Jordan Harbinger; Mastering the Podcast Realm

Jordan Harbinger is a podcast master, having conquered the realm first with The Art of Charm and then with The Jordan Harbinger Show, a master class on how to succeed in podcasting.

Speaking to Steve Sims on the Art of Making Things Happen podcast, Harbinger explains how he got into the podcasting world. “When I got to Wall Street, everyone was smart and everyone worked hard and I thought ‘I’m going to get fired’.”

Harbinger realized he had to find a way to stand out. His approach? Networking. “Nobody had a clue what the hell that even meant. And I didn’t really know what that meant,” explains Harbinger. “So I started reading books on psychology, persuasion, influence and started getting in touch with those authors.”

“So I started the podcast in part because I thought if I have a show, these people will talk to me, right? Cause then I’m media, then I can get them to jump on the phone and chat for half an hour and I can ask them all the questions I want,” says Harbinger. “So it was kind of almost like a trick to get people to mentor me… And what happened was we made a show that actually ended up becoming pretty popular and that was a lot of fun.”

At the same time, Harbinger lucked into a job hosting a Sirius XM radio show, where he was able to attract listeners to his podcast. “They were like, ‘you can advertise your podcast all you want because nobody really listens to podcasts and nobody really knows how. And nobody’s gonna quit their Sirius XM subscription because they go to podcasts.’ And I thought ‘that’s what you think, but I’m not going to correct you on this’.”

As a result, the Art of Charm went viral, reaching listeners as far as South Africa. “We were getting at one, at one point, like 4 million downloads per month… And that’s when I remember thinking this is incredible. This is a format that is really next level… I can sit in my basement, upload this MP3 file to the Internet, and people can find it in directories of podcasts that they’re looking for and people from Africa, Europe, Asia, North America are all finding this and sending me an email. That was really incredible.”

When he moved from The Art of Charm to his own The Jordan Harbinger Show, his loyal audience followed him. Explains Harbinger, “The Jordan Harbinger Show grew really fast because the majority of the audience, they bounced like right away… They left the old show pretty much immediately and googled ‘where’s Jordan?’ And I went on 115 or 125 shows within the six months that I left and I announced it everywhere… And I rebuilt the audience really, really fast. And so now, The Jordan Harbinger Show is bigger than The Art of Charm ever was even at its peak.”

Since Harbinger began in 2006, podcasting has exploded in popularity. “Did I ever think it would be this big? No, of course not…. [Podcasts] were a thing for a couple of years and then people stopped talking about ’em. They grew slowly because of word of mouth but it wasn’t really a thing until the last three or four years. Now we’re at the point [where] everybody’s got a podcast.”

“I couldn’t beg for podcast advertisements five years ago… there was just none. Now I’ve got 12 shows a month. I’ve run 60 ads through those 12 shows… Those ads go for like 3000 bucks each,” says Harbinger. “What that means is the amount that the several hundred million dollars we have going through podcasting right now, there’s going to be billions of dollars going through podcasting in the next five to 10 years. That’s really a growth industry.”

For anybody who wants to get in on the trend while it’s hot, Harbinger advises — above all — having good content. “Word of mouth and from other podcasts is the main way that people find out about podcasts… But people only talk about podcasts and share them with other people when they’re good.” The main takeaway? “Produce really good content.” Harbinger sure does.

To learn more about Jordan Harbinger:

Website: Jordan Harbinger

Course: 6 Minute Networking Course

Guest Guide: Podcast Guest Guide

To listen to Jordan on The Art of Making Things Happen Podcast

Subscribe to the Art of Making Things Happen with Steve Sims