The people you look up to will say yes to your podcast if you ask the right way.

AJ Waters is Field COO at Procore, and his podcast has nothing to sell. It still pays him back. He cold-messaged his heroes onto the show, and one of them is now a close friend. The show has earned him speaking slots, given him co-panelists, and made him better at his day job.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. If you're inviting someone way above your level, don't ask for a favor. Tell them what they're great at. AJ's invite goes like this: "I think you're uniquely talented at X, and more people need to know about that." It's a compliment, and it gives them the topic, so they don't have to figure out what the episode is about. That's how he got his heroes on the show. One of them was Tyler Campbell from The Construction Brothers, and now they're close friends who meet every Friday. Pick one person you'd love to know. Write down the one thing they're great at and why your audience needs it, then send it.

2. Your past guests can be your next panel. If you speak at live events, bring them up with you as co-panelists. When AJ is headed somewhere to speak, he checks which past guests live nearby and know the topic, then asks them to do it live. His next panel in Phoenix grew out of an episode about whether you can trust AI in construction. Before your next event, look through your guest list and find who's close by and fits the topic. Ask them to join you on stage.

3. Your guests can tell you what your buyers really think. If the people you interview are the same people you sell to, use the show to hear it. AJ's guests give him straight feedback on Procore's software, and he says every conversation gives him at least one thing to take back to his day job. After you stop recording, ask your guest one question about the problem your business solves.

If your show isn't bringing in clients yet, that doesn't mean it's failing. AJ's whole show runs on relationships, and they keep turning into stages, friendships, and better work.

In this episode:
- Why AJ's podcast exists when he has nothing to sell
- The invite that gets people way above your level to say yes
- How a hero became a close friend
- Turning an episode into a live panel, and past guests into co-panelists
- How guests make him better at his day job
- Repurposing with blog posts, clips, and LinkedIn
- His one tip for your next episode: research your guest

About the guest, AJ Waters:
AJ Waters is Field COO for the public sector at Procore and host of TheEngiNerdLife Podcast. He's a former structural engineer, and his show spotlights people in construction whose superpower is a skill anyone can learn.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/watersaj/
Website: https://www.theenginerdlife.com
Apple Podcasts, TheEngiNerdLife Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/theenginerdlife-podcast/id1871540343

Booking guests, chasing the audio, cutting the clips, writing the blog, posting every day. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business.

ProPod Concierge runs your show for you. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Christopher Swing has been a guest on plenty of podcasts. He says hosting his own taught him more than all of them.

As a guest, you repeat what you already know. As a host, you bring people into your world and see your own gaps. Chris is CEO of Vantage Surgical Solutions and host of Faithful, a show about how leaders of faith run their companies. He talks about why he started it, how he built his guest list, why season one stalled, and what he's changing for season two.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Do your homework on every guest. It changes what they do with the episode. Chris said there's something different about the relationship after someone researches you and asks questions you haven't answered fifteen times. It made him ask, "Why am I so important to this person?" He said if someone Googles him and finds this episode, he'd be honored for them to listen, because it was really intentional. Before your next recording, find one thing about your guest that nobody else has asked them about.

2. If you're running out of guests, or you only book people you already know, try what Chris did. He wrote down 25 people who fit what he wanted from his show. Then he asked AI who else he should add if those 25 interested him. It came back with 180 to 190 names. Whatever your show is for, start with the guests who already fit it, and let AI find more people like them.

3. If doing the show yourself is wearing you down, plan the next season before you release it. Chris did season one alone. Guests canceled, the production piled up, and something fun started to feel like work, so the show stopped. For season two he's setting a time frame, getting help with production and scheduling, and recording 30 to 40 percent of the season before the first episode goes out. If you're already recording and posting the same week and it works, keep going. If it's turning into a grind, decide how many episodes you'll have done before you release one, and who handles the work after you record.

Chris doesn't think the show brings him a lot of business. He hosts it to learn from people he admires and to say out loud what he stands for. It still led to a meeting invite he credits to the show, a guest list that grew from 25 names to more than 180, and a lesson from a NASDAQ CEO that changed how he thinks about asking for help.

In this episode:
- Why hosting teaches you more than guesting
- How a podcast tells people who you are before you meet
- Hiring for character over skills
- Building a guest list from 25 names with AI
- Why season one stalled, and the season two plan
- What a NASDAQ CEO taught him about asking for a mentor
- Why researching your guest changes the relationship

About the guest, Christopher Swing:
Christopher Swing is CEO of Vantage Surgical Solutions, an ophthalmic surgical services company in Illinois. He has led the organization since 2012, through a sale to private equity, and serves as chair-elect in YPO. He hosts Faithful, a podcast about how leaders of faith run their businesses.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherswing/
Website: https://vantage.healthcare
YouTube, Faithful: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAql9bPhg4miFJxZueY-n74nN9fUoVyDu

Chasing guests, covering cancellations, editing every episode yourself, and watching a show you started for fun turn into work. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Nishant Parashar's biggest episodes came from guests nobody had heard of. One of them became his first exclusive talent.

