How The Executive Coaching Podcast Became a High‑Trust Client Engine with Elisia Keown
Can a simple, straightforward podcast really become your best lead source for a high-trust, high-ticket service like executive coaching?
In this episode, executive coach Elisia Keown shares how her show, The Executive Coaching Podcast, quietly became responsible for roughly 50% of her clients, often from episodes recorded months or even years earlier.
She explains how she thinks about ROI, why she chose to “buy expertise” instead of DIY-ing her launch, and the surprising doors podcasting has opened, including press access at industry conferences.
Elisia also shares how her podcast helps busy executives feel less alone, understand her direct coaching style before they ever book a call, and move faster on big career and leadership decisions.
Listen To The Full Episode Here:
What You’ll Learn:
How The Executive Coaching Podcast brings in 50% of her executive coaching clients.
Why trust, chemistry, and coaching style matter more than vanity metrics.
How short, practical episodes on executive presence keep working long after they’re published.
Why buying podcasting expertise freed Elisia to focus on coaching and content.
When podcasting is a “no‑brainer” for high‑trust, high‑ticket services.
Ideas Worth Sharing:
“Your podcast lives on and compounds without you having to reinvent the wheel and redo content and redo stuff all the time.”
“One to two clients pay for my entire year of podcasting and all the services that come along with it.”
“By the time somebody reaches out to me, they already know how I think… We’re not starting from ‘Who are you? What do you do?’”
If you’re curious about what podcasting could look like for your business, schedule a free strategy call below and let’s map it out.
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Welcome to Cashflow Podcasting, where business owners reveal how their podcasts have supercharged their success. My podcast completely transformed my training business, so I've seen firsthand the magic that podcasts can work. And here's the best part. You don't need millions of downloads to boost your business's revenue and impact. Let our guests show you how.
Pete Mockaitis: Elisia, welcome!
Elisia Keown: How are you doing, Pete? Thanks for having me on.
Pete Mockaitis: I’m doing well. Yeah.
Elisia Keown: Fantastic.
Pete Mockaitis: And yourself?
Elisia Keown: Right now, as we're recording, it's like middle of April. I am based out of the Tampa Bay area. It's sunny. It's beautiful. We're about to head into the weekend, and we're talking about podcasting.
What could be better?
Pete Mockaitis: Fantastic. But also, tell us who are you and what's your business?
Elisia Keown: Yeah, so I'm Elisia Keown. I'm an Executive Coach, and I've had an executive coaching business for about the past six years now. And I've had an executive coaching podcast and creatively named the Executive Coaching Podcast. And I started that about January of 2022.
So yeah, going into my second year of business, I decided to start a podcast. And so my business is primarily working with a C-suite level or executive level client, and we do one-on-one coaching or group coaching for their teams. And we talk about all the challenges that leaders have: leading a team, struggling with imposter syndrome, heading into the next phase of their career, next level of their career, and leveling up.
And I work with them to help them just be even more successful than they already are. And I typically work with high performers. And so typically they're in this level of their career they maybe haven't experienced before. So that's the type of work I do, and I’ve been having a blast with it. So a lot of fun.
Pete Mockaitis: Fantastic. Okay. So your business then, the revenue comes from these executives—are in need of coaching, and so they hire you, they get you, you speak to them and they pay for that service.
Elisia Keown: You got it. Yeah. Typically for the—yeah. Results and the outcome that they're getting, for sure, is definitely things like confidence, leaving their team better. Maybe it's a career transition, maybe it's transitioning to a new role, right? To get that level quicker.
A lot of 'em are highly accomplished and they can do it on their own, but like, as you and I both know, it takes time to go and search and find the right podcast or read and search the right book or look for the thing, or here with the coach.
It just expedites all of that. So yes, absolutely.
Pete Mockaitis: Yeah. Super. Okay, so then that's the revenue stream. Is there anything else going on in terms of content or subscriptions or memberships or communities? Or is it… the service of executive coaching.
Elisia Keown: Yep. You got it.
Pete Mockaitis: Okay.
Elisia Keown: Yeah. Real simple.
