Happy #InternationalPodcastDay!
The brilliant @PodcastDay team have some great things happening today but I wanted to give some personal reflections on what #podcasting has done for me personally since I launched my personal podcast on this day eight years ago...
First...
The brilliant @PodcastDay team have some great things happening today but I wanted to give some personal reflections on what #podcasting has done for me personally since I launched my personal podcast on this day eight years ago...
First...
I found podcasting about a decade ago when I was looking for a passion project in the geek culture space; @GarryAylott suggested we do a podcast to run alongside our blog, "Two Shots to the Head" - I was hooked from the first episode but didn't know ANYTHING.
I became obsessed!
I became obsessed!
At that point I was running a successful digital agency but was getting bored of the constant dealing with IT managers who thought that their CCNA certificate meant that they knew about everything digital. So I built a side business with @KieranMcKeef to bring WordPress...
...to podcasters on a SaaS-style hybrid model. We still run that business and when it launched, it started to push older companies to do more with their businesses in response. I see that as our first contribution to influencing incumbents to stop sitting back on the industry.
Personally, that made me realise that I wanted to work in podcasting full time and I realised that all of the skills that I'd acquired in business/marketing/growth could be applied to podcasting at a time when no one was doing it (it was a very different landscape back then).
So I instantly started speaking at podcasting conferences, primarily @PodcastMovement which led to me making countless friends in the industry - genuine friends, not "friends" like when "entrepreneurs" say they've made friends with people they've got a signed book from.
Being a chatty person who likes people, I used to travel (pre-COVID) to the US so often & spend so long there that customs officers would question me way more than they needed to and I was lucky to go to events large & small across the country, plus speak at places like Harvard.
All of that travel to meet so many podcasters helped me to develop a genuine intuition about what WE want from our industry as creators and so, Kieran and I spent a long time listening to that and building @CaptivateAudio in response. That was a year of long, long days but...
...they were some of the best days. We've built an outstanding team at Captivate and podcasting has not only given me a good life, but it's given them good lives too and means that we all work in an industry that we love.
It's rare that I post something so self-focused...
It's rare that I post something so self-focused...
..but it's important to UNDERSTAND that podcasting gives you what you put into it. There's a lot of worry about "big" companies pushing indies out because podcasting has become a *real* industry now. Companies, investments and people are entering the space to make a buck...
...new voices are springing up from every angle commentating on the industry, "entrepreneurs" are telling you that podcasting is the SUREFIRE way to "explode your brand & sell high ticket this that and the other" and amongst all of that, you're just trying to get an episode out..
..while trying to find new listeners, decide how to edit your show when you've got the day job, the kids & less time to do it all every single week.
The truth is that 99% of all of that is BS. Lots of it is from people trying to make money from the industry because it's trendy.
The truth is that 99% of all of that is BS. Lots of it is from people trying to make money from the industry because it's trendy.
And hey, that's ok - making money is fine - but YOU don't need to worry about anyone else as a podcaster.
You just need to do the very same thing that we were all doing ten years ago: focus on your content, yourself and your audience.
I've made podcasting work for me by...
You just need to do the very same thing that we were all doing ten years ago: focus on your content, yourself and your audience.
I've made podcasting work for me by...
...being 100% myself.
Some people don't like it. Some people tried to change me. Some people didn't believe in us (until they saw the proof).
The same will go for you and your show.
Today, of ALL days, remember that if you give to podcasting and to your audience...
Some people don't like it. Some people tried to change me. Some people didn't believe in us (until they saw the proof).
The same will go for you and your show.
Today, of ALL days, remember that if you give to podcasting and to your audience...
...they will give back to you.
Don't worry about what's over the fence or what others are doing or about the news stories you see or the constant barrage of "you should be doing this" or the "it's not a podcast UNLESS..." - do YOUR thing, with what YOU have, WHEN you can do it.
Don't worry about what's over the fence or what others are doing or about the news stories you see or the constant barrage of "you should be doing this" or the "it's not a podcast UNLESS..." - do YOUR thing, with what YOU have, WHEN you can do it.
You're among friends. Happy #InternationalPodcastDay
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