Nishant runs Engage4more, an artist booking company in India, and hosts the Good Gobar Show. He came back from bankruptcy, started the show on a friend's suggestion, and wasn't sure it would work. Now it builds trust with his buyers, wins over the talent he books, and brings authors and experts to him.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Book guests for their depth, not their fame. Nishant's biggest videos came from people most viewers had never heard of. His episode with author Anand Neelkantan, who was not a visible name, hit 1.4 million views, and Anand became his first exclusive talent. Going deep is how he gets there. He spends about a week reading each guest's life before recording. On his cybercrime episode, he didn't jump to the stories. He asked what counts as cybercrime, how big it is, and whether it's a national security risk, so viewers felt why it mattered before the guest told a single story. For your next booking, pick the person with the sharpest view on a problem your buyers care about, then go deep with them.

2. Nishant calls it a tilt. On almost any topic there are two sides, and most people sit in the gray, overwhelmed and unsure where they land. A tilt is a clear lean to one side, backed by depth. Not the center, and not the extreme. People watch content to find that lean, so Nishant books guests who have one, even when their view is not popular. Those episodes pull in the people who agree, push away the ones who don't, and get more engagement, even in the hate comments. Here is what it looks like. When Nishant made an episode on AI, a topic buried in videos, he didn't add one more "how to use AI." He made "how not to use AI," a side almost nobody was covering. In a crowded topic, the tilt is the side nobody is taking.

3. Your next episode is sitting in your comments. Nishant ran two episodes on a divisive topic, and the comments kept asking one thing: is there a solution or not? So his third episode brought on someone who could answer it. He also reads the private messages, because people write very differently one on one than in public, and often they don't say it outright. You have to read into it. For a founder show, the comments and DMs are your audience telling you what they're stuck on, in their own words. When the same question shows up twice, that's your next episode.

The proof is in two guests. An author and a cybercrime investigator, neither one a celebrity. One episode turned the author into exclusive talent. The other opened doors into tech, the Indian Institute of Science, and ISRO.

In this episode:
- Why buyers trust him over plain brokers
- How the show signs exclusive talent
- Why unknown guests beat big names
- How to go deep with a guest
- What a "tilt" is and why it drives engagement
- Building episodes from the comment section
- How not to use AI: taking the side nobody covers
- Capping the show so it doesn't eat the business

About the guest, Nishant Parashar:
Nishant Parashar is the founder of Engage4more, an artist booking and employee engagement company in India. He came back from bankruptcy with the same brand and now hosts the Good Gobar Show, where he talks with authors, investigators, and experts about finding possibility in pain.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishant-parashar-095121b/
Website: https://engage4more.com
YouTube, Good Gobar Show: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGobarShow

Spending a week prepping every guest, chasing the edit, cutting shorts for every platform, writing the descriptions, and checking your views before you check the business. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Matt Uhler doesn't pitch anything on his podcast, and it still won him a multimillion-dollar listing over other brokers.

Matt is a business broker with 28 years in the trade. His show, What's Your Deal, is a credibility tool, not an offer. Buyers and sellers watch it, see how he thinks, and reach out when they're ready. In this conversation he walks through how he runs it like the sales meeting: batching a full studio day, prepping every guest, and fixing the mistakes he caught when he listened back.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Treat every episode like the sales meeting, because your best prospects watch before they ever call. A multimillion-dollar business interviewed other brokers and chose Matt, in large part because they had already seen how he thinks on his show. Before you publish, ask one question: if my best prospect only saw this episode, would they hire me?

2. Have the conversation your ideal client wants to hear, right in front of them. Matt's one change for any show that isn't bringing in business is clarity of purpose: speak to the people you want to work with so they see you can help them. Write that one client at the top of your next outline and cut any question they would not care about.

3. Put your podcast in the advertising budget, not the hobby column. Matt's rough guess is $1,500 to $1,700 per recording day all in, and one day records 7 to 8 episodes. On the other side, one multimillion-dollar listing he won in large part because of the show will mean a very significant amount of money for his firm when it closes. Budget it like marketing, then ask every new client if they saw the show.

The proof is a real deal. A multimillion-dollar business had other brokers to choose from. They picked Matt and his firm, in large part because of what they had seen on the show. Robert Kiyosaki said yes to being a guest for the same reason: the earlier episodes looked professional.

