The Unexpected Journey: When Your Podcast Gets Sponsored

A decade-long dream finally materializes! After years of creating content and navigating the ups and downs of podcasting, the Trading Post podcast has secured its first official sponsorship deal. This unexpected milestone arrived suddenly, catching me off guard despite having uploaded only 11-12 episodes total with sometimes months between releases.

The sponsorship opportunity involves exchanging airtime or mentions for tickets, opening exciting possibilities but also raising numerous questions. I'm now working with a consultant to navigate the business side of content creation—exploring everything from legal disclosures to potential tax implications and whether establishing an LLC makes sense. What started as a passion project about trading and bartering has suddenly transformed into what I jokingly call a "side come"—where opportunities come your way through consistent effort.

Recording challenges remain a fascinating part of my podcasting journey. Despite having access to workspace facilities, my car provides the environment where I feel most authentic and animated. I've experimented with various GarageBand settings from "narrator" to "radio ready" to find the right sound quality. Looking ahead, I'm considering using professional recording spaces for guest interviews while dreaming of an ultimate mobile podcast studio—perhaps a customized RV that embodies the rugged Trading Post brand. The lesson for fellow podcasters? Stay consistent, create content that excites you, and view sponsorships as a welcome bonus rather than the primary goal. Subscribe to follow this exciting new chapter and discover how persistence eventually pays off, even when the path feels slow and unpredictable.

“Whistles In The West” was written, recorded, and produced by Durracell, exclusively for use with Trader Stu’s platform, always rocking the cowboy hat. The track is protected under U.S. Copyright rights to use have been granted specifically to Trader Stu for content and promotional use related to his brand and media presence.

contact:
 📧 durracellmusic@gmail.com
🌐 www.durracell.com

The thoughts and views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and do not reflect the official policy or position of Metro Trading Association. Although the host is an employee of Metro Trading, this podcast is intended to educate entrepreneurs on the benefits of professional trading, regardless of their location. Additionally, the host reviews various pieces of camping gear due to the association of trade, barter, and prepping.

Chapters

• 0:48 Exciting sponsorship announcement
• 2:15 Ten years of content creation
• 3:41 Audio quality and recording challenges
• 5:44 Future plans and dream setup
• 8:24 Closing thoughts and next steps

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Trading Post podcast. I am your host, trader Stu. I have some exciting news. I don't generally do a quick update like this, but I wanted to. I'm too excited to not say anything and I don't know how much I can say because of legalities. But here we go.

Speaker 1: 0:43

I have been offered a sponsorship, like other than Metro Trading Association, trading association. Of course they sponsor me because sometimes we'll edit or record during work hours. So I kind of say that they sponsor me because they encourage the podcast. It benefits them, of course, because I'm talking about trade and how it helps businesses and things of that nature. But the uh, you know, and of course it's my full job.

Speaker 1: 1:10

But one thing I never really thought that would happen to me, especially so fast and with all of the struggles I have for time management, to, you know, record and get things published, and I've wasted. You know, like I said, I don't know how many hours maybe six or eight hours total, maybe more of upload, potential, buzz, buzzsprout. Sometimes I uploaded nothing for a month because I had some things going on in the life of traders too, so I just didn't feel like doing anything. So I think one of my 11 or 12 podcast total and I've been offered a sponsorship to in exchange for tickets for airtime or mentions, and I can't say nothing yet I don't think. I don't know how this all works. I've already contacted, I guess, a consultant that I'm going to pay for to see how to go about and traverse this new and exciting adventure where the marketing avenue that for metro trading and just uh, putting out the how trade works and how it benefits business and just trying to get the word out there again into the modern day era about, um, the barter groups that are out there turned into potentially a little side income, side come, side hustle. I call it side come money because you know, or if come, if the sponsorships come, you know, then you get the income you know, or side come because it's a side hustle or side income. So, anyway, I wanted to just kind of disclose that. All right, I wanted to just kind of disclose that. And what was funny is that is I've been trying to get in the game since gosh 2015. I've been trying to do YouTube videos and, you know, get monetized and sponsored and things like that. So, god, it's 10 years. Can you believe that? 10 years already, 2015. My God, at any rate. So it's not like I just decided to start uploading podcasts and became a success overnight. Not saying that I guess I'm a success. I have achieved what I guess most people aim to achieve, so I'd say that's a win, you know 2015. Oh, just the side hustle fact of getting sponsorships and maybe making this an income potential.

