I love #Podcasting (Discovering the World of Podcasts)
I love podcasting. Podcasting is new to me. I officially became a full-time podcaster August 4th, 2014, just over one month ago. After massive research finding the right mic and other podcasting equipment I finally arrived to my first podcast interview session. I was exhausted, in no mood to do anything, especially not learn new recording equipment. I pressed the red record button for my very 1st podcast interview featuring my friend, startup attorney Damion Robinson. An undeniable ‘YES!’ surged through my being while my exhaustion instanteously vanished. I knew at that moment it was the profession I wanted to/had to pursue. There was no going back.
This Medium post series documents my journey to create a profitable podcast.
I first discovered podcasting in 2013 through the podcast ‘Product People’. I was doing a google search on Jason Fried (because he’s awesome) and the search results showed he was just interviewed. I clicked over and started listening to my first podcast. I didn’t know it was a podcast at the time, I simply loved the product focused content this random audio series was putting out into the world. It was honest, engaging and dropped jewels of knowledge consistently. I feverishly waited for new episodes in order to download them onto my computer. Then I’d move the audio files to my Android phone so I could listen to them when I was doing dishes or driving. As each new conversation began in my earbuds I’d feel a rush as I knew I’d become a smarter business woman by just taking the time to listen. The content excited me so much that I even sponsored a couple episodes for my startup at the time (SaveBusinessTime). I had never sponsored anything in my life, but I knew this was something special. After some fangirl outreach I got to know the podcast host, Justin Jackson, and he has consistently proven to be an honorable, positive, inspiration in my startup life. It was with his podcast the seeds were planted to one day having a podcast of my own, I just didn’t know it then.
By the end of 2013 I was burnt out. My startup, now a productivity tool blog, wasn’t flowing as smoothly as I had hoped, so I decided to hop on a free flight (airline miles) to Europe for a week to meet Dutch entreprenuers in order to get re-inspired. I always found the Dutch have an eye for clean design and efficiency. More times than not, they created eye popping designs that are like visual dessert. I talked to LA based tech news site TechZulu, who I had been a contributing journalist for, about interviewing founders at Bubble Conf in Amsterdam. I thought the experience would give me some perspective on what I was doing wrong with my own site design. Additionally BetaList, (also based in the Netherlands), a company that features prelaunch startups, had featured my company, so I thought it would be cool to meet the founder. That one week long trip led to being an unplanned 4 months backpacking aboard, interviewing startups in 14 countries, with only my bright blue Sony waterproof camera, leaving my computer and phone back in the States. This is where I discovered my love for ‘on the go’ low budget reporting.
I got back to Los Angeles on January 9th 2014, winter time, and had to begin organizing all the 100s of incredible interviews I had shot for TechZulu; Interviews with executives from Woothemes, Evernote, HotelTonight, SoundCould, of course BetaList, Facebook London and the list goes on, even the guy who created SIRI! It was incredible. I couldn’t believe I accomplshed so much and heard so many awesome business stories with just a small digital camera. I have had experience with video before growing an action sports media company, ZexSports, so I understood how timely the video editing process was going to be. With ZexSports I had full teams of editors to make our skate segments look awesome. I may know how to work iMovie, but to create a dope skate video, that takes actual talent and creativity. It’s not an every day iMovie type job. So I handed my hours and hours of European footage over to the TechZulu team and they began doing their magic.
My birthday arrived in March, spring time, which is when I switched from Android to iPhone just to Facetime with my new friends in Europe. I had no idea how important having an iPhone would be to my future profession. I went on doing my thing for the months that followed constantly asking myself, what are the things in the world I am best at, and most importantly, what do I most enjoy? It was a tough question and I just kept asking myself day after day, month after month. It was a frustrating process, full of confusion, but I just kept asking myself the questions. What were the times in my life where I felt the most happy…?
During those 5 months I slowly started to recognize the answers. First I recognized my soul felt on fire for everything ZexSports, my 2nd startup from years prior. I missed the team, the content creation, the excitement. Second was connecting people. I felt so alive when I connected people who mutually benefited knowing one another. Third was writing. When I captured that typing spark sharing a story it was like going into a time machine. Fouth was moderating panels/giving talks. I am so moved when someone years later says that something I shared on stage truly changed their life for the better… that’s just WOW. Last recognition was backpacking. There is a type of inexplicable freedom, exploration and creativity experienced when backpacking. I felt open and constantly inspired. I put all those things in a professional stew and by July, summer time, I came up with podcasting.
Let’s take a step back though, as I mentioned before, I didn’t know anything about podcasting, but upon returning to the States the founder of BetaList encouraged me to load some podcasts to my new iPhone using the Podcast app. On a bike ride to a Digital LA event at the W Westwood I began listening to a comedic podcast called Maniacal Rage and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was so much fun and made the time go by like it was nothing. The ride became part of the activity. When I got to my destination I was bummed to pause the podcast it was that good. At that point I started listening to the other podcasts he had recommended 5by5 and RadioLab and that’s when I understood ‘Product People’ was a podcast. So I searched the iPhone podcast app to subscribe to that too. On Android the apps for podcast entertainment are limited, but on an iPhone there is this world of on demand entertainment. I’ve never been a talk radio person, hadn’t even listened to NPR until I became a podcaster. I associated talk radio programs with the AM channel that as far as I knew was non existent other than on my Mom’s old school radio headphones when she’s doing her morning walk up the Malibu mountain. I couldn’t get enough of podcasts. I was listening to everything at least once to see how they were different from one another; what the hosts were like, the content breaks to integrate sponsors and was amazed that for the most part there was no music involved. I decided to expore creating a podcast of my own.
The first time I remember really taking this podcast idea seriously was when I went to the grand opening of Philz in Santa Monica. I had just gotten back from San Francisco staying my friend Greg’s place. This coffee shop was on the corner of his SoMa block called Philz and he absolutely insisted I experience it before I left SF. I’m not even a coffee drinker, but I figured I’d get an iced chai. Completely unexpected, it was the best iced chai I’d ever had. The place had this community vibe that was unlike Starbucks or CoffeeBean. The staff felt like my friends, not employees. I dug it so much that when I got back to LA I googled the Philz website searching for an LA location knowing the estabishment only existed in the Bay. To my surprise that following week they were opening their first location outside Techropolis and entering the land of digital and movie stars. I eagerly attended their grand opening feeling like I knew an insider secret. When I picked up my drink dressed with fresh mint I spotted my friend Andy sitting by the window and joined him and his buddy sitting next to him. I introduced myself to his friend only to disocver IT WAS PHIL himself. I couldn’t believe it. I started asking him all sorts of questions and as I was listening to Phil’s story about how he started and grew his dominant coffee business Andy mentioned he wished he had a recorder. I asked, ‘Phil, if I pursue podcasting, will you be my first interview?’ His “Yes” was said with beaming glee and I felt I had taken a massive step forward in a new direction. However, before taking anyone’s time, I wanted to make sure I didn’t just start a podcast, but I was able to commit to a podcast. So that meant creating a profitable podcast, which I also had zero clue how to do…
In the next post (2) I’ll share what I discovered researching the existing successful and profitable podcasts.
To check out my podcast episodes as they go live go to http://wearelatech.com/podcast
