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PodFather

PodFather

By: Roy Coughlan
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The Podfather Podcast is your go-to resource for starting, growing, and sustaining a podcast that actually gets results.

Hosted by Roy Coughlan — Business Podcast Coach and the man behind 9 podcasts, five of which have reached the global top 0.5% and one the top 1% — this show is built on real experience, not theory. Roy's shows chart daily in 20+ countries and have hit No.1 in over 20 countries worldwide.

Each episode is packed with practical, usable tips from Roy and fellow podcasters sharing their secret sauce — the strategies, systems, and lessons that keep shows growing and hosts in the game.

Whether you are just starting out or ready to move to the next level, this is the show for you.

🎙️ Start or grow your podcast: https://roycoughlan.com/ 👥 Join the Podfather community: skool.com/podfather/about

Roy Coughlan Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • #75 LinkedIn Strategy, Podcast Guesting, and the Metrics Nobody Tells You — with Sam Swirsky

    #75 LinkedIn Strategy, Podcast Guesting, and the Metrics Nobody Tells You — with Sam Swirsky
    13 Sep 2026
    In this episode, Roy sits down with Sam Swirsky, known online as "The Mayor of LinkedIn" and founder of Hilltop Media Partners. Sam shares the inside story of landing his role at Alex Hormozi's Acquisition.com — including the twist that he originally posted the job for his own connections before applying and beating them all to it — and reflects on what it was genuinely like working alongside Alex day to day. They dig deep into practical LinkedIn strategy: why engagement matters more than the algorithm boost, why "instruction-based" posts outperform opinion posts, the two ways content should "hurt" to actually land, and a clever tip for making custom GIFs from your own video clips. The conversation shifts into podcast guesting — Sam's own pivot into helping founders use guest appearances as source material for content — and from there into a genuinely revealing back-and-forth on why podcast download numbers lie, why the "right" show for you might have 50 downloads and be perfect anyway, and why every platform you're hosted on quietly under-reports its own numbers. Roy shares a real example of a guest-turned-business-partner going from 23,000 downloads in five years to 600,000 in three months once real strategy was applied. They close with concrete guidance on how a guest should actually position an offer on someone else's show without it feeling like a sales pitch. Timestamps 0:02 – Introducing Sam Swirsky and his background with Acquisition.com 1:49 – How Sam landed the job at Acquisition.com — recommending it to others before applying himself 4:03 – Is Alex Hormozi's "full steam ahead" persona real or just for content? 4:32 – Sam's path into LinkedIn: no college degree, COVID layoffs, and catching the platform's rise in 2020 6:07 – How LinkedIn has changed over 15 years, and the platform's constant upsells 7:54 – Why LinkedIn's own feature changes (invite limits, load-more buttons) reflect its evolving priorities 8:34 – Why some posts get massive engagement and others get crickets 8:35 – The difference between opinion-based and instruction-based posts, and why content should "hurt" in two specific ways 12:16 – Sharing podcast clips on LinkedIn: video limits, RSS tracking, and why it's still worth doing 13:34 – Repurposing podcast transcripts as LinkedIn text posts, and the "make your own GIF" trick 16:07 – The ethics of resharing other people's viral content versus creating original value 16:36 – A real example: 3 million views a month with zero resulting business 21:09 – Two categories of social growth: entertainment brands versus business brands 21:09 – Why "more views" is often the wrong goal — funnels, profile clarity, and clear calls to action 23:14 – Why your LinkedIn profile shouldn't read like a job application if you run your own business 23:14 – What actually makes an "offer" versus a vague description of what you do 26:03 – Transitioning into Sam's podcast guesting business 26:23 – Why AI-written LinkedIn content falls flat, and how podcast guesting became Sam's source-material solution 29:54 – The "spray and pray" pitching problem, and why claimed audience numbers are often fake 33:44 – Why the relationship with the podcast host matters more than the guest's own potential leads 36:16 – Roy's real example: a guest who became a client, referral partner, and business collaborator — growing from 23K to 600K downloads in three months 40:48 – Why a niche show with 50 downloads can be worth more than a "top 1%" show 44:39 – Why podcast download and listener numbers are never fully accurate across any platform 46:57 – Regional Apple Podcasts ratings, and how misreading them nearly cost Sam a client opportunity 48:14 – Getting banned from YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook for exposing fraud and corruption — and turning it into content anyway 49:52 – Why chasing distribution across every platform at once usually backfires 50:39 – Old, inflated follower counts from platforms people no longer engage with, and how some hosts misuse those numbers to justify guest fees 53:15 – How a guest should position an offer on a show without it feeling like an advertisement 55:12 – Where to find Sam and what's next for him on YouTube About Sam Swirsky Sam Swirsky, known as "The Mayor of LinkedIn," is the founder of Hilltop Media Partners. He spent time as Head of LinkedIn and Facebook at Alex Hormozi's Acquisition.com, and previously served as LinkedIn Brand Strategist for Alex and Leila Hormozi directly, breaking Alex's all-time views record in his first week. He's also worked with Justin Welsh and Tasleem Ahmad Fateh, the #1-ranked LinkedIn creator in the world. Sam now helps founders sharpen their LinkedIn positioning and build a real content funnel, and is expanding into helping founders use strategic podcast guesting to build authority and generate source material for their own content. Connect with Sam: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://...
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    57 min
  • #74 Local SEO in the Age of AI Search with Tyler Henn