In this episode:
- Why his podcast is a credibility tool, not an offer
- Batching 7 to 8 episodes in one studio day
- The promotion plan around every release
- How quality got Robert Kiyosaki to say yes
- The multimillion-dollar listing the show helped him win
- What it costs and why he treats it like an ad budget
- The dry intro mistake and how he is fixing it
- How to bring more energy on camera
- Clarity of purpose: the one change for your next episode

About the guest, Matt Uhler:
Matt Uhler is a business broker with 28 years helping people buy, sell, and finance businesses, and an educator who coaches, speaks, and consults with business owners. He hosts What's Your Deal, a weekly show whose guests include Robert Kiyosaki.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-uhler-a9896612/
Website: https://www.ampedsuccess.com/
YouTube, What's Your Deal: https://www.youtube.com/@AmpedSuccess

Prepping outlines, chasing the edit, cutting clips, writing the announcement post, and trying to keep a weekly schedule without a team behind you. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Six months into his podcast, ChatGPT was calling Wes Towers a leading expert in his industry. He didn't get there by recording more. He got there by what he does after every episode.

Wes runs Uplift 360, a digital agency for trades and construction brands, and hosts Built. Trusted. Chosen. His buyers are on the road all day, listening between job sites. He publishes every episode unedited, turns every transcript into a blog post and social posts, and builds episodes around what his builders are searching for right now. It is simple, and most founders skip it.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Turn every episode into a blog post on your own website. Wes's team runs each transcript through an AI prompt that writes a blog post, then a second prompt turns that blog post into social posts. AI reads text much more easily than audio. Six months in, ChatGPT and Google's AI were calling him a leading expert in his industry. Write one prompt that turns your transcript into a blog post, and put your next episode on your site this week.

2. Build your next episode around what your buyers are searching for right now. Wes's builders got hit with tax changes on investment properties and went looking for what it meant. Topical episodes like that are how new people find him. When he needed a population expert he didn't know, he found the best one he could and messaged him on LinkedIn, and the clips from that episode beat the full show. Write down three questions your buyers are asking this month and book a guest who can answer one.

3. Make it easy for buyers to ask to be on your show. Wes says most people who reach out to be guests are potential customers. One asked to come on, then mentioned he was collecting website quotes. Wes pitched, won the job, and launched the site before the guest ever recorded. Put a be-a-guest link in your show notes and on your website.

The proof is small and real. A listener asked to be a guest, mentioned he was getting website quotes, and Wes won the job before they ever recorded. People in his industry now recognize him at networking events. They know, like, and trust him before they meet.

In this episode:
- Why AI can't hear your podcast, and what to publish instead
- Transcript to blog post to social posts, the exact order
- Why your Google Business Profile still matters when buyers are ready to spend
- Why he publishes every episode unedited
- Building episodes around what your buyers are searching for right now
- How a guest request turned into a website client

About the guest, Wes Towers:
Founder of Uplift 360, a digital agency for trades and construction brands in Australia, and host of Built. Trusted. Chosen.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/westowers/
Website: https://uplift360.com.au
YouTube, Built. Trusted. Chosen.: https://www.youtube.com/@uplift_360

Pulling the transcript, writing the blog post, cutting the clips, scheduling the posts, and still trying to run the business. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

A guy listened to 500 episodes of Alan's podcast and changed nothing. That is when Alan told his co-host their show sucked.

Alan Lazaros has published an episode every single day for nine years with Kevin Palmieri on Next Level University. Zero revenue in 2017. $452,000 in 2025. A 25 person team. And his read on why most founder podcasts go nowhere is not the one you expect.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Make every episode point at one next thing. Alan's show promotes whatever is coming up next. Pick the one thing you want people to do this month and point every episode at it until it is done.

2. Name the one step between your episode and your paid offer. Alan has free layers, then a paywall, then programs, then one on one. Each layer invites people one step deeper. Most founder podcasts jump straight from episode to book a call, and that gap is where the business dies.

3. Say out loud who your show is not for. Alan tells listeners on air that if they want big rewards for minimal effort, his show is not for them. 30,000 followers turn into 39 clients, on purpose.

He walks through the business model behind it. Social media is the mall. The podcast is your store. 30,000 people at the top, 39 one on one clients at the bottom, and every layer built to add value and invite people one step deeper. The podcast sits at the top and feeds everything, and everything feeds it back. Then he gets blunt about the part founders avoid. Knowledge is not power. Behavior change is. Your podcast has a constraint right now and you are probably not looking for it.

