If you're looking to record virtual podcasts, live streams and other content in the best possible quality, try Riverside for free here: https://creators.riverside.com/TheContentBusiness (Use code: CONTENT15 for 15% off any plan)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:A Star arrived in the UK at 9 years old, couldn't speak English, and had no idea what his life would become. In this episode, he sits down to break down the journey from refugee to one of the most in-demand celebrity barbers on the planet, cutting Pogba, John Terry, Diego Costa, Rashford and more, and how he's now building his next chapter in Dubai.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Coming to a new country as a child means adapting to a new culture before you can even think about building anything
• Being a "troubled kid" with no direction is often just misdirected energy, A Star found his outlet in barbering
• The key to going viral isn't luck, it's being in the room with the right people and being ready when the moment comes
• Followers and fame mean nothing without engagement, 300k engaged beats 10m passive every time
• Brand deals, hair products, and property all work together, when one's slow, the others fill the gap
• Turning down a £200k deal because it conflicted with his values showed the real long-term play
• Moving to Dubai isn't a step back, it's a reset into a market that's 3-4 years behind and wide open

BEST MOMENTS:"Coming from a third world country and going to the UK, you need luck as well.""I just didn't like being controlled. I didn't like the system controlling me.""How can you turn followers and fame into currency?""You can have 10 million followers, but if only 10,000 are engaging, that's not really anything.""Without the barbering, the contacts don't happen. Without the contacts, the six-figure brand deals don't happen."

LINKS:Website: https://podpartnerships.comEmail: hello@podpartnerships.com

ABOUT THE HOSTS:Hosted by Ashley Morris and Kane Baron, founders of UAE-based content sponsorship agency: Pod Partnerships. They've worked with thousands of creators and hundreds of brands, helping both household names and fast-growing startups turn podcast, YouTube, and influencer advertising into a core part of their media strategy. Alongside this, Ashley and Kane have trained over 10,000 podcasters since 2020, supporting them to start, scale and monetise their podcast.

If you're looking to record virtual podcasts, live streams and other content in the best possible quality, try Riverside for free here: https://creators.riverside.com/TheContentBusiness (Use code: CONTENT15 for 15% off any plan)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:In this episode of The Content Business, Ash & Kane draw on years of running creator sponsorship campaigns at Pod Partnerships to break down the red flags that tell you, before you spend a penny, whether a creator is actually worth working with. They unpack why refusing a performance incentive is a warning sign, why withholding backend data often means the audience isn't real, and the counterintuitive reason you should walk away from a creator who already worked with your competitor and did well. The conversation also gets into why vanilla, fence-sitting creators consistently underperform for brands, why opinionated creators with smaller audiences will almost always outconvert them, and the three angles every brand needs to understand before spending on creator marketing: conversion, brand awareness, and association.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Refusing any performance incentive signals a creator who doesn't back their own audience
• Withholding backend data (traffic source, location) is a major warning sign, often hiding bots or a poor-quality audience
• More than two mid-rolls on an hour-long podcast means your ad will be ignored
• If a competitor already ran on that channel and it worked, the audience has been spent, move on
• A creator demanding a full script doesn't know their audience well enough to sell to them
• Opinionated creators with strong views have diehard fans, vanilla creators don't convert
• Association is the highest-value sponsorship angle once a creator is truly trusted
• The best partnerships go far beyond a fixed slot and a 60-second read

BEST MOMENTS:"If you back what you're selling, you should make a whole lot more money doing it that way.""If someone won't share their stats, I immediately don't trust you.""You want a virgin podcast, one that hasn't been dated yet.""Savers are losers. That's his opinion, so don't put him in front of a savings account.""Run for the hills if they need a full script. They just don't give a damn."

LINKS:Website: https://www.podpartnerships.comEmail: hello@podpartnerships.com

ABOUT THE HOSTS:Hosted by Ashley Morris and Kane Baron, founders of UAE-based content sponsorship agency: Pod Partnerships. They've worked with thousands of creators and hundreds of brands, helping both household names and fast-growing startups turn podcast, YouTube, and influencer advertising into a core part of their media strategy. Alongside this, Ashley and Kane have trained over 10,000 podcasters since 2020, supporting them to start, scale and monetise their podcast.

If you're looking to record virtual podcasts, live streams and other content in the best possible quality, try @Riverside for free here: https://creators.riverside.com/TheContentBusiness

(Use code: CONTENT15 for 15% off any plan)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

In this episode of The Content Business, Ash & Kane sit down with Riz, founder and host of Words of Rizdom, to unpack how he built the world's largest trading podcast from nothing.

Riz shares how he spent over £40,000 before making a penny, why he puts almost all revenue straight back into production, and how a focus on quality, risk-taking, and verified guests has grown his operation to a team of 35 to 40 people across multiple channels.

The conversation covers growing a niche podcast without famous guests, why going verified changed everything, building long-term sponsorship deals in a high-risk industry, and why passion beats monetisation as a starting point.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Reinvesting revenue back into the business is what keeps you relevant long term
• Only interviewing verified traders built audience trust and opened doors to professional-level guests
• Niche podcasts can achieve real reach without famous guests if the packaging and hooks are right
• His first sponsorship money went straight into a tour, which is where the growth flywheel started
• Building new channels from the same formula and team beats starting from scratch
• Long-term sponsorship relationships outperform short-term deals even when the upfront number is lower
• Passion is the only thing that carries you through low view counts and early failure
• Hooks and packaging matter as much as the quality of the content itself
• Free education monetised through sponsorship and traffic is where the whole industry is heading
• You have to trust your team and let go if you want to scale

BEST MOMENTS:

"I lost over 100,000 pounds."

"We've pretty much invested everything back in."

"I'm still to this day not bore watch. I've not got, like, a fancy car or anything."

"Hooks are probably one of the most important things."

"Getting someone's attention is hard and you have to get it within a second."

"We don't sell anything, or we monetize through the sponsorships and the traffic."

"The more you can give before you take, the more you can take."

"You have to be willing to take risks. A lot of people struggle to take risks, which is why most people don't succeed."

"When you have that passion, you get through those low view moments, you get through those hardships."

LINKS:

Riz: https://www.youtube.com/@wordsofrizdom
Website: https://www.podpartnerships.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecontentbusinesspod
Email: hello@podpartnerships.com

ABOUT THE HOSTS:

Hosted by Ashley Morris and Kane Baron, founders of UAE-based content sponsorship agency: Pod Partnerships.

They've worked with thousands of creators and hundreds of brands, helping both household names and fast-growing startups turn podcast, YouTube, and influencer advertising into a core part of their media strategy.

Alongside this, Ashley and Kane have trained over 10,000 podcasters since 2020, going on to directly mentor hundreds of creators to plan, launch, grow, and monetise independent podcasts.