    #74 Local SEO in the Age of AI Search with Tyler Henn
    6 Sep 2026

    In this episode, Roy sits down with Tyler Henn, founder of Hennhouse Digital Growth Studio, a local SEO agency helping contractors and service businesses get found on Google Maps and now AI platforms. Tyler shares his journey from a UX design degree, to eight years at a car dealership, to a full-commission leap into roofing sales during a Georgia hailstorm, to finally building his own SEO agency from a single free website he offered a friend. They dig deep into how AI search actually works — why ChatGPT and Gemini essentially "Google it for you" when they don't already know an entity, why that makes online content about yourself something you have to actively build rather than wait for, and how easily that process can currently be manipulated. Tyler also breaks down his own podcast production workflow using Riverside and Metricool, his three-stage SEO funnel (using pizza as the running example), why he never lets clients respond to bad reviews, and the surprisingly common myth around using a home address for a Google Business Profile. A genuinely practical, wide-ranging conversation for anyone trying to be found online in 2026.

    Timestamps

    0:02 – Introducing Tyler Henn and Hennhouse Digital Growth Studio 1:14 – The story behind the "Henn House" name 2:19 – From UX design degree to eight years at a car dealership 6:xx – The leap into full-commission roofing sales during a Georgia hailstorm 10:20 – What happened when a free website he built got suspended over a home address 11:28 – A detour into bad UX design in big platforms like Zoom and LinkedIn 15:23 – Podcast hosting headaches, and why Tyler recommends Riverside 19:26 – How long Tyler's been podcasting and his target guest for the Hennhouse Podcast 21:15 – Comparing podcast hosting platforms and social scheduling with Metricool 25:40 – The real cost and ROI of tools like Metricool 28:42 – Why 27 subscribers is worth celebrating, not dismissing 30:14 – Whether the podcast has generated clients yet 34:06 – How ChatGPT and Gemini decide who to recommend, and why that data has to exist somewhere first 38:28 – Why LinkedIn and other platforms block their data from being scraped by AI tools 41:02 – Why Yelp reviews are so hard to fake, and why they're weighted so heavily by AI 41:50 – The danger of one bad, unrelated review swaying an AI recommendation 44:04 – Why you should never reply to a malicious review — report it instead 44:46 – Dynamic ad insertion and Roy's own struggles with podcast hosting platforms 46:04 – What actually happens when a client signs on with Tyler 52:08 – Why Tyler avoids traditional blog content and uses the search funnel instead 55:52 – Home addresses, PO boxes, and Google Business Profile rules 58:38 – Why chasing algorithm shortcuts backfires, and what actually wins long-term 1:01:47 – Where to find Tyler and the Hennhouse Podcast

    About Tyler Henn

    Tyler Henn is the founder of Hennhouse Digital Growth Studio, a local SEO agency that helps contractors and service businesses get found on Google, Maps, and AI platforms. With a background in user experience design, Tyler takes a practical, whole-picture approach to digital growth, connecting websites, content, local visibility, reviews, and brand authority. He is also the host of the Hennhouse Podcast, where he speaks with entrepreneurs and marketing leaders about what it really takes to grow a business online.

