Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with David Barnett, Co-Founder of Tour Junkies PGA Tour Betting & DFS Podcast, located in Augusta, GA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We started Tour Junkies back in 2015 as a podcast and social channel covering betting and daily fantasy sports (DFS) on DraftKings for the PGA Tour. Since then, our content has evolved to YouTube content, free articles on our website, free weekly email newsletters, and 3 to 4 podcasts per week covering the world of professional golf from a betting perspective.
Our fans are golf addicts, as we like to say. Our fans are predominantly males in the U.S. between the ages of 25-55 that love golf and have the expendable income to gamble or play fantasy golf.
Tell us about yourself
We (David and Pat) were working together in 2015 at a financial institution when DraftKings started offering fantasy golf. We were coming into work every Monday talking about that week's golf tournament, and our DraftKings picks for the week. Eventually, Pat had the idea of starting a podcast talking about our DraftKings approach each week. At that point, starting a podcast was a rather mysterious thing, unlike today. We had no clue what we were doing, but we just decided to actually figure it out and make it happen. We started with maybe 9 total listeners when our first episode dropped in September 2015, and we've grown it organically to over 30,000 unique listeners a month today.
I've recently quit my full-time job as the COO of a software company to do Tour Junkies full-time as of March 1, 2022. We realized that the popularity of golf gambling was set for a meteoric rise, and it was our time to go all in. We're motivated to create the possibility of living the dream of doing something we love to provide for our families. We absolutely love the game of golf, and we can't think of a better "job" than covering it full-time for our fans.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our biggest accomplishment as business owners has simply been the journey of starting from nothing and growing it into what it is today without spending a single dime on advertising for the first 5 years. Looking back, that lack of spending probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. However, knowing that the audience we've built was built through the grind is extremely rewarding. Growing a business is hard work. We're proud of staying the course through the years of slow growth to get Tour Junkies where it is today.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The biggest challenge to doing what we do now is the balance between doing the content we need to do and love to do versus doing the business "stuff" that we have to do. We'd love to simply focus on doing podcasts, videos, interviews, putting on golf tournaments, and all the fun stuff. But as the business owner, you have to take time to work ON the business and not IN it. But we all know that if you ignore the backend things that have to get done, you're setting yourself up for trouble down the road. As we grow, we'd love to build up enough staff to take care of those business things so we can focus on making entertaining and informative content.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
The first thing we would tell anyone looking to start a business in a content game like ours would be:
Take the time to research the market, the demand, the saturation, and the competition. If you understand the market's interest and saturation in what you're looking to do, then you'll have a better idea of the gaps you need to fill. Find a gap to fill. Find a niche that you can exploit. If it's too heavily saturated, then you're destined for struggle unless you're really bringing something unique to the table.
Once you've done your due diligence and market research to determine the gap you're going to fill, then you need to be consistent in your content delivery. Your audience (even when it's small) needs to know what's coming from you and when. Too many content creators give up too quickly and stop posting or publishing when they don't see immediate results. Good content, consistently delivered over time, creates an audience. Commit to your content regardless of slow growth.
Our final bit of advice may be controversial or even counterintuitive. Give the appearance that you're a bigger deal than you may actually be. We're not saying you lie to potential partners, advertisers, or followers. We're saying that if you give the appearance in your content that you're a seasoned creator, then you communicate excellence to your audience. If you're truly committed to the grind, then invest in the good microphone, invest in the good camera, and invest in the editing and the polish before publishing. If you look like a hack in your basement and sound like a hack in your basement — then your audience will perceive just that. Start with excellence. Don't wait for certain audience size or revenue to polish your delivery. The content game is far too competitive to be average in production for too long.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.tourjunkies.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tourjunkies
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tour_junkies/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tour_Junkies
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tour-junkies/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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