Podcasting Momentum - The Marketing Flywheel for your Businesss
Welcome to Podcasting Momentum, the show that helps business owners and marketing managers like you get to the heart of what makes a podcast successful. In each episode, we will do a deep dive with fellow podcasters to uncover the real stories behind their shows. We skip the small talk and get straight to the actionable advice that will help you gain traction and build a loyal audience with your podcast.
From the origin story of a show to the technical challenges and strategic pivots along the way, we'll give you an inside look at how real podcasters build momentum. You'll learn how to overcome common mistakes, create engaging content, and turn your podcast into a powerful business asset.
We focus on the topics that matter most, including:
- The Origin Story: Discover why people start their podcast and the specific problem it was designed to solve.
- Overcoming Challenges: You will learn how podcasters navigate technical hurdles, audience growth issues, and even major life changes that could get in the way.
- Audience-Centric Content: We will help you understand how to provide real value to your listeners, making them a part of your journey, not just a metric. This is where they turn into customers, not just downloads.
- The Business Impact: Explore how a podcast can be a powerful tool for your business and lead to new clients and opportunities. It's not just about an audio file that you're sharing. This is audio, video, reels, blogs, emails, and more!
Your podcast can be one of your most powerful marketing tools. It's a way to establish yourself as an expert in your field, build trust with your audience, and create a continuous stream of content for your entire marketing ecosystem. From the core audio and video content to repurposed blogs, social media posts, email newsletters, and more, a single conversation can power your content for weeks.
Ready to level up your podcast? We've got you covered. Sign up for a free 30-minute no pitch podcast consultation with Josh and his team to get personalized feedback on your podcasting journey. You'll walk away with actionable tips on improving your camera and microphone setup, and how to structure your show for maximum impact.
Podcasting Momentum - The Marketing Flywheel for your Businesss
Podcasting Making a Superpower: How Nicolas Comstock Uses His Voice to Change Public Policies
What do you do when the world tells you you’re unemployable? If you're Nicolas Comstock, you start a podcast and change the game.
In this inspiring episode, Nicolas, host of Nick Speaks, shares how he turned a career setback into a platform for advocacy, storytelling, and social change. Told he wasn’t fit for traditional employment due to his disabilities, Nicolas launched a podcast that now reaches policymakers, caregivers, and everyday listeners across the country. From TikTok mini-episodes to nearly 700 YouTube subscribers, his journey is packed with lessons for business owners and marketers looking to build authentic, impactful content.
We explore how Nicolas carved out a unique voice in a crowded podcast space, grew his audience organically from TikTok, and used his platform to influence both policy and people. He shares practical tips on guest management, balancing monologues with interviews, and staying persistent even when podcasting feels like a solo grind.
Whether you’re a marketing manager searching for new content strategies or a small business owner looking to amplify your voice, this episode proves podcasting can be more than marketing, it can be a mission.
👉 Want to turn your story into a movement?
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Your podcast may not be for everyone, but it could be specifically for someone and the person that just totally embodies that is this week's guest. Nick Comstock of Nick speaks is my guest this week and this is a pretty powerful episode. I think in one statement. This week's guest, as I mentioned, is Nick Comstock from Nick speaks. Nick was told, you were told Nick that you were unemployable because of your disabilities. Was it that moment where you said, I'm going to do a podcast? No, it actually wasn't. It was. And thanks for having me too. I really appreciate it. Josh. Yeah, it they were trying to figure out something that I could do, and they took me through all these things, like, can you put little tiny bear, pegs the size of a grain of rice on a board? And can you do all these time sensitive things and I wasn't able to do that. And I told them what I was good at, and they just kind of shrug their shoulders and were like, okay, well, you're unemployable after hours of testing. And I've been through this and another state as well. And so, I went through something that the state of Ohio has called career discovery, where you get assigned a case manager and you tell that case manager what you want to do, and then they try to find people in that field to try to get you started in that field. And everyone that we talked to through process of interviewing said, Nick, you need to do a podcast. And I've had people tell me for years that I need to do a podcast. And so I found my wonderful producer, Kyle Goodnight. And we started podcasting a year ago, and the rest is history. So there you go. So, I mean, you've got a certain charisma about you and I love it. And then after watching your podcast, I was like, for sure, I'm like, I need to have him on. What would I know? You said you reached out to the producer. Was that the first step that you took in your podcasting journey? Well, I was actually doing miniature podcast. I called Miniature Podcast on Tik Tok, and I grew my following to over 67,000 followers because I was doing three videos seven days a week. So, and I grew my following up to 67,000. And so it's still there today. And then we we, Kyle and I just met through the case manager, and we started working together even