsorships. You don't need thousands of sponsors or sorry subscribers to get a brand deal. You don't need millions of downloads to start earning money with your content. You really just need a niche focus, a niche audience and a clear pitch. What does that look like? And I'm not gonna get into a lot of detail on this because we actually we've gone pretty in depth on this with Justin Moore. I already talked about him earlier and I went through his program. So, speaking of affiliate marketing, he has a program called Brand Deal Wizard that I went through that. I learned all about sponsorships. I'm a proud partner with it, so we'll have a link in the description of today's episode so you can go check it out. But it's one of those things that I truly believe that you can learn from someone like Justin, who has seen thousands of creators have a ton of success with sponsorships with very small audiences. But the difference is they have a very clear niche, very clear topic and they have a clear pitch for there to be a win-win situation for their brand and the brand that they're partnering with and have a lot of synergy to make that happen. So, sponsorships, go check out our content that we've already gone through with Justin, because it will be a lot clearer in ways that you can monetize today, instead of waiting until you're already to the point of like I'm burned out, my content isn't making me any money, but yet I'm doing this all the time. Don't fall into that trap. Go learn about sponsorships now, and maybe by the end of 2025, you'll be celebrating your very first brand deal. It's exciting, right? That's something that I want you to manifest by the end of this year. I think it would be incredible.

Speaker 1: 13:33

Next piece digital products. Y'all. I love courses, I love templates, I love low ticket offers. I love things that you can create that are specific to your people and your audience and you're able to create it. It's a one and done for you, but then it's a one to many and you can sell it to people. I mean I could go on and on about all the digital products we have in our community. We have profit podcasting. We have the ultimate podcast launch toolkit. We have one year of podcast content in one hour. We have the business booster bundle. I mean we have even a Canva template that we created. Like my low ticket offers used to be around $27, $37. We have things that are $9 and $7 that we offer around here and they are really lucrative for having something that's a low entry price for people that can learn more about us. Like, see, like, oh, are your products worth it Like? Should I make this bigger investment? Should I join you? Know other pieces of your products worth it Like? Should I make this bigger investment? Should I join other pieces of your business and your strategies? And it's a way for them to have that initial customer relationship with you, and I mean just digital products are a fantastic way to monetize. So if you have courses, templates, workflows, workshops I mean the list could go on and on for digital products and how you can sell them.

Speaker 1: 14:54

But another piece of this is memberships. I love monetizing with a membership. I have talked a lot about our Podcasters Connect community. So if you're not in there, you can actually join our membership for free. We have a free plan. You can come join us, go to crystalprofitcom, forward slash, join. But what this is is it's a place for people to connect, learn more about podcasting, connect with other podcasters, but it's also a place where we make money at Profit Media. Right Like this is something that we offer for free because we think it adds a ton of value to your podcasting journey for free, because we think it adds a ton of value to your podcasting journey. But also we have premium offers that are exclusive to paying members, like content audits and coaching calls and other promotional opportunities that are available within our community.

Speaker 1: 15:46

But I think that memberships could be a fantastic way for you to go and you don't have to have, again, a huge audience. What if you have 100 dedicated listeners and you can convert them into 20 monthly paying members of a membership? Right, like $20, or 20 people, right, and let's say it's $100 a month? You got a really fantastic business model just by offering something that's super niche and a membership can be quite lucrative. So all of these to say that I'm throwing all these out there, as there are options for you to monetize. Well, before you're a big name in your industry, you don't have to have the super large presence in order to monetize your content. So don't get hung up in the numbers. If you have to hit the certain milestone, you can get started today with the audience you already have.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Now let's move into the next segment about integrating monetization seamlessly, because I think that this is where a lot of people mess up. This is where it happens. So let me give you some specific examples. So people often go into monetization thinking it's gotta be a hard sell, like people won't convert unless it's a really hard sell, and I am not good at that One. This is the mindset Again they get trapped in. I'm not a salesperson, I'm not a marketing person, I'm not this, this and this. We get into all these mindset blocks that are really keeping you stuck from monetizing.

