Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenny Coleman.
Hi Kenny, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Bourbon Pursuit has an odd beginning. Ryan Cecil (Co-founder and Co-host) owns a lawn fertilization and maintenance company. This type of work involves him moving between jobs in his truck and constantly listening to podcasts. His work is also cyclical because he has a lot of downtime during the winter and hot summer months, so he wanted a winter project. Ryan wanted to start a podcast and initially thought he wanted to tailor it to his industry, talking to like-minded professionals. However, it didn’t excite him. Sitting with a friend of his, he said, “Ryan, you’re from Bardstown, KY. The bourbon capital of the world. Why not start a podcast about bourbon?” He liked the idea but thought he needed help to do it. Ryan and I met through our wives, and I would attend his annual Kentucky Derby party with a massive batch of homemade mint juleps. Ryan knew I was getting into bourbon, and I also have an extensive background in tech. Ryan asked if I would be interested in starting a bourbon podcast. I wasn’t a podcast listener at the time, but it seemed interesting to me.
I consider myself a “dream killer” because people used to come to me with tech ideas, and I would always shoot them down since the idea had already been done before or better executed. I did some research, and there wasn’t a lot of “great” bourbon podcast content. A B2B news podcast covered all whiskey, including scotch, Japanese, etc. There were also a few shows with some guys sitting around a microphone going, “I’m drinking Elmer T. Lee, and I’m getting notes of caramel and vanilla.” I thought, “who would want to listen to this?”
My manager, at the time, ran a very successful podcast called “The Cloudcast,” where he would invite start-up CEOs and others in the cloud computing space to come on the show and share their story. That’s when I realized what was missing. There was no voice from inside the industry. This was an opportunity for us to bring individuals from all the major brands and have them connect with an audience in a new and meaningful way.
There are many amazing people in the bourbon industry, and our podcast is serving as a time capsule to capture the stories they share. This has been a recipe for success because Bourbon Pursuit has grown to become the world’s largest and highest-ranked whiskey podcast, with over 40k unique monthly listeners that do over 2M downloads every calendar year.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
Podcasting is more challenging than one would think. Sitting down with a guest, hitting the record button, and talking for an hour is the easiest part. There is a lot of time invested in the front end regarding scheduling, equipment shipping, idea gathering, and guest vetting, and the back end for editing, eq, processing, publishing, and constant promotion. To be on top of your game, you have to treat this as a business, and it takes a real commitment that can range from 15-40 hours a week.
It’s tough to make podcasting a full-time job. No one is knocking on your door on day 1 trying to give you advertising dollars. It takes years to land your first sponsor finally, and it’s never enough to offset a corporate job. Between the podcast and my day job, I worked 70-80 hours a week. There was very little revenue. I hit a wall, and burnout set in. I called Ryan and said, “We’ve got another month or two, and I think we have to quit unless something changes.” There will be lows, but there will also be highs. By a stroke of luck, we found an avenue that could generate decent monthly recurring revenue without advertising. Then I got a phone call from Fred Minnick, who is the world’s leading authority on bourbon, and he wanted to become a partner in the show. These events re-energized our passion and allowed us to carve a path that no one has ever done, and now we are building our bourbon brand that will be nationwide in a few years.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Bourbon Pursuit is a prime example of owning a niche and finding an audience. Podcasting has too many generalized shows that talk about too many different topics. Bourbon Pursuit is such a niche that A) you have to listen to podcasts B) you want to listen to shows about alcohol, C) it needs to be about whiskey, D) and it has to be about bourbon whiskey. Not only that, it’s a true bourbon nerd type of material that becomes an educational tool. The show sets itself apart as having the industry’s most iconic guests with knowledgeable and relatable hosts. Bourbon Pursuit was lucky enough to have a first-mover advantage and now has access to guests and topics that others don’t because of the relationships we’ve forged over the years.
Throughout this process of the podcast. I’ve grown my status in the bourbon industry as an “expert.” I’m asked to speak at bourbon festivals and conferences and do brand consulting. I’ve built Bourbon Pursuit into the leading resource for bourbon entertainment in podcasting, and it’s an extraordinary feeling when I get recognized for that by listeners. The show has had a few proud moments where we’ve been able to capture stories of individuals who have now passed and are no longer with us. Some are the only times their voices have been digitally archived forever. Looking back on some of those episodes, it makes me feel special that I shared a moment with them, and now the world has a chance to hear their story forever.
For me, building the next excellent bourbon brand with Ryan is something I am very proud of. We are slowly chipping away at it, but I’m getting an MBA in the process by learning how to build a business with a product that is highly regulated. We’ve certainly had our fair share of struggles, but there have been high moments as well, and the journey is only just beginning,
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Being a guest on the show depends on many factors, but the team typically decides what topics we are interested in and what we believe our audience would like. It all starts with an email. I’m constantly checking emails because I have an addiction to “Inbox Zero.”
The best way to support the show as a brand or corporation is to sponsor us. With our large footprint, we can get your message to your target audience daily. There’s no guessing if the Facebook algorithm finds the right people or if eyeballs are looking at your billboard. We own the niche and have the attention of the bourbon enthusiast you are trying to reach.
As a consumer or listener, we have a Patreon program where you can support the show and get access to experiences like private barrel selections. We’ve built up the barrel selection program and now select around 50 barrels yearly. It’s a win-win that you can support the show and get access to uniquely selected barrels of whiskey!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bourbonpursuit.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bourbonpursuit
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bourbonpursuit
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bourbonpursuit
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/bourbonpursuit
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/collection/Si779eiZUmjGomZP2pZLTg/Bourbon-Trail-Recommendations-from-Bourbon-Pursuit
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bourbonpursuit
