Today, I want to talk about due diligence, and it's not a subject I've talked about before, but something happened recently that made me think this would be a good topic for everyone to think about right now, especially with more people working online and the holidays are coming, a lot more scams are out there. And so recently I got an email saying, hey, I was recently a business manager of successful Game of Thrones podcast.

And while I was there, I was able to bring in a certain amount of sponsorship money in just six weeks of the last season. I mean, it's a Game of Thrones podcast. You're probably going to bring in money regardless because it's jumping on something popular. But anyway, you said I've reached out now because I've launched a podcast network and would love for your podcast to be part of it. We currently have over 20 podcasts on the network and adding more shows weekly and in partnership with the podcasting platform.

And we are able to give all the podcasts in the network to ads. And they gave a certain amount of money for click click Theroux's per hundred thousand listeners. And so they were saying, you know, we'd love to have you on board. Essentially, we're bringing together, you know, high quality podcasts of different genres and that sort of a thing. And it will be great to have your podcast on there, too. And they wanted to say that, you know, because they'd have because there'd be a network that have better reach and better ability to go and like, fight in your corner and that sort of a thing, they think that my content is great and they would never ask to change anything about it at all.

In fact, I shouldn't even mention the network, but the thing I would have to do is move my podcast over to anchor from whatever I am hosting now.

And they said they have a, you know, an easy converter and all you have to do is do this thing and and it will happen. And then you'll be available on all platforms, know maximize your exposure on Apple, Spotify, overcast pocket cards, radio, public, et cetera, and you get real time stats and all these wonderful things. And again, it went on about how I could earn money through advertising, through my podcast. And they would also help with, like banners and logos and audio quality and all of these things.

And if interested, that I should respond to the email and they'd be happy to jump on a call that was a name. And there was a website like, have they really listen to my podcast? But OK, sure, whatever. And I went to the website and the website because really you get excited like, oh, you know, someone thinks I'm wonderful, I'm going to offer me money. So really, my first thought would have been to possibly just jump on a call, but no due diligence.

I went to look at the website and the website was terrible. It wasn't even a website. You know, those websites where they've got they haven't figured out what they're going to put yet. It says the ipsum and blah, blah, blah, because they haven't figured it out on the website. That's what happened. And interestingly enough, the email came from a Gmail account. They gave a name of a podcasting network. And the name of the podcast network also doesn't really go with my brand.

So I found that really interesting. And so I went and used the website address. In fact, now when I look at it again, the site cannot be reached. Originally it just had this, like, fake site up there with no information, no podcasts, and it was like a slap up landing page. And so they were asking me to move my podcast over and possibly give up like access to my podcast so I could be on their network, which doesn't exist.

So due diligence, friends and people, I highly recommend this is something you you should do. Whenever you are making a business decision, go and look at the website. Go and see if you know anyone who knows this person. Go on LinkedIn and see if you have similar connections, see if there are any referrals or testimonials. Also, go with your gut. You know, sometimes it still looks so nice and shiny, but you got so they're not really doing your due diligence because really what I should have done or emailed them back.

What do you love about my podcast? Because ninety nine point nine percent of the time, whenever I do that, people don't have a clue because I also get a lot of people going, hey, I want to be a guest on your podcast. I really love your podcast. And I think blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And of course, I respond, oh, tell me which episode that you listen to that you liked.

Because obviously if they want to be a guest, they haven't listened to my podcast. So during due diligence, doing due diligence is something that is highly important. I will stop you going down some black holes and getting ripped off. That was a quick rant. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions or anything you want me to cover on the podcast, message me at janice@thecareerintrovert.com. Have a great rest of your week.