We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stefanie Gass a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stefanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

I started my current business after my once-successful network marketing business crashed. I went from high-income months to NOTHING for about a year of my life. My husband had to sell his Harley Davidson and we had to borrow money from my son’s savings account just to get by – it was bad. The Lord knew I needed these hard, heart-breaking moments to overcome my idolatry of money and to bring me back to him.

In 2018, He put it on my heart to start a podcast. In my obedience, I did. I built a business around it, and I’ve never looked back…except to share my story with others!

That first year (and every day since), I partnered with Him. I shared my knowledge on my podcast, grew my audience, and it began to EXPLODE. I didn’t necessarily know how the podcast was going to make money, but I knew it was the way He had provided so I went with it.

I ended up building offers around my coaching – helping others find clarity, start a podcast, and eventually, begin to monetize it. To scale, you must first START. Get clarity, dig in, and start. Messy action is better than none.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Christian business and podcast coach, boundary boss, and seven-figure CEO. I help women grow their online businesses and make consistent income, using podcasting.

I am the host of a top 20 globally ranked business podcast, Online Business for Christian Women.

I have helped thousands of women plan and launch successful podcasts which are now top-of-funnel lead gen for their offers. I’ve helped dozens of my students grow into six and seven-figure businesses (completely fueled by their podcasts!)

I believe it’s possible to partner with God to create income and impact without sacrificing your family, faith, or buying into the social media hustle.

When I am not recording or meeting with my students, you can find me mountain biking with my husband and 2 boys, eating New Mexican food, whipping up (another) oatmilk latte, or traveling with my family.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

My podcast has been the best source of new clients. Hands-down, it is THE THING.

Podcasting seems like it may be a saturated field – however, many people who start a podcast don’t stick with it beyond a few episodes. In reality, most people who start, don’t stick with it long enough to see success.

It’s actually a fantastic way to grow your brand; It creates a direct connection with your audience where you have 100% of their attention. Video and social media don’t hold attention like audio consumption. For this reason, podcasting builds trust with an audience a lot faster and leads to higher conversion. It’s easy to monetize a podcast and there are so many ways to do it! Podcasting has a long shelf life, unlike social media, where content goes to die within hours.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I fully believe in (and teach my students) micro-niching, or having a micro-mico niche, at least as they’re getting started with their podcast.

To be found and provide quality content, you must be very clear about who you are talking to and the problem you can solve for that person.

For example, you may be a dietician. Great! You’ve got a niche – nutrition. But, we’re going to narrow that down even more. Who exactly are you going to help by dialing in their nutrition? It could be women who are pregnant or those who are in menopause. Do you see how narrowing in on a very specific person with a very specific problem will help you speak to exactly who needs to hear your message?

For my own business, I choose to attract other Christian women who are in the online business space, specifically those who are interested in podcasting. Being this focused on a subset of people has allowed my business (and my students’ businesses) to grow exponentially.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stefaniegass.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefaniegass/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/successwithstefanie
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StefanieGass