Thread by @jayclouse

Today is the one-year anniversary of the launch of Creative Elements.

Some numbers:
- 511,466 downloads
- 55 episodes (49 interviews)
- 9 unique sponsors
- 1 missed week (skipped intentionally)

It's been incredible. Here are some other miscellaneous takeaways.

Getting Guests:

I reached high from the beginning. Episode one was with @ThisIsSethsBlog and episode two was @JamesClear.

I'll always be grateful they took a chance on me, because great guests from launch made it easy for future guests to say yes.

Quality:

The biggest reason the show has done as well as it has comes down to product quality.

I care a lot about this show and the final product...and I do a lot of editing to make it a truly narrative experience with scripting and voiceover.

Quality cont:

Listeners don't always notice the small production decisions I make for quality, but they implicitly do.

I cut out a lot of content so that every bit of the show is still in there for a reason.

Respect your listeners!

Growth:

Audio converts to audio.

Most of my show growth has come from the show being featured in apps like @pocketcasts, @Stitcher, @Castbox_fm, and @ApplePodcasts.

The @podglomerate helped me land those features, and helps me to cross promote across the network too.

Episode art:

I do unique artwork for each episode. Here's this week's episode with @coreyhainesco!

This isn't at all necessary. But it's a great touch for quality, and I will always do it.

I'm thankful that @emilyfclouse hasn't gotten sick of doing it yet!

Community:

I'm bullish on the role of community for podcasts. I've been slowly building the CE community on Facebook (though I hate Facebook) and I want to keep doing so.

I wish I had an easy moniker for what I call my community of listeners on air.

Show name:

I love "Creative Elements" but part of me wishes it was three words. When you have a three word title, acronyms are easy to use and really sticky. "Joe Rogan Experience" = JRE.

Easy to quickly refer to in shorthand. "Creative Elements" is a mouthful.

Time investment:

To make a show like this, it's a big investment of both time and resources.

I have a phenomenal audio engineer that I hope never quits.

I also have two VAs who help with transcripts and scheduling.

And I *still* put ~5 hours of creative editing into each ep.

Thank you:

I have a lot of folks to thank for this first year.

First and foremost, all the guests who took a chance on me.

Second, @jeffumbro and the @podglomerate for their partnership.

Third, @ekhornung for helping me learn the ropes with @upsidefm.

Thank you cont:

HUGE thanks to my fiancée @plantmammal for supporting me all along the way (the time, money, stress I'm investing).

And finally, thanks to everyone who has listened along the way!

Learn from me:

I've put everything I've learned into my podcasting course, Podcast Like The Pros.

Sincerely, I think it's the best product I've ever made. It gets great reviews and teaches you everything I know down to editing and scripting specifics.

courses.jayclouse.com/p/podcast-like…

Listen:

If you've never tried listening to Creative Elements, give it a shot! Think of it like @HowIBuiltThis for digital creators.

Listen on your favorite player:
pod.link/1498801064

Say thank you:

Introduce me to an incredible guest for the show! Send me an email, DM, or tag a creator you hope I interview.

And if you love the show, a rating + review on Apple Podcasts goes a LONG way. Please consider helping me get to 200.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cre…

Thanks for reading! Can't wait for another year ahead.

I did not proofread this thread, so I hope it sounded OK.

huge thanks to amazing sponsors like @podia for believing in the show and our audience early on!