Carl Burnell is a Male Stripper who recently celebrated his 30th birthday. His looks are what got him in the door as a Male Stripper, but his personality is what made him one of the most famous Male Strippers in all of California. Carl has recently started a very popular radio podcast that has generated more than double his yearly salary as a stripper. Carl now officially retired from stripping, sat down and told us about his new venture!
VL: So you were making a lot of money as a Male Stripper, why retire now?
CB: Well I am making double per year doing the podcast as I did dancing. So I want to focus all of my time on the radio show, and see where it can take me.
VL: Why not just do both? The podcast has made you a big star. You can use it to promote your Stripping.
CB: Its funny you say that, because I haven’t completely retired from the game! I do weekly appearances at strip clubs across the country. When I said that I was retired, I meant that I don’t do private Bachelorette parties and stuff like that. But these appearances are pretty big money. So between my appearances, and the advertising on my podcast, I have developed quite the little empire!
VL: Tell me how this podcast got started.
CB: I was always known for my funny personality. When I would go out and do private parties, I had the highest referral rate in company history according to my boss. My best friend hosted a weekend radio talk show, and he would always have me come on the show to talk about the business. My segments were becoming really popular, and a light came on! This was what I was meant to do. I started doing my podcast with my best friend as the co-host. He really helped me a lot when we got started. It turns out that radio is a lot harder than it looks. Those first couple of shows were rough, be the social media comments kept me wanting to do it. My followers were really supportive, and each picked out different parts of the show that made them laugh. So I instantly knew I was on to something. A lot of hard work and a few years later, my podcast has become a real business.
VL: Other podcasters are very envious of the advertising revenue that you generate. How did you go about getting so many great sponsors?
CB: I started with a lot of affiliate programs, which means that I don’t get paid unless people click on links and buy stuff. After the first 6 months where I had over 200,000 weekly listeners, I was getting between 20 and 40 thousand clicks a week to these affiliate programs. Before long, I was making thousands of dollars. I then convinced a lot of these companies to pay me a banner fee plus the affiliate rate. Now I am making a lot of money to have fun! It really is the American dream!