287: Choose Financial Independence: A Case Study in Audience Building

Note: Click here to download Jonathan’s top tips for starting and growing a podcast, blog, and online community from this episode. 10 months! Just 10 months after starting his side hustle, Jonathan Mendonsa was ready to quit his 6-figure job and take the business full-time. What's the hustle? A podcast called Jonathan co-hosts with this partner Brad Barrett ChooseFI. “You need to either be first or be different. We couldn’t be first, so we wanted to pivot and be a little different,” Jonathan said. When the project started, he was working full-time as a pharmacist, living a frugal lifestyle, and was an avid consumer of financial independence content. From the offset, he knew that, “If we can create a show that’s information, accurate, good, entertaining, and also inspirational, that’ll be addictive.” In this episode Jonathan shares some of the unique tactics and tips he and Brad used to grow their audience, community, and business so fast. Tune in to hear how ChooseFI earned 2 million downloads in its first year, and how they monetize the show to support two families.