#INCspiration – Upstarter Pods: Bringing Inspiration to Your Ears

Bizee’s monthly #INCspiration Founder Story series shines a spotlight on the success stories of actual Bizee clients who used Bizee’s business formation services to start their companies. If you’re thinking about taking the leap of starting a business, these real-life stories of successful entrepreneurs can provide some helpful insights and inspiration.

This month, we’re featuring the story of Chase Mitchell, founder of Upstarter Podcasts, a podcast network dedicated to the personal development industry. Upstarter helps produce, edit, distribute and market podcasts for its network of podcast hosts, supporting podcasters as they build their audiences and monetize their podcasts as a serious business.

Podcasts have become one of the most important online media channels, bringing ideas, insights and entertainment to listeners every day. There are millions of podcasts on every possible topic, from movies to music to comedy to pop culture to food to politics. Upstarter Podcasts is focused on personal development topics, such as healthy lifestyles, positive mindsets and self-improvement for bigger career and life success.

Learn more about the story of Chase Mitchell and how he got inspired to start Upstarter Podcasts.

Making a Fresh Start During the Pandemic

The pandemic year of 2020 was a time of uncertainty, disruption and millions of people reassessing their careers, locations and lives. Chase Mitchell was one of the many people who decided to make a big change in his life by starting a business during the pandemic.

“Upstarter Podcast Network started out during the pandemic in 2020 as a one-man podcast production company, helping people launch their shows and edit their recordings,” Chase said.

Since then, the company has evolved into a more expansive podcast network with a wider range of services for podcast hosts. “It has now developed into a podcast network, virtually producing and managing a collection of shows in the personal development industry to initiate positive mindset shifts in our audiences,” Chase shared. “Our team helps live produce and edit the recordings, oversee the show’s account, distribution and marketing, and manage the monetization and growth strategies.”

The podcast network has big plans for future growth, staying focused on podcasts related to personal development, a positive mindset and healthy lifestyle topics. “With our collection of mindset leaders, we are striving to become the number one network for all things personal development and positivity,” Chase said. “We will be bringing on many more industry powerhouses in this space.”

Reaching Beyond a Corporate Job

Like many entrepreneurs, Chase got into entrepreneurship after working in a corporate career. But even though he was successful in his corporate life, he felt like he had more to offer that wasn’t possible to express at his desk job.

“I got interested in entrepreneurship after feeling stuck in a corporate sales job, seeing no path to grow,” Chase said. “I felt like I had too much creativity and ambition that was going to waste under a pile of bosses.”

In a corporate job, you have a manager who supervises your work, you have structure created for your daily work, you have a team and an org chart and, if you’re lucky, you might have a career path for future promotion and success. But for people who are willing to choose this path, entrepreneurship can be less structured and potentially offer more freedom and upside than a corporate job.

“I was enticed to become an entrepreneur because of the day-to-day independence and the idea of relying solely on myself to succeed,” Chase said.

In his new life as an entrepreneur, Chase is helping Upstarter Podcasts’ network of professionals and thought leaders to bring a message of positivity, purpose and potential to a larger audience.

“It’s been hugely rewarding to see the impact I can directly make on people as an entrepreneur with Upstarter Podcasts, whether that's helping a client achieve a dream of theirs, being more present and available for friends and family or changing the lives of a stranger that listened to a show,” he shared.

Starting a business has helped Chase lead a fuller life, work with a deeper sense of mission and make a bigger positive impact on the world.

Working with Industry Experts at Bizee

One of the challenges for entrepreneurs is to deal with all of the various tax, legal and regulatory issues that come with starting a company, filing taxes and running a business. If you’ve never filed a business tax return or formed an LLC before, working with industry experts who have specialized experience and knowledge in these areas can help you save time.

“The things you don't know can be a big challenge as an entrepreneur, whether it’s figuring out for the first time the legal, tax, financial, employee, logistical information and being unsure if you’re doing it efficiently or even appropriately,” Chase shared.

Chase decided to hire Bizee to help form his business, and he found Bizee’s business formation services to be a helpful one-stop shop.

“As a first-time business owner, Bizee was the easiest place I could find to get everything started,” Chase said.

Advice to Entrepreneurs: Just Start!

Chase has big plans for the future of Upstarter Podcasts. When asked where he sees the business going in one year, he said: “Having the number one podcast network for personal development content and booking our leaders on stage so they can impact as many individuals, live and in person as well.”

Asked what advice he can offer to other aspiring entrepreneurs, Chase encouraged people to avoid perfectionism, focus on the larger purpose of their business idea and their inspiring goals and be prepared to adapt and improvise.

“Stop waiting; it doesn't have to be perfect to start,” Chase said. “If you care enough about the idea or your goals, then you will figure it out along the way.”

Some of the best entrepreneurs don’t always have the most detailed business plan, but they have a clear sense of mission and purpose about why they want to be in business and what kind of change they want to create in the world. If that sounds like you, then starting a business might be a great choice for your next career move.

Check out the inspiring podcasts of the Upstarter Podcast Network at UpstarterPods.com, or follow Upstarter Podcasts and Chase Mitchell on Instagram @upstarterpods and @chase.s.mitch.