before I became a paid client of his. And he's. So I went through things that I wanted to do. And since that time, Kyle has helped me become a published author. So I'm a published author and a book with about 11 other people with disabilities. Several public speaking engagements and more to come. So it's just it's just kind of snowballing, you know? So what makes you think that you're I mean, what made you think that people told you, like, Nick, you need to do a podcast? I mean, you've got some personality, but I'd like to hear your angle on it. I, you know, I, I've just always wanted to to be in front of a crowd, be in front of. You know, I've been on the Ohio State steps. I'm a disability advocate for people with disabilities. I working for caregivers. I was on the front line of giving caregivers a pay raise for the first time in almost 20 years. So, I just I have a real magnetic personality. I love being in front of the camera. I love being in front of people. So this is perfect for me. I love it. I want to talk about the impact there because you've you've built your podcast as a disability advocate. You've talked about helping, I mean, get caregivers, what they deserve. I mean, is the has the podcast you feel really helps drive some of that effort and some of the some of the results for that? Yeah. I mean, you know, when you get people in high power or from the state of Ohio saying, I listen to your podcast, you're kind of like, oh, I guess I better be careful, but maybe I maybe I'm initiating change, which is what I hope my goal for the podcast is to bring people with disabilities from the back of the class to the front of the class, and I think I'm doing that with the interviews that I have in the monologues. So it's it's a lot of fun. I, I love that and it's anytime you can do you can move causes like that forward. It's really a good thing. I want to talk about like you started with TikTok and your 67,000 followers on TikTok. You've managed to bring a lot of those over into the podcasting world. How did you how are you able to bring those people over? You know, I, I just think it sort of organically, I mean, people on TikTok were telling me way before I got involved with Kyle Neck, you need to do a podcast. And so now, now that I have people just reach out to me every week and say, I'm listening. You know, I just went down to West Virginia for a funeral for a family member, and people were coming up to me. They're saying, hey, we listen to your podcast every week. You know, I'm going, oh my gosh, people were really listening. And plus I'm like, I better not curse too much. These are church people. So, but yeah, it's just I, it's it's organically. I'm almost at 700 subscribers on YouTube and, before I started the podcast, I was at 400. And now it's been a little over a year, and now we're almost at 700. So. Wow. So you've added 300 in a year. That's that's impressive. I mean, we've got a lot of podcasts that don't get to that point. A question that I've got too is like, has the podcast opened up opportunities? I know you said you've spoken at like on the the Ohio State steps. Has there been other opportunities that that's opened up for you? Well, yeah, I believe so. I mean, I'm getting ready to, just in my public speaking alone. I'm getting ready to do a speaking engagement for one of the largest home health care companies in the state of Ohio in October. And I believe that's because they saw me speak at another event. And then you know, they're watching the podcast and then also, next year I'm going to be a major part in planning Disability Awareness Day at the state House. So I believe that my podcast and my influencer and my TikTok has, has definitely opened up those those doors. And the opportunity happened in December, and that book's been out since, April of this year. And so, yeah, there's just more and more coming and I'm excited about it. I'm and it's given me the podcast has given me this opportunity to come talk to you. You know, you reached out and said, I'm one of the many podcasting groups that I follow. I'm looking to talk to somebody about why they started podcasting. And I'm like, teaching, okay. So yeah. What's what we anyone that has a podcast has made mistakes in their podcast. Is there a mistake that you think you've made in your podcast that you can recall, and what did you learn from it? The mistake, the mistake that I made and I tried to not do very much anymore is, people love my monologues, but I don't like hearing myself talk for 40 minutes. So I try to have as many guests on as I possibly could. And, to try to. Because when when you do monologues, you end up repeating yourself over and over again. In a lot of cases. So I try not to do that. You know, people reach out to me and said, you know, that your guest talk a little bit more or, you know, something like that. So when I bring on my guest, I try to let them know that this is your show, this is your time. You know, it's about you. I wanted you here because of you. And then I have, those people that say, I don't want to hear from you a little bit more. What I've learned is that you can't make everybody happy. So everybody's kind of complained about somebody. We we. Yes, we see it all of the time where someone I always tell people like, don't let one comment make you change your entire podcast. If you're consistently seeing something, then maybe it's time to change. But if it's one comment, don't worry about it. Let it go on and just don't worry about it. And the next question that I kind of have with that is, I mean, podcasting is, you know, there's there's moments where it's tough, has there been any moments where you're like, that's it, I'm done. And what, what what got you to push through? Well, actually, I gotta be honest. Or did Josh, that's literally every week because I'm like, And my and my listen, are people really listening? Are they. You know, because when you're booking your