$727 Per Podcast Episode With Only 2000 Downloads

Harry Duran is the guy behind the Vertical Farming Podcast 🎙️

Vertical farming is farming up into the air instead of along the ground. This image search will give you a quick sense of it.

From a recent interview with Harry…

Harry Duran launched the Vertical Farming Podcast in 2020, he had zero experience or connections in the industry— he just wanted to learn more about vertical farming.

Fast forward just over three years later, and the part-time project has generated over $80,000 in revenue.

While Harry was new to vertical farming, he did have solid experience producing podcasts.

💰 His approach to monetization…

He reached out to initial guests like David Farquhar of IGS (Intelligent Growth Solutions).

After recording with David, he asked if IGS would be open to sponsorship.

David connected Harry with the CMO, Jeff. Harry pitched a 13-week “season” sponsorship for $9,000—about half the cost of a conference booth.

This secured Harry’s first $9,000 before publicly releasing a single episode!

Now, 3 years later, Harry has published 110 episodes and earned $80,000+ from sponsorships.

That’s about $727 per episode 🤑

If Harry had done the usual thing of selling ad spots based on download numbers – at a typical rate of $25 per 1000 downloads – he would have only earned $50 per episode.

Instead, he focused on securing high-value, B2B sponsors willing to pay premium rates to reach this niche but engaged audience.

New sponsors often come through introductions from past guests.

Harry adds…

I think what was interesting for me is how I went from zero visibility… to now being seen as someone that’s respected, that people are coming to for guidance on the industry…

I came at it from the perspective of an outside observer and a fan of something that I wanted to learn more about.

Two takeaways here 👇

First, you don’t have to be an expert to start producing and monetizing content on a particular subject. 

You can take on the role of a curious beginner, interview experts in the space, and break down their insights so ordinary people can understand them.

Second, instead of monetizing the way everyone else does, explore other options. Harry was able to 14x his earnings by going a non-standard route 😎

Last words from Harry…

Just keep moving forward, the universe rewards momentum as an entrepreneur. I fell down a lot [and] I really feel like you need to have those failures so you can quickly figure out what does not work…

Just keep moving forward, keep taking that imperfect action daily.