The Podcast Dude

So… I'm pausing my podcast. The decision to quit or pause a podcast shouldn't be taken lightly. There are many reasons to stop doing something, and many reasons to keep going even when it's hard. In this episode, I want to share why I'm pausing my show, and hopefully give you some clarity if you've been thinking about quitting or putting your show on hold as well.

My guest this week is professional audio engineer Ryan Monette. Ryan graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Music Production & Engineering. For the last 4.5 years he's been the Post-Production Audio Engineer on staff at Elevation Church, in Charlotte, NC, where he mixes their global TV show, and has many other responsibilities (boom operator, field recorder, sound designer, audio editor, etc.). You may have heard some of his work, as he sound-designed and mixed the opener video for the Circles conference for the past two years. He even had his own podcast for a short while (TheQueuecast.com). I asked Ryan to come on the show to share his journey towards becoming a professional audio engineer (a job that I've always wanted), and to get him to share some tips for anyone interested in working in audio/video professionally.

Reading Cal Newport's Deep Work book is one of the best investments I've ever made. The focus and clarity I got from that book is one of the best investments I've ever made. The focus and clarity I got from that book helped me produce two huge online courses this year while working full time as a podcast editor for seanwes, and it also helped me lose twenty pounds and get into the best shape of my life while training for an Ironman triathlon. Put simply, Deep Work was a game changer for me. This is the second part of my recent interview with Shawn Blanc where we talk about Deep Work and focus. We also discussed pricing your online products (you can charge more than you think you can), how to create a morning routine that will supercharge your daily productivity, the power of choosing a single area of your life to improve on, and more.

Shawn Blanc is a writer, small-business owner, productivity coach, and creative entrepreneur living in Kansas City with his wife and their three sons. Shawn has been teaching and learning about creativity, diligence, and focus for over a decade, and his online courses have helped thousands of people do their best creative work while learning to thrive in the midst of life’s tensions. A while back, Shawn sent an email that caught my attention. He wrote about the importance of creating a customer avatar and developing a content strategy to connect with them and help them achieve their goals. I liked the email so much that I emailed him back and asked him to come on my show to talk about his journey to making a living through writing online and what he’s learned about growing an audience. Shawn also shares my passion for productivity and deep focus; so much so that he’s gathered 12 incredibly smart people for a free 5 day online summit about the power of focused life. In this episode, Shawn shares how he was able to make a full-time living by writing online, and we discuss how you can grow your audience by creating a customer avatar (your ideal listener) and creating content that addresses their needs and desires.

This week seanwes Community member Martine Ellis joins me to share her podcasting journey and how she created a detailed checklist to help streamline her podcast workflow. We discuss how niching down can help you attract a dedicated audience and how to spend less time creating a podcast without sacrificing quality. We also walk through Martine’s 9 step podcast workflow checklist and discuss our favorite podcast tools and tricks.

I just got back from seanwes conference 2016, which was an amazing 3 day conference in Austin, Texas. I knew I wanted to record some audio interviews, so in this episode, I share how I planned for the conference, what gear I deciding to bring along, and some general tips and thoughts about attending a conference as a podcaster.

I’ve been watching an online audio mastering course (called DIY Mastering) from Jesse Cannon (a great audio engineer). In it, he was talking about how he always checks his work on cheap speakers and Apple earbuds, since that’s what most people use to listen to music. It got me thinking: are expensive headphones really necessary for mixing podcasts? Do you really need the best gear to make great work, or are you just procrastinating? My goal for this episode is to encourage you to do more with what you have and not fall into the trap of believing that better gear is the secret to success.

You’re not sure how to get new listeners to your podcast, and you don’t have many followers on Twitter. On top of that, Twitter and many other social media platforms have a ton of noise on them. People aren’t paying much attention. How do you stand out and get people to notice you and your show? Maybe you want to use social media to promote your podcast but you aren’t sure how to get started. I just listed out 3 big problems that many people face. In this episode, I’m going to talk about the solutions.

I got a question from a Community member about recording audio away from home, so I grabbed my Zoom H4N and a few mics and headed to a local Starbucks to test out the different mics in a real world setting. If you’d like to invest in an affordable, portable recording setup, this episode will help you get started.