guests and you're doing all the work and you don't really have a team behind you except for your producer or your editor, you know, it's kind of like, okay, my podcast is Tuesday. It's it's Wednesday. And I gotta I gotta come up with a guest or I'm gonna come up and I'm monologuing. Is this really worth it? And then sometimes it's been Monday night, the day before, you know, and I'm recording at midnight. I'm like, this just stuck. Yeah. Let's just skip a week. But, what's really gotten me through is, you know, I was just an event. I was just at a doctor's appointment the other day, and someone came up to me and said, I, I was, I was at a doctor's appointment, and one of the therapists that was at the doctor's appointment said, Nick, you have a podcast. And I said, yes. And they said, well, my patient recognizes your voice from the other room. From the room. That's amazing. So that was really cool. And then I found out that the entire, staff at the Drug Mart in Ontario, Ohio, listens to my podcast every week. And I'm like, you guys have nothing to do with the drug. What? You, That that that's that's amazing. And I love to hear that. As you look forward, you talked about doing some some of the monologue episodes, some of the guest episode. What do you feel is like the next step for your show? Well, I, I feel like the next step is. It's funny, Kyle and I were just talking about this because we just approached our, year anniversary working together. I feel like the next step is. Josh. I would love to do interviews on on site with senators, go to their offices, talk to them about disability policy and how it's affecting people like myself on a day to day basis. You know, my tagline is speak up and speak out and speak loud about the issues that matter to the disabled the most. And I think we do plenty of that. But we don't bring any solution to the table. So that's that's my next goal for the next, few shows is how can we bring solutions to change this? And can we go onsite and talk to some senators and talk to some congressmen? Because if we don't bring it right into their faces, they're not going to do anything about it. Sure, sure. It's a it's it's one of those problems that if you don't see it all the time, it's easy to ignore. Unfortunately, that that being said, I've got our question that I always like to ask people to kind of wrap things up and put a bow on them. If you could give one piece of advice to a podcaster who's on the fence about starting the podcast, or like the effectiveness of a podcast, what piece of advice would you give them? Well, listen, everybody these days has a podcast, but not everybody has your voice, has your experience. So if you're saying, I want to start a podcast on mental health, but there's already 10,000 podcasts out there about mental health, yes. But your podcast is about your voices out there. So take that leap, start that podcast. You're always going to have the naysayers. So just tell them to shut the Bleep up okay I wasn't given permission because. So I'm not going to. And just start the podcast because you're going to regret it if you don't. And life has enough regret already. Don't let this be one of wow. That that to me, is an amazingly, amazingly strong statement that seems to apply not just to podcasting, but just so many other areas of life. Nick, I really appreciate you spending the time with me today. This is for me. This has been awesome. It's been inspirational. And, I am looking forward to seeing what you're going to do next. Thanks, Josh. I appreciate it. There was so many interesting things that I pulled from my conversation with Nick there. I mean, first off, his ability to draw people in and his charisma and everything like that is, is amazing. He also does a great job of showing that you don't need to look or sound a certain way to get a great audience. Nick is very much Nick, and he's such a just a wonderful, lovable guy. And what he's doing is amazing to me that that it just speaks volumes about, like, what podcasting can do. He's working on talking with senators. He's working on talking with congresspeople. I mean, this podcast has the ability ability to help him change lives. And to me, seeing that is just I mean, it's amazing. It truly is amazing. This this to me, shows the impact that podcasting can have. That's not just a marketing ploy. That's not just a marketing piece. That's just the impact, the theme that I've noticed once again, and this is going to go back to our first episode, is that you're doing this out of a giving place. You're doing I mean, he is doing this. Yes. He receives help from this. He enjoys this. He's doing this to help others. I mean, a huge part of what he's done is talking to care, talking to get caregivers better help, talking to give, get caregivers better assistance to me. I mean, just the everything about that just shows the good that can happen with a podcast. And once again, it's besides just the marketing piece of it. It's the story piece of it, it's the help piece of it, and it's that awareness piece. The fact that he gets recognized in Drug Mart right around where he lives, that's awesome. The fact that a patient down the hall in his doctor's office recognized him by his voice to me is absolutely just amazing. And it tells me just the the rock star person that Nick is with that once again, realize there's an audience for your podcast. There are people that want to hear from you. It doesn't matter what you're talking about. There's people out there that want to hear from you. And Nick said it himself. He goes, just because you don't fit certain things, you may not. He goes, it would be a shame for you not to get your message out there, not to get your story out there. To me, that's just powerful in itself. It seems like a great place to leave off this episode. Do me a favor, take care of yourself. If you can take care of someone else too. I will see you very, very soon.
