Elsie's Yoga Class: Making Money from Podcasting

by David Spark on September 20, 2009

This interview is part of a series “Making Money from Podcasting” (read summary “9 Successful Techniques for Making Money from Podcasting”) where I interview podcasters who are actually generating revenue from their podcasts. There are many techniques, and here’s one person’s tale of how they’re making money from podcasting.

Elsie Escobar, host of Elsie's Yoga Class

Elsie Escobar, host of Elsie's Yoga Class

Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast

Elsie Escobar is the host of the podcast “Elsie’s Yoga Class Live and Unplugged” which is simply an audio recording of her actual yoga classes. She’s been giving away her show for free and has wants to continue to give her show away for free. Escobar started the podcast because she wanted other people to be able to experience her yoga class who wouldn’t necessarily be able to pay for it.

Interview (Time:11:34)

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Elsie's Yoga ClassThose people can still get her show for free, but for others that want a little bit more, plus have access to all her content wherever they go, she’s now offering up an iPhone application that was created by Wizzard Media. The application only costs $3.99, which is less than a latte, notes Escobar. Once you have the application you have anytime access to more than 70 different yoga classes along with PDFs that show the sequence of the classes. Escobar has only had the application available for a week so she doesn’t have any revenue estimates, but soon she plans on adding more content such as videos of yoga poses.

Not only has her podcast given her an opportunity to sell an iPhone application, but it’s increased her brand outside of her local community. Another small revenue stream from the podcast has come from podcast consulting. Her recognition and credibility as a tech-savvy yoga instructor has yielded her opportunities to consult with other yoga instructors that want to produce their own podcast.

Elsie was taking care of her child during our interview and I was quite impressed with her ability to maintain focus on our interview plus also take care of her child. You’ll hear some noises of a baby throughout the interview, and here’s a shot of them together while we were doing the interview.

Elsie Escobar of Elsie's Yoga KulaListen to the interview and you’ll learn about her passion for creating the podcast, how the iPhone application is a natural fit for her work, and how she’s been able to promote her yoga personality through her podcast.

More episodes of “Making Money from Podcasting”

  • Never Not Funny (Technique: “Partial show for free – full show paid”)
  • Personal Life Media (Technique: “Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
  • Pregtastic (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
  • Mac OS Ken (Technique: “Give away five shows for free, make them pay for the sixth”)
  • Alaska HDTV (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
  • Duct Tape Marketing (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
  • ScreenCastsOnline (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
  • Izzy Video (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
  • Slate Gabfests (Technique: “Integrating sponsorship with the show’s editorial”)
  • Wizzard Media (Technique: “Got audience? We’ll get you sponsors. Or, get sponsors on your own and we’ll insert the ads” PLUS “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
  • Premiumcast.com (Technique: “Build an audience and sell premium podcasts”)
  • Manager Tools (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
  • ESPN (“Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
  • Mevio (Technique: “Motivate your audience”)

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