Your podcast description is one of the first things people see when they come across your podcast online or in the iTunes directory. This is your chance to catch their attention and sell them on your show. It’s your opportunity to convince them to listen. The ideal podcast description answers two questions for your potential listener: 1. Is this show for me? 2. What am I going to get out of listening to this? When a potential audience member comes across your podcast and starts reading your description, they’re wondering, “What’s in it for me?” This is your chance to tell them why they should care about your show. Otherwise, they won’t.

My guest this week is Dan Powell. Dan is one half of Dead Signals Production, creator of the popular Archive 81 and Deep Vault found sound, radio drama podcast. In this episode, we talk about his recording process, how he designs sound, and his editing process. He shares some of the hurdles he overcame while producing podcasts and what advice he’d give to anyone interested in making a modern radio drama.

My guest this week is Marc Sollinger. Marc is one half of Dead Signals, a podcast production company that produces the modern radio drama podcasts Archive 81 and Deep Vault. In this episode, we’re going to take a deep dive into what it takes to plan, write, and produce a modern radio drama. This is part one of a two part series; next week I’ll be interviewing Dan Powell, who handles a lot of the editing, sound design, and music for Dead Signals.

If you podcast long enough, you're going to get criticism or negativity. You can't create work and share it with the world without experiencing it. One of the things we say in the Community is that you haven't made it until you've got haters. If people feel strongly enough about what you're doing to love it, then someone is going to feel strongly enough to hate it, or at least severely dislike it. I'm still pretty unknown, and I know that because I've only ever received negative feedback once. I could say that I just brushed it off, but it did affect me. Instead of letting it get me down, I sat with it. I thought about it. I analyzed why it made me feel the way it did, and I asked myself why. I want to share what I've learned about feedback and criticism to help you learn how to process it when it comes to you (and it will), but also to help you give feedback more effectively and waste less time engaging with people or on feedback that doesn't really matter.

Everyone has a story, but few people take the time to tell it. My guest today started a podcast to tell his story, despite having little experience with podcasting. As a result, he's growing an audience, making new friends, and learning a ton along the way. Brian Sanders is a project manager and app designer who formed a startup to build a new podcast app and platform. He's joining me today to share what he's learned in his startup and podcasting journey so far and how podcasting is helping him learn more about his target audience and his product.

Today I'm sharing 5 ways you can be a better podcast host. Whether you do a solo show, co-host or interviews, these 5 tips can help you make better podcasts, create a deeper connection with your audience, and grow your listener numbers.

I only recently got comfortable with podcasting. I know I'm not amazing yet, but it doesn't stress me out like it used to. I've been thinking a lot about video lately. Why do so many people spend so much time on Youtube? Are they just dumb, or am I missing something? I spent a few hours doing research, and what I discovered has changed the way I think about video. If you're like me and you've been mostly ignoring video, lend me your ear for a few minutes. I'm going to try to change your mind.

This is the second part in a two part series about shooting the video lessons for my upcoming Successful Podcasting course. If you're thinking about making a video or screencasting course, you'll want to listen to this! Cory McCabe and I just wrapped up shooting video and WOW. What a week. I've got the video gear packed into my car, and I'll be heading down to San Antonio in a few minutes to take it back to Sean, but I wanted to take a few minutes and share 7 lessons I've learned in the past two weeks.

I wanted to make this episode to inspire you if you've ever thought about creating an online course or screencast series. If you've never done it before, there's a lot to learn. You wonder, “How do I plan this thing? How do I write out what I want to say? How do I get good audio and record good video and how the heck do I record screencasts in the 16:9 aspect ratio? (Hint: just buy a 16:9 monitor.) The video guy for the seanwes network, Cory McCabe, joins me today to talk about setting up to shoot a video course. We're going to talk about how the first week of shooting went, the gear we're using, what went well, what didn't go well, and what we'd do differently next time.

It is possible to make money with a podcast. I've seen people do it. I've done it. But many podcasters struggle with this. Why is that? There are a few reasons. First, a lot of podcasters don't have a plan to make money outside of maybe selling ads, which brings us to the second problem: most podcasters don't have a big enough audience and they struggle to get new listeners. So what are some ways to make money with a podcast when you don't have a large audience yet?

It seems like there are more and more people producing podcasts and other content. Has the market reached saturation? Are there too many podcasts? And is it too late for you start a podcast and grow an audience?