Pete Mockaitis: That's clear. All right, so then for your business to flourish, you're getting results for your clients, and clients gotta find you and decide, “Yes, I'm hiring Elisia.”
Elisia Keown: Yep. You got it. Yeah, and for me, the podcast was fantastic for that. I think for myself, the reason I started it in general, I think I had a coach that was coaching me via the podcast that I found, and I started it because I knew how helpful the results have been for me and getting results from a podcast.
And so my whole goal was I knew when I started my business that I would have a podcast eventually, and that impact of using the tools from a podcast to help change my life, I really wanted to do that for somebody else. So I didn't start my podcast with the goal of having vanity metrics, like to have a ton of listeners or to hit some sort of chart.
It wasn't about that. It was just if I could go out and help one person in the way that impacted me, I knew it would be worth it. And so I would say now I have somebody reach out to me probably every time I release a new episode, at least one person will reach out personally to say, “This is how it impacted me.”
Or I will get a new client from that interaction as well. So sometimes they'll reach out and wanting help with that specific topic, and sometimes it'll be an episode that is years or months that have gone by. And so that helped me understand I am signaling to the right audience and even achieving my goal of helping at least one person at a time.
And so I'd say right now about 50% of my clients are part of podcast listeners. It's been fantastic.
Pete Mockaitis: Amazing. Cool. So 50% of your clients have become clients because of the podcast.
Elisia Keown: You got it.
Pete Mockaitis: Oh, wow. That's tremendous. One, congratulations. That's phenomenal.
Elisia Keown: Thank you.
Pete Mockaitis: As well as impact too.
I mean, I think some podcasters have the issue where it's okay, I allegedly see these downloads are happening and my statistics, but I'm not hearing much from them. Yeah. And so I guess that's real. And not bots, I hope. But here you are saying you're hearing every episode from at least one person about impact. That's so cool.
Elisia Keown: Yes, absolutely. It's been fantastic and I think executive coaching is very nuanced. It's very personal too, right? It is a very human to human interaction. And as we go into a more—let’s face it—like AI kind of slop world, let's say, it’s not something that you can always understand, like executive coaching and the outcomes.
It's not something you can always understand in just a social media post. Or even just like a single conversation. So the podcast gives you this outlet. You can build trust over time. And so, again, I've had clients reference episodes from months back, and that's when you realize your podcast lives on and compounds without you having to reinvent the wheel and redo content and redo stuff all the time.
And of course the podcast is ongoing, but that is also working for you to be able to build that trust with people. And so talking about these experiences that my own clients have—leading in the corporate world, trying to build executive presence—it helps them not feel so alone. Like sometimes being an executive, you are at the top of the corporate ladder, and so you don't have a ton of peers that you can go to and talk about your challenges and your fears and be so vulnerable about it.
And so hearing from real-life experiences help people feel that way and not feel like they're the only one, and they don't have that expectation. They have to have it all figured out. Again, these are high achievers at the same time, and so executives, they don't have a lot of time and so that's why also the podcast is a great format.
It's short, it's sweet. It's not hours long. It you can provide just like a quick actionable insight or a quick learning in the amount of time that it may be that you're commuting to work or maybe dropping off the kids at school. The podcast is just a perfect format for that.
Pete Mockaitis: Agreed. You're preaching to the choir.
I'm a believer. That has been my experience. And I'd like to go back in time to look at your podcast launch journey. Maybe the prequel to the story is you were listening to a podcast that was very impactful to you. Will you tell us what was it?
Elisia Keown: Oh yeah. So my coach is Brooke Castillo.
She just got married, so she changed her name to Brooke Hicks, I believe. And so it was a life coach school and her own podcast. And so that was the one that was really impactful for me.
Pete Mockaitis: That's cool. Yes. I remember—my show's called How to Be Awesome at Your Job, and there was a time when I would see our cover arts near each other in rankings.
So Brooke, going strong. That's great.
Elisia Keown: That's fantastic. Yep.
Pete Mockaitis: So you knew from the very beginning of doing the executive coaching thing, a podcast was gonna enter the mix. Can you tell us how did you think about getting it off the ground? I mean, you found us. Some people do it themselves.
