On the show today is Jay Clouse. Jay is the host of Creative Elements and co-host of Upside. He's also the founder of Freelancing School and Unreal Collective, which was acquired by SPI Media where he now serves as the Community Experience Director. He's also created premium courses for LinkedIn Learning (Lynda) and his own called Podcast Like The Pros.

I wanted to bring Jay on because of the breadth of experience he's had between founding startups, to communities, to podcasts. Jay is a true creative. He's a builder. Jay is one of my go-to resources for both podcasting and communities.

You'll hear about how he got Creative Elements to over 500,000 downloads in just over 50 episodes, the formula for starting and building successful communities, and the exact email template he uses to get big-name guests on his podcasts.

More on Jay:

Mentions:

Sponsored by Ahrefs — with their new free tool, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, you can make tangible improvements to your SEO completely for free for any sites that you own. You can monitor your SEO health, keep track of backlinks, do basic keyword research, and get automated email alerts straight to your inbox. Sign up for a free account at ahrefs.com/awt

If you've got a question or takeaway you want to share from this episode, you can do so in the Swipe Files community. You can chat with guests of the podcast as well as a bunch of other top-notch marketers. Join a community that will help you do your best work and be prolific. Check it out at swipefiles.com/membership

I write an occasional newsletter about cutting-edge, comprehensive, and sometimes even crazy marketing ideas. Subscribe to become a better marketer, one idea at a time at swipefiles.com You can also get my free newsletter Marketing Weekly. It's a curated digest of the best marketing content in your inbox every Sunday morning.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts or your podcast player of choice? It takes less than a minute and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Looking for marketing jobs? Check out Hey Marketers, a free job board I created just for marketing jobs.