The guest
Stephen Bartlett: Entrepreneur and host of The Diary of a CEO; founder of his first company, Huel investor and board member, sharing a solo behind-the-scenes episode.
What this episode covers
In this rare solo episode, Stephen Bartlett pulls back the curtain on the business of The Diary of a CEO podcast. He explains how consistency, bringing on guests, and an uncompromising quality bar drove explosive growth, and how he monetized by cutting out advertising middlemen and pitching CEOs directly. He reveals the podcast will generate over $1.2 million this year, roughly $100,000 a month, despite costing tens of thousands in equipment and an eight-person team. He closes with the non-financial upsides: forced reflection through diary-keeping, sharpened communication skills, and genuine friendships formed with guests.
Recommended on this episode
ProductRecommended
Huel
Huel
“it is the reason that i'm in the best shape of my life it saves me huge amounts of time which is the most scarce and important thing in my life and it keeps me 10 out of 10 healthy”
“no i'm a super customer i have two fuel fridges in this building alone that i'm recording this podcast in now six tubs of it over there”— Stephen Bartlett
ProductRecommended
Fiverr
Fiverr
“i use it for everything from graphic design to video to audio editing to translations you name it”
“i used their products i've used fiverr across a whole host of portfolio companies that i'm involved in i use it for everything from graphic design to video to audio editing to translations”— Stephen Bartlett
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
ProductReferenced
Range Rover Sport
Land Rover
“i've been a big advocate for sustainability ever since i sold my range rover sport and replaced it with an electric bicycle”— Stephen Bartlett
ProductReferenced
Tesla
Tesla
“in my mind they are the british version of tesla and so i reached out to jordan because their values and missions are completely aligned with mine”— Stephen Bartlett
MediaReferenced
Netflix
Netflix
“all of you can remember the last movie you watched on netflix and i think that's the perfect example of how reach can be quite meaningless but depth can be incredibly impactful”— Stephen Bartlett
Big reveals from this episode
- Bartlett says podcasting is his lowest financial return on time, yet this podcast will make millions this year.
- After committing to publish every Monday 10 months ago, listener growth exploded by 10x.
- He has deleted three or four fully recorded episodes, once with a mega-star guest, for not meeting his quality standard.
- The studio equipment list grew from a 4,000 pound plan to a 40,000 pound (about 55,000 dollar) seven-camera setup.
- He cut out advertising middlemen and emailed five CEOs directly; all five replied and key ones became sponsors.
- Huel CEO Julian Hearn backed the podcast; Bartlett later invested and joined the board.
- The podcast will generate over 1.2 million dollars this year, just over 100,000 dollars a month.
Worth remembering
- Bartlett started the podcast three or four years ago with a 90 pound microphone, recording at 3am with a duvet over his head.
- The famous line 'I hope nobody's listening but if you are keep this to yourself' was totally unplanned and improvised.
- The show is the most listened-to business podcast in Europe and sat at number one for 40 weeks straight.
- Roughly 50 percent of podcast listeners listen in transit, so episodes publish Monday 7am for the commute.
- Over 95 percent of new-podcast discovery happens outside Spotify and Apple, on social networks and word of mouth.
- An eight-person team supports the podcast, including a producer, booker, PR manager, and social media manager.
- Standard podcast ad rates of 25 to 50 dollars per 1,000 downloads would only yield a few thousand dollars per episode.
- Bartlett previously made Facebook Watch videos averaging 10 million views each that people never mentioned to him in real life.
- The Diary of a CEO Live sold out Manchester's Albert Hall with thousands attending.
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