What was your thought process when you thought, “Okay, let's do this thing”?
Elisia Keown: Well, for me, it was all about buying expertise and not being the subject matter expert. And I knew I wanted to stay in my own lane of coaching is my strong suit. Learning all the tech, building out the strategy and the artwork and everything around, and knowing the equipment, like I wanted to borrow expertise.
And so actually when I interviewed with a couple different vendors to seek out some resources, I wanted to buy time as well, to be honest, so didn't have a lot of time to dedicate to, and I knew this wasn't an area where I wanted to dedicate that time. I wanted to spend it on focusing on my clients and things.
So when I met with your team, it was just fantastic because I will say the podcast launching service was so well executed, like it was just easy. It wasn't overwhelming, it was simple to understand. There was step-by-step processes. It was so clear, and it was so helpful, and I knew I didn't have to spend time on a lot of the things that just wouldn't be of my best highest use, like it would take me a lot more time than having another team do it.
So I felt like the launch was fantastic, and I refer you all the time because for me I people ask about the podcast and things like that, and they're like, “How hard is it? How much time does it take?”
And I'm like, honestly, it's fantastic. I get to think of the content again. Not that's easy all the time, but I just get to focus on my clients and the content. I record it, and then off it goes to a fantastic team that just gets it up and running and out there in the world and even the social media posts that accompany it are just like so helpful to have it all handled and taken care of.
So yeah, so for me, the launch was just, again, the concept was there, and I don't think I could have moved as fast had I tried to take that all on my own, and it definitely probably wouldn't have sounded as good.
Pete Mockaitis: I'm curious in the world of selecting vendors, what made you think, “Ah, yes, Cashflow Podcasting is the winner here”?
Elisia Keown: I loved, I liked the team. I'd say for me, I'm a people person too, so I think chemistry and the vibe and the energy of the people are there and understand. So I like the concept of they understood my business and they also understood what my goals were and what I was going for. This is a business, it's not just a for hobby or just, I'm not doing this just for that.
So they understood the goals, and I think they did a really great job of conveying a strategy. And I think there's ongoing support, which I think is also fantastic. I love having a coach that's there by my side telling me and talking me through what the trends are, what's going on, looking at my data and my numbers, and really giving me great ideas on how to expand and to continue to grow.
And so I think combo-ed was just the amount of services too. I think for me, the social media and that add-on, because you launch a podcast and your goal is not for it to just, again, like I said, I wanted it to help impact people, but to impact people, they have to find it. So the social media component of what you all do for me.
And so to explain that for the listener is that you'll take the podcast, you'll put it into little clips, you'll make Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn posts and promote the podcast episode, essentially. And so it's been really, really helpful in getting that reach out. So for me it was, I guess all of the services in and just also the team behind it.
The team has been very reliable, just experienced and doing a great job of supporting me.
Pete Mockaitis: Oh, super, thank you. Delighted to hear that. That's great news. And yeah, I think that really does resonate in terms of that's our thing in terms of businesses that have business goals and helping reach those via podcast.
‘Cause it's a different animal in terms of acquiring executive coaching clients and making an impact to people who may never become clients. But just here's some great stuff that has transformational is very different than, “Let’s get millions of downloads and hit the charts and all that.”
Because it's quite common that modestly sized audiences turn into fabulous numbers of customers, and you've actually seen some cool number results. You mentioned half of clients coming from podcast. That's really cool.
You mentioned recently 10 new clients from podcast. Can you tell us about this?
Elisia Keown: Yeah. And so as we're recording this in 2026, so yeah. Q1 was great. And so I had new clients reaching out, saying, especially this recent topic of, I've been talking a lot about executive presence, seems to be just really hitting home for the clients right now. And so I've had a ton of clients reach out, and for me, it's easy because one to two clients pay for my entire year of podcasting and all the services that come along with it.
So for me, that ROI is like a no-brainer. So every year I'm happy to do this again because for me it's just so well worth it. And like I said, it compounds. It's not just one year you start all over. All those years, I've had people reaching out and listening to podcast episodes from years ago.
