I know what a host needs because I sit in both chairs.

I’m the co-host of Truth, Lies & Work, the UK’s number-one management podcast. We have passed four million downloads and spoken with guests including Sir Jackie Stewart, Rory Sutherland and Bruce Daisley, plus leaders and experts from Google, Netflix, Microsoft, HSBC, the BBC and the Financial Times.

But the useful number for this course is not the famous names. It is the roughly one thousand pitches that have arrived in our inbox—and the very small number that made it easy to say yes.

Media outlets always want guests. They do not want just any guest. They want an expert with a great story who knows how to turn up and talk.

I am not a media celebrity.

I’m a business owner who learned how to communicate. I have appeared on BBC News, BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4, and have been featured in the Financial Times. I know the nervousness of sitting in the guest chair and the responsibility of sitting in the host’s.

That combination matters. Most advice about podcast pitching comes from people selling outreach. This course comes from the person opening the emails, choosing the guests and conducting the interview.

What qualifies me to teach this?

My career has not followed a polished straight line. In 2005, I was named among the UK’s 42 entrepreneurs under 42. Two years later, I was bankrupt for £103,000. I rebuilt during the financial crisis, helped families facing repossession, developed businesses in property and communications, and eventually co-created a podcast heard millions of times.

I have learned that expertise is rarely the problem. The problem is turning that expertise into a reason somebody else should listen. That is exactly what Turn Up and Talk teaches.

The principle behind the programme

I do not want to send a thousand emails on your behalf. I want to show you how to choose the right show, write one excellent email and walk into the interview ready. Once you know how, nobody can sell the skill back to you every month.