In this episode:
- Passion, purpose, profit, and why doing them out of order kills shows
- Nine years of real revenue numbers, stated on air
- How 30,000 followers becomes 39 clients, on purpose
- Why being for everyone means being for no one
- The 500 episode listener who proved the show wasn't working
- The compounding math on never missing a day
- Prep, rep, reflect, perfect, and finding where your show sucks

About the guest, Alan Lazaros:
Co-founder and co-host of Next Level University with Kevin Palmieri. Former computer engineer turned business, peak performance and fitness coach. Roughly 2,500 daily episodes, 39 one on one clients, over 7,286 coaching sessions logged. He also runs the Next Level Hope Foundation for kids of single parents.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/
Website: https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/
YouTube, Next Level University: https://www.youtube.com/@NextLevelUniversity

Alan's whole answer is get a little better every episode and never miss. That falls apart fast when you are the one editing, cutting the clips, writing the descriptions, chasing the guests, and posting all of it. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Key Takeaways
• Treat podcast guests as long-term relationships, not immediate sales opportunities.
• Re-promote old episodes when a guest has a milestone or becomes relevant again.
• Make your podcast name and positioning obvious enough that the right people can discover it.

She wrote a check with a comma in it every month for six months, and the podcast still wasn't paying for itself.

Aubrey Fitzloff runs an independent insurance agency in South Carolina. Last year a marketing firm pitched her a podcast as a funnel into the parts of the Carolinas she can't drive to, lined up about 40 recordings in a 60 day sprint, and sent an invoice every month. At six months and more than $20,000 in, she had to make a call. She let them go.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

She kept the show. What changed was what she expects from it. She can't tell you her download numbers and says they don't matter. The business that did come in came through the show, not from it, and it came slowly, out of relationships she was in no rush to convert. So now she doesn't chase new guests. She has 40 to 50 episodes already recorded, she's connected to nearly every guest on LinkedIn, and when one of them hits a milestone, that's the week their episode goes back out. It's the most repeatable networking play we've had on this show, and it costs nothing but attention.

In this episode:
- What over $20,000 in six months actually bought, and why she stopped writing the check
- Why she refuses to pitch a guest at the end of a recording, even when the fit is obvious
- The download numbers question, and why she stopped asking it
- How she uses LinkedIn to decide which old episode gets republished this week
- Why a rebrand for discoverability beat a clever name built off the company

About the guest, Aubrey Fitzloff:
Owner of LifeTime Insurance Agency, an independent brokerage serving North and South Carolina with health, Medicare, life and disability coverage. She hit 20 years in the industry this year and hosts the Carolina Business Leadership Show.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aubreyfitzloff/
Company, LifeTime Insurance Agency: https://ltins.com/
Podcast, Carolina Business Leadership Show: https://www.youtube.com/@carolinabusinessleadershipshow

Sitting on episodes you recorded months ago. Doing the clips, writing the descriptions, figuring out the promotion, all while the business needs you. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. At ProPod Concierge, you record, we handle the rest. A full month free, not a trial, in exchange for honest feedback and a testimonial if we earn it. If your show is already handled and it isn't eating your week, skip this one.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

Key Takeaways
• Guest on other podcasts where your ideal clients already spend their attention.
• Speak to the host and audience by solving real problems instead of pitching your service.
• Remove yourself from production tasks so you have more time for the conversations that create opportunities.

He went on a construction podcast to add value. They stopped the recording and the host looked at him and said, I need to hire you guys.

That host became a client at high four to five thousand a month. Then he referred two more. One guest spot, one relationship, a multiple five figure return.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

Derek Links:
Website - https://thecoosolution.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@thecoosolution?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekfredrickson/

Derek Fredrickson runs his own show twice a month. He has been on more than 100 other people's shows in the last 18 months. That ratio is the whole lesson. In this conversation he explains why your podcast is a supporting asset and not a pipeline, why the opportunity comes through the show instead of from it, and what he actually does when he is sitting in someone else's guest chair.

He is also the reason it is sustainable. He built the system and hired the people before he ever launched, so the only thing he touches is the recording.

In this episode:
- Why you do not get clients from your podcast, you get client opportunities through it
- The guest spot that became a client and two referrals, told start to finish
- How to guest without pitching, speak to their audience but really to the host
- Why he spends more time on other people's shows than his own, and what that does to your own delivery
- The audit that tells you which steps of your show actually need you
- Sending a client episode after a sales call, the unpaid sales force that closes in the client's own words
- Start at a cadence you can hold, because scaling down costs you the trust consistency built

About the guest, Derek Fredrickson:
Derek Fredrickson is the founder of The COO Solution, which puts fractional COOs and integrators into founder-led businesses so the company can run without the owner sitting in the middle of it. He launched the company in 2024 and started The COO Solution Podcast about a year and a half ago, running it every other week.
LinkedIn: [ADD LINKEDIN]
Company, The COO Solution: [ADD WEBSITE]
Podcast, The COO Solution Podcast: [ADD SHOW LINK]

Okay, quick one. Founder or business owner, if you are recording and then doing the editing, the clips, the descriptions, chasing the guests, all of it yourself, that is the reason you have no room to go be a guest anywhere else. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.