\u201cWhen I did my research, I looked at the arts chart and the beauty chart specifically. There was really only one or two other beauty shows, and both were completely opposite of what I was trying to do. They were beauty editors, professionals in the space, interviewing editorial people, the style-wise, brand owners, and others in the space. And I said,<\/em> \u2018Okay, I’m going to come in hot. And I’m going to be a non-expert enthusiast chatting with other people in my area.\u2019 I wanted to bring on comedians, artists, and other performers and talk to them about the question, <\/em>\u2018What does beauty mean to you?\u2019 I went opposite of what everyone else was doing at the time, so that’s why I ended up in the art category. It was a strategy, and I believe it worked.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did the strategy work, but after only three episodes, Jackie was able to monetize the show. As an actress and comedian who landed in L.A. in 2006, she was no stranger to \u201cside jobs,\u201d like being a celebrity dog walker, waiting tables at Cheesecake Factory, and doing eyelash extensions for a period of time while in between acting and comedy gigs. When she discovered that she could generate revenue from ad placements, she decided to go all-in on Natch Beaut<\/em>. It became her full-time \u201cside job\u201d that ultimately morphed into a small business (in addition to her acting and comedy). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing in, I was very naive. I thought everyone made their living from podcasts. I know now how insanely fortunate it is to make even one dollar doing a podcast, but back then, I went in going,<\/em> \u2018Yeah, I’m gonna make my living doing this. I’m gonna buy a mansion. I’m gonna be well-known.\u2019 There’s really one reason that this show took off<\/em>\u2014the<\/em> My Favorite Murder Podcast. When I started <\/em>Natch Beaut, I was on the same network as <\/em>My Favorite Murder and a few other really large podcasts totaling hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of downloads a week. Because I was on that network, they did a lot of cross-promos. Having my voice in pre-roll ads for <\/em>Natch Beaut on some of the largest podcasts in the world inspired people to come over and listen to me. Getting on that network was key.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour next question is probably gonna be,<\/em> \u2018How’d you get on that network?\u2019 I had guested on several other shows before I started my own. And the person who owned the network then had seen me do my thang and slay on other people’s podcasts. When I emailed him and said I was interested in starting a show, he took a chance on me. And that’s hard to do. I didn’t have a big following. I probably had 1,000 Instagram followers. So I had no proof of concept yet. But they believed in me and gave me a chance. I will always be grateful for that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natch, Jackie is grateful, and what a beaut of a show she\u2019s faithfully and joyfully produced over the last five years! It\u2019s a beautiful thang, when you can celebrate the natural beauty in everyone, have fun being funny, and get properly paid for putting yourself out there as a performer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s go back in time a little bit\u2026 back to 2016.  Though she was not a podcast listener herself, some of Jackie Johnson\u2019s friends were starting podcasts. One in particular, Georgia Hardstark (the now-famous co-host of the My Favorite Murder Podcast) encouraged Jackie to think about starting her own show.\u00a0 \u201cIn my head, I had these voices saying, \u2018Everybody has a podcast! Nobody’s gonna listen to yours.\u2019 Unfortunately, a lot of us have to deal with those voices. But then, a few other people started telling me I should do something\u2014start a YouTube channel, and all these other things. At<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[365,2034,2028,2030,2029,2032,2033],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n