Speaker 1: 17:25

But the other piece of it is that you're just not good at it. You're not good at the segue, you're not good at the okay, I'm going to lead this up. It's like you psych yourself out and I've seen probably over 200 webinars. I know that sounds pretty crazy, but now that I'm thinking about it, I'm like, over the course of my journey as an online creator, I have done we'll call them webinars, workshops, trainings, like all the like. I've done a lot of these and there is that awkward moment when you're in the middle of teaching and educating and adding value and doing all this and then you have to make that transition into selling and man, if you haven't practiced that, it is awkward, like it is super, super awkward.

Speaker 1: 18:14

So this is for all of you that are really struggling with that. You're like I'm not, I don't want to be salesy, I'm not a salesperson. I really struggle with this. You need to practice, and what I mean by that is if you are creating your content and you're trying to figure out well, how do I add in let's call it affiliate marketing? Right, you're going to start doing affiliate marketing in your podcast content, in your YouTube content. How do I make this work without coming off as desperate? I'm trying to just sell them something. I'm trying to do this, this and this you make it not about the thing you make. It about the value that you can add to someone, where it is easy to go from educating, informing, motivating, giving them that first piece of value. The ask is very simple because you're giving them that next step. So here's a great like, fully blown example of email marketing.

Speaker 1: 19:11

So when I think about, I've done a ton of videos for KIT, so I was a KIT creator for a while and what we would do is, you know, we would get information about like, okay, we're going to create videos about these specific features of kit and instead of just being like oh, I'm a kit partner and you know, go, sign up, make sure you sign up. Have you signed up yet? Like that to me is like just a salesy video and it's not it's. I would turn that off very, very quickly. What I did is I made sure that my audience and the people that watch these videos knew that when I was a user, I had firsthand experience of why this was important and I really put some applications of and this is why it should matter to you and this is how I use it. Here's a real life example of where these applications make sense in my business or for your business, and let me do an actual live demonstration.

Speaker 1: 20:14

So again, if you can add the value pieces to whatever it is that you're selling, add stories, add examples, add reasons why you love this product. When you go to tell them, go to crystalprofitcom, forward slash kit to learn more it doesn't feel as weird, it doesn't feel as awkward, because I've already given you a ton of value, I've given you so much information about it that it just feels like that's the natural next step. That is what should happen. I would be doing you a disservice if I went on and on and on about like this is so incredible. It's so amazing. Now you go to a search engine, go find out what the product that I'm talking about like, go look it up, go find your own URL. Like, no, like that is doing my audience a disservice, it's doing me a disservice and it's doing the partnership that I've created with the brand a disservice if I'm not sharing with you on a silver platter exactly how I use this product, why I love this service and how you can get actual results in your business by using it too. So that's how you transition easily into monetization. Again, add stories, add personal examples and add reasons why your audience should care, and it really makes it so much easier. Another piece if we're talking. So that was like kind of affiliate marketing.

Speaker 1: 21:44

If we look at digital products, how are you solving problems for them? How are you solving issues? You can actually tee up and start an entire episode and say I noticed that you know whoever your audience is struggle with this, and blah, blah, blah. You go into the details, you add some stories, you do this. You know what. We created a product to help you solve that problem. Here it is, and then you go into the details about it.

Speaker 1: 22:09

But where I find people make the mistake is they spend so much time talking about their product, because the product doesn't speak for itself. If you do a great job laying out the pain points, laying out the issues, laying out the struggles that someone's dealing with, they're going to immediately say oh my gosh, this person understands me. They must have created the thing that can help me solve my problems, because they so deeply understand my problems that this product that they're selling has got to be the ticket to help me answer all of these questions that I have. And if you're not doing that, then maybe your product isn't good and it won't sell. And that's another problem for another video that we can go into.

