How I pulled off the biggest April Fools Day joke in podcasting

Call me crazy, but I spent days pulling off the biggest RSS heist of any single podcaster.

How? On April 1st, 2014, I hosted 3 podcasts that were not mine!

Backstory: April Fools 2013

Last year I convinced another podcaster in my niche, Jon White from JW’s Financial Coaching Podcast, to switch shows with me. It was easier than I anticipated, and some people who listen to both our shows got a laugh out of it.

Jon took my music, recited my introduction and ending script, but he was able to create his own content for the rest of the show. Once recorded, he uploaded the file to me, I converted it, and sent it up to my Libsyn account for a 4/1/13 release.

I did the same for Jon using his music, his script, and his artwork. His listeners got a taste of the old MoneyPlan, which worked well because our shows are similar.

I went BIGGER in 2014

I couldn’t repeat the same joke, that would be too easy. So I had to go BIGGER!

I reached out to podcast hosts, podcast network leaders, and a couple podcast groups I belong to. My goal was to take over 5 shows.

Let’s just say I’m happy only three took me up on my offer. #Whew! 😰

Each show has a completely different format

This couldn’t just be an easy project. Oh no, I had to pick three totally different types of shows to pull off this April Fools Day podcast joke. (What was I thinking?)

I had to mimic the format and outline of each show, which was both fun and exhausting.

After many re-scheduled interviews and hours of editing, I can point you to the fruits of my labor:

Starve The Doubts

Jared Easley hosts an interview show that is unlike any other. Jared researches his guests and asks pointed questions that have little to do with their latest book, project, or online business. He likes to start with “blank vs blank” and then throw in a few “Finish the sentence” questions.

For instance, Jared asked Seth Godin “Moby vs John Mayer”.

The answers are often hilarious if not enlightening.

I had to find a really good guest, not just some up-and-coming whipper-snapper who got lucky with a Flapping Fish app. Once selected, I had to research the guest’s background to create the pointed questions.

While the questions were sub-par (I’m no Jared Easley), the guest totally ROCKED it.

Unfortunately, I can no longer find the episode to link to. 😞

Cash Car Convert:

Podcast host James Kinson is on a mission to help people follow Dave Ramsey’s advice to “amputate the Tahoe and buy a beater” with tips on how to find, inspect, and pay cash for a reliable used car.

For his show I only needed to present a good topic that fit his niche. This was easy since James and I are on the same mission: To help people kick their debt habit.

James can talk about finding a solid used car, getting the most for your used car, and everything around buying a cash car. It would be hypocritical for him to speak about monthly payments – which is where I come in. While I don’t believe you should keep a car payment, I do speak to people who simply can’t buy a cash car right now.

In his show I offered suggestions on how to move towards getting out of car debt once and for all using the 2x rule.

The subject matter was still within his guidelines and he got the week off. Cool deal!

Stacking Benjamins:

If I were trapped on an island and could only subscribe to one RSS feed, it would be to the Stacking Benjamins Show.

Host Average Joe and his co-host O.G. have an amazing chemistry – but it doesn’t stop there.

Average Joe hosts three episodes a week: Friday is a 20 minute interview, Wednesday is a conversation around a blogpost one of them wrote, and Monday is the Big Show.

Most of the topics revolves around personal finance, which is right up my alley.

I had to mimic the old Monday format.

Here’s how it looks from a 30,000 foot view:

  • Introduction and light banter between Average Joe and O.G.
  • Talk about a financial news story
  • Spoken guest-post
  • Trivia question (read by Joe’s Mom’s neighbor Doug)
  • Roundtable discussion
  • Trivia answer (given by Joe’s Mom’s neighbor Doug)
  • Talk about movies
  • The End (or is it really?)

By far this was the most difficult show to take over. Juggling the times to record with my Bo-host and Wrongtablers wasn’t easy and it involved many hours of editing. I honestly don’t know how Average Joe pulls it off every week!

Why did I do it?

Networking and exposure. It's as simple as that.

I wanted to get my name/podcast in front of as many people as I could as well as promote other podcasters' shows throughout this entire project.

As a result, the audience of Money Plan SOS grew by 15% for the next 6 months!

Our medium is still new to many. The more visibility we drive towards podcasting, the more ears can hear our messages. Written guest posts have prevent to help grow people’s blogs, why not the spoken word?

What did you do on your April Fools Day podcast episode? Send me a note…maybe you and I can do something even bigger in the future!