I have been listening to the James Altucher podcast for years and read a number of his books including “Choose Yourself” and am more than half way through “The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth”. In his books, he preaches the gospel of becoming an “idea machine” to build the skill of coming up with ideas. In this post, I have taken his advice and (hopefully) have generated 10 ideas that he can use.
Here is a little more background on the 10 ideas…
In a recent podcast, James interviewed his podcast producer Steve Cohen (who also books his guests). Steve is an interesting guy with a boatload of contacts he has built up over years of booking guests for radio and TV shows. The conversation in the podcast with Steve eventually turned to how they can “take the podcast to the next level”. They didn’t go into a lot of detail. I sensed that it is a topic they discuss quite a bit since they are both committed to making a great podcast and building up their audience. I also saw this as an opportunity to apply the “Idea Machine” skills I learned from James… to come up with 10 ideas FOR James (and Steve).
10 Ideas Disclaimer…
Here are 10 Ideas (with one bonus) but there is no guarantee that they are great (or even good) ideas. In fact, they are probably ideas that James and/or Steve have already considered. On the other hand… maybe one of the ideas presented here will help James double his audience! Or not… but let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Here are the 10 ideas (click on the image below to see it Full Size and right side up)…
In case the image above does not look clear enough, here is a brief (text) synopsis of the 10 ideas.
(1) Auction off books signed by guests who are promoting their books. Since I heard that James reads most books on his Kindle, if he comes across a hard copy of the book, he may want to get rid of it and an eBay auction of a copy signed by both James and the author could provide additional promotion for the podcast.
(2) Create a sub-segment within the podcast called “Steve Cohen QuoteMaster” where Steve adds two or three quotes that apply to the topic being discussed with the guest. With Steve’s encyclopedic knowledge of quotes, he is probably more likely to pick up on any quotes the guests might offer and may be able to take it “to the Next Level”.
(3) Expand the Distribution of the Content. One way would be via a YouTube Channel. This would, eventually, require adding some more visually interesting aspects to the podcast but it could be worthwhile since YouTube is such a powerful search engine. Another way to expand distribution would be to re-purpose the content based on topic, sort of like Tim Ferris has done or Jerry Seinfeld did when he took his Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee show and edited it into “Shots” format.
(4) Create Tie-ins to… NYC events, SXSW (like Tim Ferriss), United Nations, Sports (relying on Steve’s sports knowledge), Financial / Wall Street.
(5) [Topic Specific] Panel Discussions. With an audio-only format, it is sometimes difficult to identify specific voices but James has a unique voice so this might be possible. It might work better on video.
(6) Add Sound Effects. I learned from James that not all 10 ideas have to be good. This is one of my “throw-aways” but maybe it will spur ideas for someone else… someone who maybe has experience making old-tyme radio shows!
(7) Serialized Content. If each podcast (in a series) were to end on a teaser or cliffhanger, it could increase the likelihood of listeners anticipating the next podcast. One thought on the current end-teasers… The audio clips are often very interesting but without the name of the guest, I don’t know which podcast to look for. Since podcasts are not necessarily listened upon release, it would help to identify who the guest is on the teaser clip.
(8) Promote “Special Episodes”. For example, if someone like Richard Branson (a ‘big name”) or a Specific Topic (e.g. #me too) or even an Extra Long podcast is coming up, it could be worthwhile to do some paid promotion, press releases or even appearances on (NY based) TV shows.
(9) Partner with… Starbucks, Book Publisher(s), Airlines, Trains, Sponsors, Car Manufacturers, Health Clubs. It is assumed that many podcasts are listened to while traveling so it might be worthwhile to even give away [cheap?] MP3 players with the JA podcast pre-loaded. If a new car has a hard drive, why not deliver it with all of James’ podcasts pre-loaded? Maybe gyms could loan MP3 players to patrons so they could listen while they work out too.
(10) Take it On The Road. If you took the show on the road, it could tap into a whole new set of listeners and guests. Imagine if the show was recorded in Chicago? Paris? London? Maybe you could talk about meditation in India. The “adventure” could also be documented (for YouTube channel) to provide a glimpse into the life of a podcast. It could also show James interacting with the guests in new ways (“behind the scenes”). Maybe James does standup all around the world!
(bonus #11) Ask guests and listeners to recommend books or potential guests they would like to have on the podcast. With Steve’s networking skill and a recommendation from a listener, he may be able to get some amazing guests. Maybe even some that are a little “off the radar” of most podcasts.
Coach Wheeler’s reward for everyone who has read all 10 ideas…
If you have made it all the way to the end of this post… here is your reward. These 10 ideas are just one small part of Coach Wheeler’s series on the topic of Problem Solving (you can read more here). The series starts with a post titled “The Problem with Problems”. It continues on with articles on Idea Generation, Problem Solution Methods and much more. I hope you check it out. It would be great if you are able to solve one of your own problems or something that is challenging someone you know. To get an email notification when new articles are posted, just sign up for our email list. (See signup box in the right margin). It is a two-step process requiring you to confirm your signup. Simply click on the link in the email we send you right after you sign up.