Speaker 1: 22:52

But I want to just kind of close on integrating monetization seamlessly by saying that calls to action are so crucial, so important and notice, you won't necessarily hear me say in any of my content you should buy this, just go buy this, go to this checkout page, because that feels so transactional and not benefit driven or value driven. That is what makes it feel salesy. If you're just like, here's the checkout page, go check it out, bye, thank you. No, you want to add value, add the benefits of whatever it is that you're selling and make sure that your audience understands why that matters. Why is it important to you, to you as the guide or the expert on their journey? Like, why does it matter that they use this certain product or is it gonna save them time? Is it gonna save them money? Is it gonna save them energy? Is it gonna save their sanity? Is it gonna make their lives better? Like, what is it? What are those things?

Speaker 1: 26:00

If you don't know, then maybe you need to do some deeper work in your content and share those things before you tee up, whatever it is that you're trying to sell them. But if you are showing up weekly, like if you're already on a consistent basis of publishing content on a weekly or regular basis, whatever that looks like for you I challenge you. Okay, a regular basis, whatever that looks like for you, I challenge you. Okay, this is my first big challenge in this entire series I challenge you to make a very strategic call to action around monetization in your next episode. And if you're in the middle of creating courses because I know I've talked to many people we just had a recent content audit within Podcasters Connect and the person that got an audit, they have a coming soon page for their digital course, like they're in the middle of creating their digital course Awesome. What you should do immediately is have a waitlist for your digital course and that is your only call to action that you make until that course is launched. You say make sure you're on the wait list, the digital course is coming out, whatever date that is, get on the wait list. Are you sure you're on the wait list? And then that is your CTA until you're ready to say now we have the program, it's available, go to this URL and go check it out.

Speaker 1: 27:19

There's all kinds of other ways that we can drive marketing and urgency and getting people to convert, but at the end of the day, if you're not asking your audience to buy anything from you now, today, then why would they in the future? Why would they Like it's a fair question If you've never made that ask? That is your very first step. So that's my challenge to you In the next 30 days, I want you to put out a piece of content where you are asking people to buy something from you and you don't have to say buy this purchase. That it needs to be a setup of this is the reason why this is the solution for you, or this is the reason why this product, service, whatever program, changed my life and it can help you out too. Go to let them know the URL and then see what happens. See what happens.

Speaker 1: 28:13

The worst thing that could happen is nothing happens. And guess what? You're not doing that today anyway. So you're gonna like nothing is lost. Nothing will be like taking 10 steps back. You'll actually take a few steps forward and maybe you have to come back one step and say, oh, that product didn't convert, I didn't make any sales. Okay, maybe we need to make a different call to action, maybe we need to work on this, but if you are not doing this today, you're not making calls to action to monetize your content. This cannot be the thing that you continue to ignore, because you will start to resent your content.

Speaker 1: 28:46

Ask me how I know. That is one of those things. My mom told me that that's gonna be the title of her memoir. Maybe it's already somebody's, but ask me how I know. Ask me how I know because I have talked to hundreds of creators that started making their content as a passion project or something that was just going to be a hobby and then at some point turned into oh well, this is part of my business or this is part of that, but they're still not making any money and they're frustrated. They're so frustrated with their content. And then I started digging into it and I'm like it's because it's not making making any money and they're frustrated. They're so frustrated with their content.

Speaker 1: 29:18

And then I started digging into it and I'm like it's because it's not making you any money and you're paying for all these tools. Maybe you're paying for Buzzsprout, maybe you're paying for Riverside, maybe you're paying for Kit, maybe you're paying for all of these things in your tech stack and you're not making money. So those things pay for themselves and you're frustrated. You feel like you're throwing money down the toilet, setting money on fire, or maybe your spouse or your partner or your best friend is like how much longer are you going to continue to throw money away on that thing before you give up? Oh, I hate saying that out loud, like it literally pains me in my stomach to say those words, but I know that those are the conversations that you're having, because you all told me that those are the conversations that you're having.

Speaker 1: 30:01

So if you don't want to be in this same spot by the end of 2025, then you have to do something about it. You have to start making those calls to action and I'm here If you need help with that. Let me know If you are struggling with this. I want to know in the comments if you're watching this on YouTube. Let me know if you are struggling with this. I want to know in the comments if you're watching this on YouTube.