And another benefit that I've seen this year is a completely surprising benefit that also now being a podcaster gives you that credibility. So of course, with clients and of course with your audience and things like that, but also for industry conferences, I was able to come in as a member of the press.
And so you don't often think about that. And so podcaster to say, I think of myself as an entrepreneur and an executive coach, not a part of the “press.” However, some of the industry conferences, they have the ability for podcasters to come in and have conversations with people. And so sometimes that can be an extra added benefit if you're looking for something in that industry to use your podcast as an avenue in.
So that was unexpected for me this year.
Pete Mockaitis: Oh yeah, that's really cool. The press. And I love it how, in terms of guests, it’s amazing how total strangers will chat with you for 30 minutes, 60 minutes if you have guests and they say, “Oh, you got a podcast, sure, let's do it.” As opposed to, “Wait, who are you? No, I'm just ignoring this email, like all the other cold unsolicited emails I get.”
It's “Oh yeah, let's chat.” And then now you're friends and maybe opportunities are opening up, and it's exciting stuff.
Elisia Keown: Totally. Yeah, it makes you just more relatable too, I think. It's so funny, I always—I start my podcast with something a little bit personal and not overly but just a little nugget about what's going on about in my life.
And it's so wild how people, because you've been in their ears literally having a one-sided conversation, but a conversation with them, how well they seem to like “know you.” And so to that point, yes, it's so much more easy to get and feel credible. In front of these, again, potential clients or people in the industry.
And so yeah, people will absolutely take that call and then also feel like they already know you. You may have never met before.
Pete Mockaitis: Yeah. That's great. And can you tell us a little bit about some of the words you actually hear, like “I think I know you,” or when you're chatting with someone they email you, and they're interested in working with you.
They heard you from the podcast. What are the sorts of recurring messages or themes are you picking up when they share this with you?
Elisia Keown: It's fun. They'll reference certain episodes. So next week I have a client consultation call with somebody that said, “Hey I listened to episode number…” whatever it was, and said, “This really hit home for me.”
And it was funny, so in preparing for this consultation, I was looking back, I was like, “Oh, what did I say in that episode?” That would've related to maybe what she must be going through and what must be happening for her. The most fun ones are when I have clients or potential clients reach out and say things like, “I took what you said during this episode, and I actually put it into practice.”
I had somebody say, “Hey, I was having a difficulty framing a conversation that I'd have with my boss, and I took your advice and I took these tips, I went into my boss, and I had a powerful conversation, and it really changed how I show up at work.” And things like that.
Like when you hear I took this and implemented this, those are the things that really resonate to me. So that's again, with that being the goal, those signals help me realize I must be on the right track in delivering, and again, what I'm typically hearing from my own clients. And again, while keeping it anonymous and confidential, I'll use in generic scenarios to explain some of those tools and tips and tricks that people can use in their everyday life.
And so yes, when I hear that come through in some of those messages, it's really, really powerful.
Pete Mockaitis: Absolutely. I guess what I'm getting at is that really does create a cool, kind of a virtuous cycle in terms of you share some anonymized, confidential insights, conversation tidbits that emerged from a coaching session that hits home for people.
Then they want to come and then have their own coaching sessions, and then that produces additional ideas, insights, takeaways for content, and it's pretty cool. I'd love to get your perspective in terms of have you found it easy or hard to generate the content on a recurring basis?
Elisia Keown: Well, ask me on a certain day or season, I'd say.
So I think it depends, right? I typically know, and what I've done, again, I've had to learn over the years. I think it's definitely, I say podcasting, just like any skill or tool. It's in the beginning sometimes can be more challenging. It's like I film in video as well as the audio.
So there's like a bunch of new skill sets to learn to include, like coming up with content and ideas. So again, a lot of it in the beginning came from what I was hearing from clients or interactions. What I've now started doing is hearing more thematically, and now I've done this over a couple years, I think a little bit more maybe ahead for an entire quarter, and I think about what am I hearing in terms of even bigger themes.
And then I'll plan that out that way. I think it depends. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes it can be a challenge, but I think more often than not I'm able to draw from deeper or now more years of experience in doing it. Some days you hit a just like a writer's block, just like you would anything else.
