Podcasting Life and Business After Four Years-Podcast 622

What’s it like to support yourself as a podcaster? I looked up the other day and asked, “How long have I been doing this?” 2009 was the actual start date. I’ve been in business supporting myself as a podcaster exclusively since 2013. Learned a lot of lessons in that time. It seems like I’ve been in business a lot longer than nearly four years. Hear some of those lessons in Podcasting Life and Business After Four Years-Podcast 622.

Soul killing corporate jobs aren’t for everyone

Some business owners wish for the peace of collecting a paycheck and doing what the boss wants. Not me. Going into business for myself has been a path of self discovery and self realization. You say goodbye to eight hour days and regimented work schedules. No more guaranteed paychecks. Some months are great. Some aren’t so great. You’re ‘On It’ pretty much 24 hours a day. Freedom is one of the rewards. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Self Realization

Surprisingly, how I spend my time has become one of the top priorities. I can do anything I want. Is what I am doing with my time going to benefit the business? How does the business grow? What is the core business? How is that going to change? Self Realization is one of the big benefits of being in business alone. No one around to give orders. Good decisions accrue to the business owner. So do the bad decisions. Thus, you spend a lot of time thinking things through.

Content Creators

Centuries of business have been about consolidating physical space. Farmers need more land. Ranchers need more space for more cattle. Retailers always want to open new locations. Content creators have real estate in cyber space. With the right tools we can make that space as big as it needs to be. A new world requires a complete change in thinking. Content creators don’t just have to change the ‘working for the man’ mindset, but how we think about what we do as well.

Podcasting As A Business

Podcasting is still a fledgling ‘industry’. We podcasters are cutting a new trail. As an advertising medium Podcasting works. Smaller podcasts can yield very good results too. Podcasts big and small tell stories and provide basic information on highly specific topics unavailable anywhere else. Podcasters make an authentic human connection with the listener not found in broadcast media.

Walk and Talk

The rules of the Walk and Talk Podcast are no prep, no plan. Just talk. Join me. What came up in this podcast are the life and business lessons I’ve learned since I started podcasting. If you’re considering going into business for yourself, especially as a content creator, do what you love. Passion for the work will get you through a lot of rainy days.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Podcasting Life and Business After Four Years-Podcast 622

 

 

 

Podcast 514-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-31

Podcast 514-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-31. This week’s edition of the radio show, now heard Sunday’s at 4PM on AM1280 The Patriot in Minneapolis and Saint Paul with new affiliates as we get them through the syndicator, GCNLIVE.com. This is a great review of the week, with some new content for the radio show that hasn’t been in the podcasts. The mission of this show is to bring content from the podcasts back to the radio. This week – in podcast time – has been a difficult week, in the wake of the Orlando Terror Attack. The social and political debate has followed the path I predicted last Sunday night. Gun Control advocates on one side, people who think the failure is the President’s and it is because he refuses to use the term Radical Islam to describe the enemies of the United States. Again predictably, the same lines of argument played out in Congress, and across the board in the media. Most of what happened this week has been useless in protecting Americans from potential ‘lone wolf’ terrorists, and the fact is, little will be done as we have a presidential election, and then the inauguration of a new president and congress in January of next year. It will take time for the new president and congress to grapple with these issues, and form new policy ideas and formulate plans to ‘deal’ with whatever the problem is. The fact that the argument follows predictable pathways is as depressing as the event itself. We’ll change the energy a little bit in Podcast 514-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-31, to talk about creativity, business and being an entrepreneur. If you listened to Podcast 513 it will be amusing to listen to the edited version of that podcast for the final segment of Podcast 514-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-31, because it is edited for radio station programmers and owners, slightly softening some of the harshest criticism of the radio business heard in Podcast 513. Still, some of the points are applicable to any American business institution these days, whether it is corporate America, or even some elements of politics. Given the technology we have to amplify the individual, there’s still a lot of old thinking in business and politics these days. Sponsored by Karow Contracting and Hydrus Performance.

Podcast 513

Advice for Podcasters. When I introduce myself as a podcaster at business network events, and events where I speak, or when I am singing the praises of podcast advertising to potential clients, they often say, “I want to do my own podcast”. I often have people ask me to tell them how to podcast, how to post their podcasts, what microphone I use, how I record and so on. I don’t give Advice for Podcasters, but this week a FaceBook announcement that a ‘big convention for podcasters’ would be held soon, triggered a response and the need for some Advice for Podcasters. The event includes a lot of radio people who will be on panels on which advice to podcasters will be presented, including ‘critiques’ of podcaster’s podcasts and ‘suggestions’ for what they need to do to ‘sound better’. If you’re a podcaster, should you listen to radio people when they give advice about how to ‘sound better’, or podcast ‘better’? First, podcasting takes a lot of work and effort, especially to stay in it and especially to make any money at all in it. We’re working on the monetization part, but who knows where the solutions will come from as far as making more money. Right now, about 25 percent of the public listens to podcasts – according to radio researchers. I think it is probably much higher, because it’s very hard to assess whether people listen to podcasts and how long they listen, when they listen. There’s no question podcasting – as all on demand services – are going to grow by leaps and bounds as smart phone penetration increases, and as new and more powerful iterations of these devices are developed and purchased. Let’s face it, radio is a contracting industry, and while people in the radio industry don’t like to hear it, it’s a sad fact that the old girl just ain’t what she used to be. What’s amusing about the radio industry is, radio people seem to think they ‘know’ how everything should be done, and aren’t shy about telling everyone else what they should do, and how they should do it. After pooh poohing podcasting for years, companies like Hubbard are jumping into the podcast business (Hubbard Radio just bought a huge share in Podcast One, for example), in an effort to establish a beach head in podcasting, even though everyone in radio will tell you how dumb podcasters are and how terrible they all are. Radio people are trapped in a paradigm, a specific approach to what they do. This approach is what has killed the business, and it will probably never get fixed. The same thing is happening to broadcast television, and movie studios and record labels to a lesser extent. This is a good podcast for you if you’re thinking about podcasting or doing anything creative today. Creative people; artists, writers, musicians, and DJ’s have tools that never existed before, and the ability to reach audiences we would never have been able to reach before the very real technology revolution. This is a change that calls for Revolutionary Thinking. Should you spend thousands of dollars to hang out at some radio convention and have them listen to your ‘tape’ and tell you what they think? Well, my Advice for Podcasters? This podcast is free. Listen to it first and see what you think. Sponsored by Hydrus and Brush Studio in The West End Saint Louis Park.