Speaker 1: 3:37

I need a lot more money to come in to get the vehicle that I need to get a mobile podcast with this new uh avenue I'm getting into with uh buying or paying for a uh podcast, I guess consult, uh. I'm making some upgrades probably to everything you know the, the mid rolls and the, maybe the musics or I don't know. Uh, my, my car, uh, where I'm podcasting at, seems to be the best avenue for me, but I need the audio to get better. I've listened to the last couple and to me it sounds a little tingy. So I've tried all the different mixes in GarageBand. You've got the narrator and then the radio ready. And this one, if you're just wondering, is the clean version, so I'll see how this one works. And this one, if you're just wondering, is the clean version, so I'll see how this one works. And I've also moved my microphone a little bit away from me because I move around a lot, so I can't exactly hold a microphone to talk with my hands in the car. I get more animated than I do at work. So that's why, although I thought that I was going to have a podcast studio at work, it doesn't work Because, you know, I can't be myself and talk the way I want to. So, uh, keep all in that in mind when you start your um podcast journey.

Speaker 1: 5:00

Because, oh, the other thing is too is that I saw yesterday, I was at the verizon center and sterling heights and they have a new podcast studio that they're building and I just, out of curiosity, I asked them how much it was per hour or however it works, and they don't know yet because it's just finished. They just completed it. It's really cool. It's like a radio, like a radio dj booth or whatever. Uh, it's got the on air, you know thing, that light that glides up, it's got all the microphones, couple of seats, um, and which, by the way, might be potential for me to utilize anyways, in case I do, uh, get guests on the show. Because, uh, with the sponsorship potential that I have coming up here, not potential, it's a, it's a thing.

Speaker 1: 5:43

I just gotta, you know, solidify everything that I can, uh interview guests through them and uh pitch and promote the tickets, ticket sales, and hopefully I find out more today and what I can and can't do, what I can and can't say and all the tax implications and if there is any, and if I got to start an LLC now and it's all kind of escalated so quickly to where, caught me off guard, like it's one of those things where, yeah, it'd be always kind of dreamed about as, oh, it'd be cool if it happened, but my god, did it happen fast? And so that just goes to show, like, I guess, if you're looking at doing something like this, just consistency and keep, keep it up and keep at it and don't uh look aim for it and have it in your side, your sights, I guess, but make it so. If it happens, it's cool, if not, that's cool too. You're gonna do it anyways, you know I mean. So, um, the next step would be, of course, to get, uh, you know, income, actually cash, instead of just trade, um, which it's funny that I'm, uh, trade and barter is great and all, but also, you know, it's, it's a side I will always take the trade and whatever, but of course you also still need to pay, have cash for you know uh, expenses. Unfortunately, um, usaa doesn't take trade for insurance payments, not yet anyway. Maybe we will one day, uh, if we get go there, um, with the way things are going in the economy anyways. So I don't know, I'm just gonna just joking around, being mischievous, so anyway. So yeah, I just wanted to give a quick update and let you know what's going on, and there will be some changes, hopefully, in the quality of my audio.

Speaker 1: 7:21

There's a big upgrade coming. I have some ideas on what I can do in my car, because that's where I want to be, and then also with everything, maybe commercials and more, maybe I'll get guests. But the whole thing is I don't want to use the studio yet. Maybe I will, maybe that's my stepping stone Use the studio for guests, right, and then I can eventually get my mobile podcast studio, which is my NBL goal. I'd like to get something that's more mobile and not the two of us just sitting in a car, be like in an RV situation or something like that.

Speaker 1: 7:53

What I really, you know, have my sights on is that patent. Um, it's like a hummer. That is a uh rv as well in the back. So, and those are made in colorado, actually by a veteran, which is very cool. The problem is they're like half a million dollars, so not exactly something that I can get yet, uh, anywhere close to being at that level. But it fits everything. You know the persona right, so it's like the trading post. It's kind of like the back in the day, the wild wild west, so to speak, and you know ruggedness and terrain and trading and barter and I don't know. I think that really fits the vibe of the channel for the podcast. But the problem is I got to get there and get the half million dollars. So, at any rate, we'll see how this one worked out and we'll talk to you again. I'm going to upload this one is Thursday and then. So, yeah, trade Tuesday. I'll talk to you again next week. All right, have a great weekend, be good or be good at it.