► Tell us about you and your podcast
Allen brings 20 years of merchant services industry experience. He shares insights, knowledge, and essential updates regarding payment processing and FinTech. Some of the covered subjects on the podcast are Cryptocurrency, How to accept cryptocurrency, E-commerce, Security, Fraud Solutions, New Payment innovations, and how payment technology can help you run your business. We also cover products and services and talk about specific business types. We also cover what is going on in congress with laws that can affect business owners and taxes. Payments have been innovating for the last 20 years since I have been in the business. Still, in the previous 3-5 years, there has been a lot of changes, and FinTech is here, and we talk about how to bring FinTech to your business and how to let consumers who are your customer pay the way they want to pay – we call that the consumerization of payments.
Along with Justin Owings my producer and Co-Host we bring a unique discussion to the table - as we were both merchants - business owners and now we are providers and consultants for merchant services so we look at both sides of the discussions we have.
If you are a business owner - and you want to get educational information about merchant services, find out about payments news and technology this is the podcast for you.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
I started the podcast as a way to showcase my knowledge of being in the payments business for over 20 years and I wanted to provide educational information in a way that business owners would understand and explain things in an easy-to-understand language. We started the podcast in the last quarter of 2021 after figuring out how we could do a show, and record audio, and video. We do the show "Live Style" it's unedited and we talk about different subjects that are in the news and are topical. The goal of the podcast is to provide business owners and people thinking about starting a business a way to learn about what it takes to get a merchant account.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
Being a business owner- myself and the staff -we schedule 2 days a week - 2 hours to go over the podcast, and record it. We have a great team of people that work in the office and they each do their part to help put the podcast and the marketing, social media, transcription, and graphics together. We are always looking at ways to make the podcast look better. The team does an awesome job and we all work together and we have brainstorming sessions on how to change things up so we keep it fresh.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
Podcasting is bring attention to me, the company (Nationwide Payment Systems), and gives the team a creative outlet to do different things other than the day-to-day. The podcast is our marketing engine to produce content and keep people engaged on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok. People don't really download podcasts anymore - with technology as it is today people can stream - also we are on YouTube for the people who like to watch videos. The podcast also gives the team in the office something creative to do together - it's great for bonding - We are getting quite a few requests for people to be guests on the podcast.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
We built a podcast studio in the conference room - changed the backdrop - we changed how we present the podcasts - we use Streamyard to record the audio and video and descript to transcribe the podcast - on youtube we added a little opening of a vault with the sound of the combination dial and door opening - we are always looking for ways to make it look and sound better. We prepare for episodes by looking at trending topics and new technology - we are always looking for cutting-edge technology - payments is now known also as Fintech.
► How do you market your show?
We are on almost every podcast app - Spotify and Apple are the two biggest - there are many other apps that people are listening on as well as following the podcast on our blogs, social media posts, LinkedIn. On Social Media follow us @B2BVault - on youtube and Linkedin Follow B2B Vault -
We find that our posts on LinkedIn do well - Reels and videos are also very popular, we release several videos and reels a week.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
The best advice that I got, in the beginning, was to just get started - the first 10 -20 videos/podcast will not be great - now that had over 80 episodes and have made several changes along the way. I found my voice and now I am leaning into it, You have to be willing to make changes along the way - improve listening and change - If you want to do a podcast - just go for it - make a schedule - keep to that schedule and GO FOR IT. - No Guts - No Glory!
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
Look for B2B Vault on social Media- B2B Vault or @b2bvault
LinkedIn and Youtube - look for B2B Vault
Website - https://b2bvault.info - you can get in touch - book an appointment and more!
For more about Allen - https://AllenKopelman.com
Company website - https://nationwidepaymentsystems.com or https://npsbank.com