How Jamie Irvine Uses Podcasting to Win Trust and Customers
- Roger Pierce
- Jul 31
- 3 min read
According to the website PodcastStatistics.com, over 584 million people will listen to podcasts in 2025 and the global podcast market is worth $40 billion.
But podcasting isn't as easy as many people think: only 1% of all podcasts ever reach episode 21 or more.
And now that YouTube is the number one platform for podcasts (yes, it has surpassed both Apple Podcasts and Spotify), the trend toward video podcasting significantly ups the ante for aspiring podcasters.
I started my own podcast journey in April 2024 with The Unsure Entrepreneur Podcast. While I really enjoy the opportunities it creates for me to talk with founders, experts, and authors, my podcast definitely loses money.
Which is why I reached out to Jamie Irvine, a veteran podcaster and National Sales Director at Parts for Trucks, to unpack how he used podcasting to fuel his entrepreneurial journey. As a person who has created over 750 recorded episodes and livestreams, I knew he could answer the question: is podcasting worth it?
Don’t worry about the polish. Just start. You’ll get better.
Jamie didn’t start with fancy gear or a big audience. “I had a crappy webcam, a bad microphone, and some free editing software,” he tells me in the pod. “It was just determination and willpower.”
Despite humble beginnings, Jamie now has three podcasts under his belt and has used each one to build something meaningful. His first podcast, Build a Better Business, taught him the value of niche focus — by showing him what not to do.
“The subject was too broad,” Jamie said. “It never really broke into a position where I could monetize it.”
That lesson led to his second show, The Heavy Duty Parts Report, which quickly gained traction. The show discusses tips, tools, and technology that help heavy-duty parts manufacturers and distributors sell the right parts to fleets, repair shops, and truck operators. Within six months of launching this podcast, Jamie quit his job and went full time.
“I typed ‘heavy duty parts’ into my podcast player, and nothing came up. That was the lightbulb moment.”
From there, Jamie built an audience that generated over 25 million impressions, landed consulting gigs, and signed six-figure sponsorships. But he’s quick to point out that bigger deals bring more stress. “The sponsor pays the bills, so they call the shots. It changed the whole experience.”
Continuing his focus on a niche market, Jamie is also Host of the Parts for Trucks Podcast.
For entrepreneurs thinking about launching a podcast, Jamie offers practical insights and real talk. Here are three lessons from our conversation:
Pick a niche and stick with it. You’ll attract the right audience faster and build trust over time.
Don’t expect quick ROI. “Podcasting has horrible short-term ROI metrics,” Jamie says. But the long-term return can be significant.
Make it about your audience. Jamie says, “Every piece of content should be for them — not about you.”
When you approach podcasting this way, it becomes more than just content — it becomes a business tool. “If you’re a plumber and your podcast helps you land a $10,000 job, that’s a great ROI,” he says.
Jamie also talks about the emotional side of podcasting. He shared how strangers at trade shows came up to hug him because they felt like they already knew him. That’s the power of long-form content. It builds relationships you can’t get from ads or short videos.
The host is the star of the show. The guest brings wisdom — but the audience builds trust with you.
So if you’re thinking about launching a podcast, Jamie’s advice is simple: “Buy a microphone and start recording content with people.”
But don’t go in blind. Think deeply about your audience, choose your niche carefully, and focus on creating something useful — again and again. Make it worth their time.
Because podcasting isn’t just about growing an audience. As Jamie puts it, “It’s one of the best ways to build a body of work that resonates with a specific audience and, over time, turns into something meaningful.”
Listen to our full conversation here on The Unsure Entrepreneur Podcast. [Photo courtesy of Jamie Irvine]
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