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I was watching some videos of fun facts, and came across a video about Bob Ross and went down a Bob Ross rabbit hole.
Apparently not much is known, as Bob himself was fairly private, and now his estate keeps things pretty close to the vest, too.
But we know the basics of the story, and for our purposes, there are 3 lessons I pulled out of Bob Ross’s story that we can dig into.
So let’s review the story and fill in some details I didn’t know growing up….
Bob had a background in the military and apparently took up painting as a way to distance himself from the drill sergeant persona he was forced to project in the military.
In a quest to further his painting skills he ended up seeking out a mentor, and got good enough to start a small teaching business. He conducted live classes where he would show how to paint in his style, and talked people through the process.
Then he met someone who helped him pitch the concept as a TV show PBS, which said yes and launched the Joy of Painting.
It was very closely modeled on an already successful PBS show from the 70s hosted by his mentor.
So there was a somewhat proven format to base the show on.
His quirky, lovable show started to get traction and found an audience, as we all know.
But Bob didn’t launch the show to make money directly off the show.
Behind the scenes, Bob was just looking for ways to promote his teaching business, where he traveled and taught classes and lessons. For anyone in coaching, this is probably starting to sound really familiar.
So the PBS show gave him an audience, which raised demand for his teaching business and built a brand he could leverage in other ways.
He started putting out books and sold a few paintings, but at first the show mainly served as an infomercial for his teaching business.
Eventually he launched a line of branded art supplies, which drove millions in revenue and still drives revenue to his estate. I’ve come across estimates online that say he sold somewhere north of $15 million in merchandise, and died with an estate worth 1.3 million.
So to sum things up: His show was the media vehicle that built his audience, and he monetized through other things sold on the backend.
Let’s dive into a few specific lessons I want to pull out of this story.
Lesson #1: Build the Audience First, Monetize Later
There are 2 major paths to monetize a skillset, you can go premium or value. High cost or low cost. If you sell premium services, you don’t need a huge audience. But if you want to sell lower priced products or programs, you better have the audience.
If you can’t build the audience, nothing else matters. Not the quality of your products, not the level of expertise or care or love that went into them or your drive and passion to impact the world. If you don’t have a big audience, it’s like putting a Walmart in the middle of an empty field.
You can build an audience in a bunch of different ways, including podcasting, where people like Tim Ferris leverage their podcast audience to sell books. You could also aim to get a show on TV, and build your audience that way.
We have clients like Chris Naugle who’ve shot pilots for HGTV, and others who’ve had radio shows or get featured on cable news several times a week.
Radio and TV both require a ton of patience and flexibility, sometimes even the willingness to put your life on hold, but plenty of people do it and can work out really well.
Regardless, if you want to sell lower priced products and programs, you have to get obsessed with building a large audience first, products and programs later.
Lesson #2: Monetize Indirectly, Not By Charging for Content
If you follow the world of new journalists, bloggers and content creators, there’s a huge amount of hand-wringing and worry over their business model.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, has figured out how to charge for online content in a sustainable, profitable way.
If most people hear that, they would respond, “But what about Netflix? What about Disney+? What about the New York Times online edition?”
All of these have massive flaws that their own CEO’s are struggling with.
Netflix is in debt to the tune of $10 billion.
Disney+ is basically plowing profits from other areas into this business, with no profit in sight.
New York Times is panicked because it’s online editions are less profitable and pull subscribers from their print version.
So nobody really has it figured out.
That’s why I don’t recommend charging directly for content, even in the B2B world where the content can be life-changing and profiting-boosting.
Online content just doesn’t feel as valuable to people, and they are reluctant to pay for it.
Which is why memberships focused on “more content” and offering “more value’ struggle to take off.
We are past the point where “more” is valuable. There’s already too much out there for free.
So to me, the best way to monetize content is indirectly.
Lesson #3: Monetize Through Products That Have Value of Their Own
In the podcast world, this means using your ads to promote your own programs and services, rather than give that valuable call-to-action to someone paying you a sponsorship fee.
It’s tempting to want to monetize a podcast directly by taking on advertisers and sponsors.
But if you have a high-ticket offer, you’re far better off sending people to that offer than sending them to a sponsor.
Use your content to promote your programs and services, which are all valuable on their own. They aren’t just more of the same kind of content you give for free.
That’s a big mistake I see in the coaching and consulting world.
They give away really high-quality content on their podcast, because it’s competitive and that’s what it takes to build a successful podcast.
And then they want to charge extra for more content through things like monthly memberships.
But from the audience’s perspective, if you weren’t giving away your best stuff on the podcast, why are they listening?
So it undercuts your podcast in the process of trying to sell more content.
Build something that has irresistible value and stands on its own, then use your content to promote it.
Treat your podcast the same way Bob Ross treated his PBS show, as the way you build your audience, your reputation, your brand, your level of influence.
Then you can cash in some of that influence you’ve built by selling something that is a great offer on its own. Something that solves a problem for your audience in a way your free content can’t.
If you wanted to paint like Bob Ross, you could pay for more content – more episodes of the Joy of Painting, and practice along with him.
Or you could buy official Bob Ross art supplies.
Which are people more likely to do?
So monetize your content through products and programs that are irresistible and valuable all on their own. Then promote those products and programs through your content, rather than charging for your content.
And here’s a bonus lesson: Find the right media vehicle for you and your message
For most introverted coaches and consultants, the ideal media vehicle is a podcast, for a bunch of reasons.
You can record at your convenience, from your comfort zone of home or office.
You can have deep, authentic conversations with smart, interesting people.
You can raise your profile and level of influence just by association with the people you feature on your podcast.
You can build your network of strategic referral partners by featuring them as guests.
And much, much more.
Even if you could imagine a better media vehicle, like a TV show, it wouldn’t fit your personality and life as well as a podcast.
For most coaches and consultants who want a 6-7 figure business that is simple, profitable and impactful, a podcast can be that media vehicle.
So hopefully those lessons are valuable and helpful in making good marketing decisions, building a marketing system around you that suits your personality and gets you to your goals without changing who you are.
For MicroFamous, which is my version of the Joy of Painting, that’s the change I want to make in the world.
Introverted coaches and consultants…each building your own empire…without changing who you are.