Roadrunners are invited to tune in to “Business Cents” a new podcast hosted by Laurel Lane, lecturer, Marketing, and Jessica Mace, affiliate, Finance, that covers a wide range of money-related issues. While the podcast has a student slant, with discussions that are particularly significant to Business students, the information applies to a wide range of fields and needs.
“We started ‘Business Cents’ with the deep focus on financial literacy to help anyone better manage money and life,” Lane said.
The podcast expands on the College of Business’ Personal Money Management course, taught by Mace, which integrates aspects of finance and accounting. Lane, who also teaches financial literacy as part of the TRIO SSS program, and Mace have developed segments on career planning, financial goals, basic money management and avoiding common money mistakes. Together, they dive into understanding salaries, how to pay for college, estimating cost of living, basic budgeting, credit scores, loans, investments, retirement and more.
“(Podcasting is) a great way to share the thoughts, ideas and voices of our school across (MSU Denver) and beyond,” Mace said. “The ‘Business Cents’ model takes on a subject offered in a College of Business class in a detailed and specialized way but makes it accessible and impactful to everyone.”
Lane and Mace work with Jeremy Sommer, MetMedia student production manager, who is responsible for recording, editing and posting every episode. Listeners can find all episodes by visiting MyMetMedia.com.
Q&A
Early Bird: What inspired you to start “Business Cents”?
Lane: I talked to Pam Packer, Ph.D., assistant dean of the College of Business, about (my idea to start a business-communication and digital-marketing podcast). The very next day, Jessica approached Pam about getting financial-literacy (information) out to the student community at large. Pam connected us, then we just got going.
Mace: Part of the inspiration for starting “Business Cents” was the desire to create a lasting, instructional resource on financial literacy that could be accessed by students at any time. I have a strong personal belief in the importance of teaching people money-management skills as early in life as possible.
EB: What are your tips for getting a new podcast off the ground?
Lane: You do have to plan your script, and teamwork really helps. Not that someone couldn’t do one on their own, but the team dynamic works well and engages the audience. Jessica is excellent with detailed show notes and making sure we follow what we say we are going to do, like offer action items at the end of each episode.
Mace: First tip: Get introduced to someone as proactive and engaged as Laurel Lane!
In all seriousness, though, find a great person to work with. I enjoy the style of podcasting that includes conversation between co-hosts, not just a solo person giving information or conducting interviews.
Another thing to consider is exactly what skills and knowledge you want the listener to come away with. At the end of each episode, we offer a checklist of the three to five things a listener should now know how to do and apply to their life to make sure we are offering practical, actionable tools.
EB: What are your plans for future episodes or podcasting efforts?
Mace: We record an episode every other week. Our future episode topics include bank accounts, credit cards, managing debt, saving and investing.
It’s also important to add that “Business Cents” is just one of the shows planned to launch under the College of Business and that “Business Cents” will include other topics on how money works in both our personal and professional lives.
Lane: I am also co-creating a workplace-culture-and-communication podcast with two colleagues, and I will be hosting one on trends in marketing. I am also leading podcast development as a longer-term initiative for the College of Business and am available to help other faculty members with their podcasting efforts.