    Connect with Tyler: 🌐 Website: https://www.henn.house/ 🎙️ Podcast: The Hennhouse Podcast

    🔗 About Your Host (Roy Coughlan) 🎙️ Explore more podcasts: Find all podcasts at the PodFather Network 🌐 Website: https://roycoughlan.com/ 🤝 Need help running your business? If you are looking for a Virtual Assistant and get reliable support for your daily operations. 👥 Virtual Assistants: https://va.world/ 🧠 Brain Upgrade: https://brainupgrade.org/ 🌟 Private Members Group: The Authority Alliance — A Foundation of Experts for entrepreneurs, coaches, and thought leaders: https://theauthorityalliance.com/ 🤝 Connected Leaders Academy: A Private Networking Group in 50 US States & 47+ Countries with 700+ Members: https://connectedleaders.academy

    #LocalSEO #SEO #DigitalMarketing #AISearch #GoogleBusinessProfile #SmallBusinessMarketing #PodcastProduction #Riverside #ContentStrategy #PodfatherPodcast #MarketingTips #GenerativeEngineOptimization
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    1 hr and 3 min
  • #73 Richard Wilmore: From Bedroom Talk Shows to Building Podcast Studios

    #73 Richard Wilmore: From Bedroom Talk Shows to Building Podcast Studios
    21 Aug 2026

    In this episode, Roy sits down with Richard Wilmore, award-winning talk show host, podcast producer, and the creative force behind Make Your Day Richer. Richard traces his 30-year journey from talking to imaginary guests in his childhood bedroom, to converting his basement into a full studio, to filming a live variety show in front of a comedy club audience with three cameras he had to edit solo. They dig into the real trade-offs between live and recorded interviews, Richard's hybrid approach using tools like StreamYard and EvieMux to make virtual guests look like they're sitting right next to him, and his surprisingly simple hack for a comfortable in-studio backdrop. The conversation turns candid on AI tools for podcasters (and why YouTube's own auto-generated timestamps beat most AI transcription tools), the ongoing debate over charging guests to appear, and the growing problem of hosts and guests who no-show or ghost without so much as a thank-you. Richard also shares his honest take on chasing "bigger" podcasts versus finding the right-fit audience, and the small production habits — clean backgrounds, no blurred-out heads, good audio — that separate a show people trust from one they don't.

    About Richard Wilmore

    Richard Wilmore is an award-winning talk show host, podcast producer, and the creative engine behind Make Your Day Richer. With 30 years of experience mastering the art of the interview, he brings infectious energy and a classic daytime talk-show vibe to modern digital media — whether editing top-tier content behind the scenes or pushing the boundaries of live video production in front of the camera. Beyond hosting, Richard helps other podcasters and aspiring hosts with studio setup, production, and booking guest appearances as part of their marketing strategy.

    Connect with Richard: Website: makeyourdayricher.com Instagram: @makeyourdayricher Facebook: @makeyourdayricher YouTube: @makeyourdayricher

    🔗 About Your Host (Roy Coughlan) Explore more podcasts: Find all podcasts at the PodFather Network Website: https://roycoughlan.com/ Need help running your business? If you are looking for a Virtual Assistant and get reliable support for your daily operations. Virtual Assistants: https://va.world/ Private Networking Group: Learn about a Private Networking Group in 50 US States & 44+ Countries with 675+ Members https://connectedleaders.academy Brain Upgrade: https://brainupgrade.org/

    #PodcastProducer #TalkShowHost #PodcastTips #ContentCreation #VideoProduction #PodcastHost #PodcastGuest #StreamYard #PodcastMarketing #PodcastIndustry #PodcastLife #MakeYourDayRicher #PodfatherPodcast #PodcastCommunity #AIForCreators
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    46 min
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