But again, I think the more that I think about what's going on for my clients, I find that it usually hits home with a broader audience because for whatever reason, a lot of times when we're leading in corporate, people are experiencing and feeling very similar things, even though it feels like you're isolated. A lot of times, a lot of people other people are experiencing that same scenario.
Pete Mockaitis: Absolutely.
Elisia Keown: Yeah.
Pete Mockaitis: Certainly. I'm curious to hear, do you have any other thoughts for business owners who are thinking, “Is podcasting a thing that maybe I should do?”
How might you guide them in terms of these things would nudge me towards yes, and these things would nudge me towards no.
Elisia Keown: I think if you are in a situation where there is high trust involved and you need to get to experience somebody's style to see if it's like the right fit, I'm a true believer in making sure that the chemistry is right in that professional relationship, right?
You wanna make sure that it's a good fit. And I think that goes for coaching. It's very personal. And so I think if it's a situation where as a business owner, you wanna make sure that you can build that trust together through that podcast. You can let somebody into your world and see how you work and see how you think.
Again, I'm a very direct coach, and I'm not there just to validate. I really help to, I help leaders just see where they're at and help 'em see what they're not seeing, and then help 'em move faster, and I get to showcase that. And so by the time somebody reaches out to me, they already know how I think. The conversations are different when we have that initial conversation because we're not starting from okay, so who are you? What do you do?
But it's a less cold conversation. We're starting from just to fast forward. They're like, “Oh, I've been listening to you for however many episodes. How can I work with you directly, and how do I do this?” So if that's the type of experience that you want to provide to the world, then I would say podcasting's a no-brainer.
There's a lot of great tools and form and marketing, so it's like finding the right thing for you. But for me, if it's a high-trust, intimate kind of a relationship, non-transactional, right? This is a really it's a big commitment and a big change and a big impact that coaching can have on somebody's life.
So for me, that is like a no-brainer. But that would what would be nudge me to a yes. If it's a no, I would say yeah. If you don't have the commitment to show up and do the work, and you wanna just put some sort of AI-constructed slop out there, then it probably is not for you.
Because really, I think being attuned to your clients about what they want and what they wanna hear, it’s important and it definitely's not easy. It's definitely not easy, but it is worth it if those things down align to your goals.
Pete Mockaitis: I'm curious about your attuning point there. So recently executive presence has just really been working for you. How did you go about zeroing in and doing that attuning and in practical tactical terms?
Elisia Keown: Oh, I mean, years of coaching, right? So years of working with clients and years of hearing what's going on.
And also there's seasonality to things too, I think, with people in the corporate space because you're hearing what's happening in the greater world, in the industry, right? And so I think it's a little bit of both of paying attention, but I think it's like truly doing what you love.
And so if you love something, you're going to probably pay more attention to it and really be again, in touch. And so I think it's both of really loving what you do, staying attuned to your clients, listening to what's happening in the world, industry news, et cetera, and then really applying it.
So it's a lot of, I guess like a lot of applied learning of taking everything you're doing and then pouring it into podcasting.
Pete Mockaitis: That's super. Tell me, Elisia, anything else you wanna make sure to mention while we're talking about podcasting, business marketing, cash flow, podcasting as a service? Any final thoughts?
Elisia Keown: I mean, I think if you're thinking about it, like I always say, like you and the team do a great job of just say, set up a call. Learn more about it, talk more about it. See if it's something that's in line with your goals and what you're doing. The team will help you sort it out and see if it's the right fit.
I think your team does a really good job of saying when they are a good fit and when it's actually not a good fit. And so I think just to say if you're interested in it, schedule a call. Nothing they'll lose there.
Pete Mockaitis: Oh, beautiful. Thank you. Well, Elisia, congratulations on all your phenomenal results and impact, and this has been a lot of fun.
Elisia Keown: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Pete.
Thanks for joining me today. If you're ready to start your podcasting journey to grow your thought leadership and boost your revenue, schedule a call with us at cashflowpodcasting.com/chat. Don't wait to take your business to the next level. I'm Pete Mockaitis. Until next time.