Pat Flynn made 89,903.53 last month. This is down from the 89,000 he made in April. This doesn't happen by chance. Pat has always been a hard worker. If you haven't check out his book Let Go, then you should. You read how he did all the things you were supposed to do (go to college, work insane hours to get up the corporate ladder)  only to be let go. Pat had been studying for a certification and was using the web to store his notes. Later when he passed the exam he uncovered that his notes were very, VERY popular. So he took the notes and repackaged them as an ebook, and put it up for sale. He never considered himself an author, but why not. It made (and continues to make ) a LOT of cash. Along the way Pat shares the good the bad and the ugly of his journey. Today he shares some insights into what it takes to create content that truly resonates with your audience, and how he is taking podcast players to a new level with his Smart Podcast Player.

Here are some key points from the interview

Pat spends HOURS writing a single blog post. When you read his posts at smartpassiveincome.com you will see the insane amounts of detail that he puts into his posts. The goal is always to inform his audience in an unbiased way. The goal is to help his audience make an informed decision. By not selling out to the top bidder, and only talking about products he has first hand knowledge of, Pat is not only a resource, but a trusted resource. Pat knows when he is most productive (he's a night owl) and that's when he does his work. He has a dedicated office. He admits that its hard to separate work and family, but in the same way that a employee clocks out to go home Pat knows that when he leaves his office he has "clocked out" and it's time for his family. When I read the book Let Go you get to see bonus videos of Pat with his family. It's very cool, and his passion and love for his kids is beyond evident. Pat learned that you need to let others who can do things better take over. He tried to turn his book into an audio book, but later hired someone to read it for him. It was a lot of money ($1400) but that money came back to him. Many people are envious of Pat's bank account. I envy the time and influence Pat has with his children. Pat took his successful blog and grew his audience using a podcast. When Pat meets people at conferences, they all mention the podcast. It took Pat a year and a half to build his audience

Smart Podcast Player

When Pat launched the Ask the Pat podcast ( a quick daily show where he answers one listener question) . He had a custom player created. You can find it at www.smartpodcastplayer.com or at www.askpat.com it has built in share buttons and if you have a large catalog (like a daily show will produce) it makes it easy to browse through the episodes and listen to the one you want. How Does it Work? It doesn't matter what media host you use. You input the location of your RSS feed and it pulls the information from that and creates the payer. This way when you release a new episode it automatically is added to the player. If you use soundcoud as your media host (for the record I would only use soundcloud as a secondary host - see my thought on this) you can add additional tags which may help you be found, and help people discover your content.

When In Doubt Ask Your Audience

Pat rolled it out to a limited beta group knowing there would be growing pains. Pat knew there were features he would want to add, and by rolling it out to a select few, he had a built in focus group to help him identify and prioritize new features that will be added to the player. When it first rolled out there were limited choices to the colors you could use. Now you can use any color for your player.

Great Support

As expected there were a few bugs when it rolled out. I worked with his group and they were very responsive and a great group of guys. With my recent moving of my website to a new host, I have had other priorities and have not activated the player on the new host (not that it takes a lot to put it into place - you know podcast movement, etc,  first things first). Flexible The Smart Podcast Player allows you to put a full page of your podcasts in one spot ( see screenshot) or you can put a single episode on your site. It will be exciting to see what features are added in the future. Pat talked about wanting the player to prompt you to join a mailing list (or other call to action). He realizes that while you could throw in a bunch of features, its best to roll them out slowly and make sure you are adding features that are wanted.

Protecting Your Brand

Pat talks about he is asked on a daily basis to promote products. Many of these have huge payouts, but Pat knows that if he were to endorse a product that turned out to be awful, his trust would be ruined. He has the intelligence to know that the most valuable thing you have is the trust of your audience. He could have a list of hundreds of thousands of subscribers, but if they don't trust your content - it's worthless. If you're in it for the long haul, guard your audience and protect from the people who are looking to make a quick buck. Find all things Pat at www.smartpassiveincome.com www.smartpodcastplayer.com www.askpat.com www.nichesiteduel.com