The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast

#504 That's right—follow-up Friday episodes are back! I wanted to talk about something that crossed my mind after this week's conversation with Ali Abdaal. And this is a result of “competition.” When you start to build a business and do competitive research, you come across people who are already doing amazing things in the space. You come across people who are amazing writers. You come across people who write just the most beautiful emails in the world. You come across people, like Ali, who have incredible storytelling capabilities and who have the ability to create very professional videos. And you always wonder to yourself, “Man, why can't I do it like them?” And sometimes you'll try to do it like them—but that's almost never the right choice. You've got to check yourself before you wreck yourself, and that's what I want to talk about today. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session504.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3 Sep 202115min

#503 Has this ever happened to you? About a year and a half ago, I discovered a six-minute YouTube video about note-taking, by someone named Ali Abdaal. After I finished watching it, I thought, "Whoa, I really like this guy." So I watched the next video, which was about iPads. (I had just recently bought an iPad Pro and I wanted to learn how to make the most out of it.) Thanks to the way Ali taught, and his easy-to-listen-to accent, I started binge-watching everything on his channel. Ever since I started paying attention to Ali, things have been really taking off him for him. His brand and community have grown tremendously, and he's even released his own online course. And we've become good friends! I knew I had to ask him to come onto the podcast to share his journey from med school student to creating a YouTube channel, and how he's grown it to nearly two million subscribers, with passive income now coming in from multiple sources. We'll unpack the strategy behind Ali's impressive rise, and if you're interested in YouTube or creating video yourself, we also dive into some tips to help you with the algorithm and taking advantage of what YouTube can offer in terms of driving traffic and finding new customers. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session503.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

1 Sep 202146min

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Community Experience, a brand-new podcast from SPI!In this feed drop (episode 001), hosts Tony Bacigalupo and Jillian Benbow are hanging out with a different Jillian, Jillian Richardson, a woman on a quest to cure the world of its loneliness epidemic. Through her popular newsletter, the Joy List, and her book, Unlonely Planet, Jillian is doing remarkable work.We invited her onto the show to try to understand why community is such a hot topic right now. How can you integrate community into what you’re building and keep it authentic? Whether you hope to find a new community or want to build a more impactful community yourself, there's something here for you.Let us know what you thought of episode 001! Reach out to us @TeamSPI on Twitter. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx001. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

31 Aug 202149min

#502 Have you tried live video yet? If you haven't, this episode is for you. And even if you've already been using live video in your business (no matter what platform), this episode is also for you! Wherever you land on that spectrum, I want you to consider using live video more because it's the best way to engage with an audience. I've experienced this firsthand in the past year and a half with my live video show, the Income Stream. It's been fascinating to see what going live on YouTube every day has done for the brand for the connections. Live streaming is such a wonderful tool, whether you're pre-launching something, pitching something, or simply trying to build a deeper relationship with your audience. Today we're speaking with none other than Luria Petrucci from LiveStreamingPros.com. Luria has personally helped me with setting up my live streaming stuff, from gear selection to strategies, to how to be engaging on camera. She's such a wonderful person, and I can't wait for you to hear from her, learn from her, and hopefully be inspired to do more live videos. We'll be digging into how to use live video to engage with your audience, how and where to go live, and much more. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session502.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

25 Aug 202140min

#501 Do you ever wonder what your life or career would be like if you'd made a different decision at a fork in the road? I definitely don't use my architecture degree anymore. But at the same time, I think about the skills I've learned and the things that happened early in my career that helped get me to where I'm at today. If I'd taken a different path, I wouldn't be where I am today. And I'm grateful for the experiences. In fact, some of my favorite stories and conversations are about starting down a path that pivots into something else, whether it's niching down into something specific, or making a more radical change. Either way, it's always an amazing story—and you're going to hear one of those stories today from Megan Gilger from Fresh Exchange. Megan and her husband, Mike, started a design studio that evolved into something completely different. Today they have an amazing blog and online community at FreshExchange.com that's all about the pursuit of community and connection and reciprocity with the earth. It's not necessarily what they set out to do, but it's what it became. You'll hear about how this journey has unfolded for Megan and the Fresh Exchange brand: how it all started and gained traction, and how Megan knew this was the route she was meant to follow. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session501.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

18 Aug 202140min

#500 Significant number alert! This is episode 500 of the Smart Passive Income Podcast, and to celebrate the milestone, we're doing something a little different. We're flipping the script. Today we have a guest host running the show, and although we won't say who it is (you'll have to listen to find out!), you may remember this person and his wife from two hugely popular episodes of the show (122 and 265). Anyway, our mystery host is taking over the mic today and interviewing his "guest," Pat Flynn, about his online journey. They talk about Pat's experience losing his architecture job, and how he started, built, and grew his first online business. You've probably heard some version of this story before, but this episode is different—Pat and our host go really deep to uncover some of the nitty-gritty details of the struggles and the excitement on Pat's path to creating multiple online businesses and becoming a trusted educator for entrepreneurs everywhere. Pat also reveals a little about what's coming next for the SPI community, and for this very podcast. As for our mystery host, well, what can we say? He's a delight. We think you'll agree that this episode is the perfect way to cap off the first 500 episodes of the SPI podcast, the first of many more to come. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session500.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

11 Aug 20211h 6min

#499 If you're a business owner, this might be one of the most important podcast episodes you listen to. That's because as an entrepreneur, whether you're just starting out or you have been doing this for a while, you're probably constantly coming up with ideas. Some of those ideas are probably great. Some of them, not so great! But when it comes to great ideas, you need to know how to actually get them out into the world. And I'm not talking about specific strategies, like email or advertising. What I'm talking about is this: How do we take our ideas and put them out there so they'll spread? That's the big idea behind today's episode. This stuff is on the level of Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, or Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Today I'm talking to Jeff Goins, from GoinsWriter.com. Jeff is a great friend of mine, someone I've known for over a decade now, who's been on the show before and has helped me with my book writing. And he's here today to help us all out. So if you're looking to create ideas that spread on their own, this one's for you. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session499See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

4 Aug 202145min

#498 If you're running a business, you need an email list. But you also need to send the right emails. And you also need to make sure those emails are actually getting into your subscribers' inboxes. I often talk about the fact that email is the way to go. And it is! I only wish I'd started my email list sooner. And email does offer advantages over platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, with their algorithms that can block our messages from the audiences that want to hear from us. But email has a similar issue, and it's one you need to address if you want to reach more people: the dreaded spam folder. Why do emails end up in spam, and what can you do about it? That's what we're talking about today with Adrian Savage, the founder of Deliverability Dashboard. Adrian is a wizard when it comes to all things email, and he goes over the four keys to massively improving your deliverability rates. If you have an email list or are thinking of starting one, this episode is a must-listen. You can also get access to a simple checklist that helps you avoid the spam folder and potentially double your open rate at DeliverabilityDashboard.com/checklist. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session498.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

28 Juli 202140min