I’d divine that you’re reading this because you love entrepreneur stories.
“I was there when they were just starting. I saw they had something special way back then!” If that’s you, then you’re going to love this one.
This is the story of two first-time founders from Jamaica, a few hundred miles away from you, daring to put their island on the map as a podcasting destination worthy of the world stage.
I’m Paul Stennett, and my wife, Alexandra, and I are the co-founders of Amazing Gains, a podcast services agency located in Kingston, Jamaica, serving clients globally.
We help influencers and business owners leverage podcasts to reach their fans and potential clients at scale.
That’s who we are now, but almost five years ago… well, let me tell you.
Amazing Gains
What would possess two young thirty-somethings to leave the “relative safety of the corporate career ladder” to jump cold turkey into starting a company?
Absolutely nothing. I was laid off.
Amazing Gains started as my revenge company. You know, like Larry David’s spite store.
“I’ll make my former bosses chew on the coals of regret by becoming immensely successful!” I even fantasized about buying their company and going in Ari Gold-style paintball gun in hand and firing everyone, literally.
Misguided as that goal was, it stoked the fire inside.
- Even when we were doing hundreds of DMs and getting NOs.
- Even when our savings were dwindling and our credit card debt was mounting.
- Even when I had to stand in line at the bank to beg for a moratorium on our mortgage.
With sweat, zero free time, and a lot of free editing work, we landed our first retainer client six months after I was laid off.
We finally made it to the starting blocks.
Since then, we’ve grown year over year. We’ve produced over 1,100 episodes for over 50 clients that have gone on to have over 2.5 million downloads.
It’s hard not to become a big softie after you’ve helped turn a client’s entire business and life around by taking their podcast from a hot mess on the verge of signing off to a core business asset.
We’re here to be loud and proud about the power of podcasting to connect and transform lives on both sides of the microphone and to amplify voices that would be otherwise unheard.
So maybe I won’t turn my former job’s office into my personal gym and podcast studio anymore.
We’ve kept our heads down and built from client to client.
We’ve laser-focused on making quality podcasts – to our detriment because we’ve looked up almost five years in and realized we’ve barely touched marketing and sales. Rookie move.
This is where the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Fellowship program comes in.
YLAI and Partnering with MediaTech
YLAI is a leadership and mentorship program giving resources, networking, and cultural exposure to founders in the Caribbean, Canada, and countries in Latin America.
Though we have a strong referral pipeline and have grown consistently year over year, even through “The VID,” we have some atrophied marketing muscles.
So when the opportunity to apply to YLAI came up, it was perfect timing. We can flex those muscles, meet more entrepreneurs, experience new cultures, and get support to help our business mature and scale. Beautiful.
And we got lucky! We were selected as one of 280 out of 1,800 applicants for the YLAI Fellowship Program for 2023. We’re super excited to be a part of this year’s cohort.
Of course, one of the most significant benefits of joining YLAI is the placement.
Two co-founders, working isolated in Jamaica, we’re two fishes swimming along who don’t know what water is.
Enter our placement with MediaTech Ventures. I met with their co-founder John Zozzaro and found that we were a perfect match. They’re experts at marketing and building entrepreneurial ecosystems, and they share our passion for media and podcasting.
Look out for me on the scene if you’re in Austin, TX, in June. I’m coming to a place near you!
How we can help
Owning your platform is the “infinity stones” level superpower of our generation.
As famed investor/entrepreneur (and podcaster) Naval Ravikant said, owned media is one of the five forms of leverage modern business owners can access to exponentially scale their organization with virtually little input.
For the people who take the time to listen to podcasts, if you’re the one they choose to have in their ear regularly, that’s a very privileged position.
Podcasts are built in audience + relationship building at scale. Pair that with a strong offer and call yourself the US Mint because your business has just acquired a money-printing machine.
We help podcasters who are influencers and business owners
- We build out your turn-key high-quality video podcast studio for you or help you build it remotely
- Perform competitor and industry research and give you a list of potential topics your audience is feverishly searching for
- Edit and up-level the quality of your video and audio with an emphasis on maximizing the consumption duration of each episode
- Create viral-worthy clips for IG Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok
- Own the workflow from recorded episode to publishing on your behalf
- Even more that I’d be digging into the minutia to tell you for my own gratuitous pleasure
Curious to know how we can help you? Don’t even need to get on a call. Let’s audit your podcast – it’s free – and if you love our suggestions, well, Bobs your uncle.
Wanna follow along?
If you wanna follow along the journey, the first thing I would do (imho) is to share this with a super-motivated podcaster who’s crushing it in business. Then, you can connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter (I’m most active here atm).
Our first five years weren’t much to look at. But wait till you see our next 5.
Paul S.