Speaker 1: 30:19

Let me know what piece of the monetization struggle you are dealing with today. Is it calls to action? Is it having that authentic storytelling that transitions between content to making the pitch Like, what are you struggling with? Because this is my jam, like I've told you, I've produced over 1500 episodes and I've probably sold something in at least a thousand of those episodes. So I can help you with a strategic call to action, but I need to know what you're struggling with. So let us know. Send us a fan mail. I wanna hear from you. If you're listening on the audio only version, you can go where it says send Crystal a text message. Send me a message and I will me a message and I will get back to you and you'll get a shout out in a future episode.

Speaker 1: 31:02

But I want to close this idea of why do podcasters ignore monetization until it's too late with. I think that you don't have to sit here and think, well, I'm not big enough, right, don't wait to start until you're quote this is the goal that I hit, this is the milestone. Start focusing on it now, today, if you want it to actually be something that has an impact on your content and your business in the future. I want you to focus on those strategies that feel authentic to your audience. If I mentioned, you know, memberships and digital products, you know like oh, my audience isn't interested in that Great. Stick with affiliate marketing or stick with pursuing sponsorships that are very specific to your niche. People will come to me and say I have such a specific niche that I don't think you know a Buzzsprout or a ConvertKit or, excuse me, I just called them ConvertKit. Shame on me. They are now Kit. They were recently rebranded and they are called Kit now, but that doesn't make sense to me.

Speaker 1: 32:01

To mention Awesome, what are the companies that make sense? Let's go after those as strategic sponsor partnerships that you can work on and let's see how you can get there by the end of 2025. Let's not mess around. Let's make this happen 2025. Let's not mess around. Let's make this happen and when you think of monetization as part of your journey as a creator and what that could look like for you and your customers, and there's no more of this transactional relationship that you have. What would it look like to have an actual relationship with your audience and you're offering them these best-in-class products, the best-in-class advice, best-in-class solutions to someone that you can actually help? You're helping them. You're offering value by offering products and services and programs and all the tools and resources that you're gonna be selling to them. Right, you are selling, but you're leading with value first. You're leading with benefits first. You're helping them solve their problems, and that's how I want you to shift the mindset around monetization. But let me know again, reach out, send me a fan mail, send me a DM on Instagram, put a comment here, reply to one of my emails. Like, there's so many different ways that we can continue this conversation. And again, join us in Podcasters. Connect. Right, we have conversations all the time in there around monetization, crafting, compelling content, understanding your audience. Like these are just the last three months worth of coaching calls that you could go watch immediately whenever you upgrade to a premium member. So go check that out. Crystalprofitcom forward slash join.

Speaker 1: 33:43

But speaking of fan mail right, I mentioned fan mail earlier and we actually had two that we need to catch up on, so I'm going to give two shout outs in this episode. So today we are talking to so Amy Connell. She's a friend of the pod, been around a long time and she said great episode today. This is our tagline episode we released. She said I actually just changed my tagline and we'll be incorporating it into my intro soon. I help women age with grace and strength. So she has the graced uh, graced health podcast. And she said just to make sure I get the strength portion covered in each episode, I've changed my outro to include a simple strength tip. I've also said that's all for today. Go out there and have a great day since the beginning.

Speaker 1: 34:30

So if you haven't listened to that episode, we did a tagline episode recently. We hadn't done one in years and I was like it's time we need to do a tagline episode. So Amy, thank you so much. She's contributed so many of our fan mail chats and I'm just, I'm so grateful and she's a she's a personal friend of mine and, amy, I appreciate you so much for all of this.

Speaker 1: 34:51

Our next one this was a fantastic one. It says hi, crystal. I love this episode and I will be listening to it again. You shared so many great strategies. I appreciate your generosity and love your podcast. Thank you so much. They did not leave their name, so somebody from Encinitas I can never say that California Thank you so much. I think that you were mentioning either our why podcasters ignore their audience. I'm pretty sure that's the episode you were referencing, but again, thank you so much for being a listener and a fan of the show and I'm grateful for everybody that is here today. But that's all I have for you, so stay tuned for our next part of our series. When we continue to explore topics around, why do podcasters ignore? Make sure you hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you are listening and watching today and, as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.