Hi, Reader.

Welcome to Podcasting in Professional Services—the newsletter that delivers three things each week:

1. Perspective from other business podcasters
2. Research or news about podcasting
3. A small, actionable challenge to help grow your show

Let's dive in! 👇🏼

From Managing Partner to Accounting Influencer: Randy Crabtree's Journey Hosting The Unique CPA

Sometimes, events happen that alter the trajectory of our life and career. These are the moments that challenge our identity and force us to walk a new path.

For Randy Crabtree, an unforeseen event meant he would give up being managing partner of his specialty tax firm to help the accounting industry in other meaningful ways.

“I personally was struggling mentally from a stroke I had had 10 years ago,” said Randy. “I had to make the decision that I couldn't be managing partner anymore. And then it was like, ‘Okay, so who am I? What's my identity? Isn't my identity managing partner?’”

Moving forward, Randy stepped into a more external-facing role for the firm. A few years later, his marketing team came to him with a suggestion that would have a major impact on his life and career…

Tri-Merit launched The Unique CPA podcast in 2019. Hesitant at first, Randy quickly realized he loved meeting new people and hearing their stories.

“Two of the leaders in our company came to me and said, ‘Hey, just want to let you know, we're thinking of starting a podcast.’ I said, Oh, that sounds great. And they said, ‘and you're going to host it.’ I'm like, wait, what?”

At first, Randy was skeptical of hosting a podcast, but after mulling it over he came back to his team with a vision for the show aimed at elevating the accounting profession and helping CPAs, EAs, and Tax Advisors reach their fullest potential.

55% of business owners listen to podcasts daily

A study by Lower Street of 511 owners, executives, and members of leadership teams shows 55% of business owners and founders listen to podcasts daily.

My first impression was this seems a little high, but 511 is a sizable sample. I'm curious...how often do you listen to podcasts? (reply to this email and let me know!)

Podcast Challenge: Record a Monologue

Most podcasts are interview-based shows. That means that hosts are usually the ones asking questions and actively listening. Your audience is along with you on that journey, but from time-to-time they want to hear from you.

I also co-host another podcast called Breaking BizDev with Mark Wainwright, and when we plan our episodes we often talk about "typology," or the structure of each episode. Listacles, interviews, and yin & yang are a few different terms we use to describe the kinds of episodes we publish.

For solo hosts, a monologue is a perfectly reasonable typology to introduce in addition to your interview episodes. It can be low-effort, too. Here are a couple suggestions to keep in mind:

1. It's okay for a monologue to be shorter than other episodes
2. You don't have to put as much promotion behind it
3. You can publish a monologue in-between interview episodes

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Podcasting in Professional Services. Thank you so much for reading. If you have any questions or feedback, please reply to this email.

Cheers,
- John

PS—Need support growing your show? Book some time with me to learn more about our podcast strategy, production, and marketing services.