Star podcaster Steven Bartlett higher watch his again.
“I inform Steven on a regular basis, I am coming for you, as a result of I believe essentially the most worthwhile shopper on the planet is a feminine shopper,” Maggie Sellers Reum, Bartlett’s podcast protégé and the host of “Scorching Sensible Wealthy,” advised Enterprise Insider. “So be prepared.”
Bartlett is seeking to flip his “Diary of a CEO” podcast right into a multifaceted media empire. One piece: signing and nurturing different expertise. His first large take a look at case is Sellers Reum, who he lately invested seven figures in by way of his media firm, FlightStory.
Sellers Reum described how Bartlett is making use of his playbook to “Scorching Sensible Wealthy” — and why she thinks her present, whereas it is a fraction of the dimensions of Bartlett’s immediately, can match him. She’s even prepared to place a timeframe on it, saying she believes that milestone is 12 to 18 months away.
Which will sound bold. His present is the No. 1 enterprise podcast on Spotify within the US, and has 17 million subscribers on YouTube. She’s sitting at No. 13 in enterprise on Spotify, with about 33,000 YouTube subscribers.
Sellers Reum’s argument is that she has a big potential viewers amongst girls, who management the vast majority of shopper spending and are key decision-makers at house and at work.
Bartlett’s wager on Sellers Reum is a part of a development of famous person creators — together with Alex Cooper and Dude Perfect — bringing on different expertise to type a community. Outcomes have been combined general. Cooper’s Unwell Community has had rising pains, notably splitting with Alix Earle final 12 months. Theorist, meanwhile, outlasted its founders, who bought to a startup, and Legendary Leisure has spawned a number of reveals that dwell below its umbrella.
Jocelyn Florence, a advisor on creators for the administration firm Smooth Shock, stated operational help is essential to this mannequin working as a result of the creator-founder is busy making their very own content material. It is also vital for the creator to have a well-defined model that extends to the individuals they create into their community.
“It is simpler to promote a model on a extra unified imaginative and prescient,” she stated.
FlightStory has 5 reveals that includes creators, along with “DOAC,” together with Davina McCall, who speaks to the midlife expertise, and relationships podcaster Paul Brunson. Its “Scorching Sensible Wealthy” deal is the one one structured as an fairness funding, with Sellers Reum being the bulk proprietor.
Mat Hayward/Getty Photographs for iHeartPodcasts
Making use of the Bartlett playbook
Bartlett’s firm has been making use of its operational blueprint to develop Sellers Reum’s present, honing visitor choice and amplifying the podcast by way of social media clips. FlightStory helped develop her visitor listing past her quick community to incorporate broader cultural figures akin to entrepreneur Codie Sanchez and tech educator CatGPT.
There are some key variations between how “DOAC” and “Scorching Sensible Wealthy” function, although.
One is the trailers. As a substitute of emphasizing the “hero’s journey” as Bartlett does with “DOAC,” “Scorching Sensible Wealthy” trailers concentrate on why the viewers ought to care in regards to the visitor and what they will study from the episode.
Sellers Reum additionally tailored Bartlett’s intensive pre-show analysis course of for her feminine viewers, however as an alternative of calling the ensuing 18-page doc a “analysis transient,” she calls it a “gossip thread.”
“We’re making an attempt to reclaim what it means to gossip for girls,” she stated. “Like, let’s gossip about issues that make us hotter, smarter, and richer, not about different individuals. And so we name it a gossip thread. He calls it a analysis transient. For Maggie and ‘Scorching Sensible Wealthy,’ it is a gossip thread.”
She’s additionally retained her interview type. Sellers Reum stated whereas Bartlett’s are “expert-driven,” she positions herself as extra conversational. She conducts her interviews from a snug chair, legs folded, and at all times hits on the identical 5 matters of cash, energy, relationships, enterprise, and femininity.
“That is simply extra my intestine; I really feel that feminine voices in media are most well-liked by the feminine listener to be conversational,” she stated. “For those who have a look at ‘Giggly Squad,’ Amy Poehler, ‘Name Her Daddy,’ it is truly just like the viewer or the listener needs to listen to the host’s opinion much more than what I’ve seen in male-dominated podcasts.”
When FlightStory proposed she do a Q&A-style present telling individuals how one can clear up their enterprise issues, Sellers Reum pushed again.
“I stated, ‘I am unable to try this,’ as a result of I am not higher than anybody that listens to me. I used to be investing $2,500 checks,” she stated. “I wasn’t a billion-dollar founder.”
Within the close to time period, she envisions launching a behind-the-scenes YouTube present. Long run, the plan is to develop “Scorching Sensible Wealthy” past the podcast and its WhatsApp neighborhood of followers whom Sellers Reum calls “angels,” doubtlessly to books, TV reveals, or merchandise.
For now, the precedence is rising the long-form podcast. She’d like to have company like Alix Earle (who’s accomplished a “phenomenal job” taking fairness possession in corporations) or Reese Witherspoon (whose e book membership was “very underestimated”).
“There’s simply such a giant alternative, however we have now to earn the correct to develop,” she stated.
