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.

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.

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.

Charli Prangley is a designer by day and a content creator by... well, pretty much the rest of the time. In addition to her day job, she produces two high-quality Youtube videos and a podcast every week, and also runs an online apparel shop. I was so impressed with the consistency and quality of her output that I knew I had to get her on the show to share how she creates so much while still working a full-time job. If you've ever struggled with creating consistently or trying to get everything 100% perfect before shipping, you need to listen to this episode.

Ever wondered how to make a living with just your voice? Interested in becoming a professional voice-over artist? This week I'm joined by professional voice-over artist Jay Britton, who has done work for companies like HBO (Game of Thrones!), Marvel, Amazon, and more. He built his voice-over career from scratch in his late 20's, and in this episode, Jay shares everything you need to know if you want to be a professional voice-over artist too. We talked about how he got started, what gear he recommends for beginners, how to find work if you're just starting out, how to get your first agent, tips for improving your speaking voice, and so much more.

My guest this week is Caleb Wojcik, the DIY Video Guy. If you're anything like me, you've been interested in making video for awhile now, but you probably also worry that you'll look or sound dumb on camera. I get it. In this episode, I talk with Caleb about how he makes video podcasts for iTunes, but we also talk about what keeps people from getting started with producing videos, and share some practical tips to help you overcome your fear of being on camera. Enjoy!

Want to be a better podcaster and grow your audience? Something I've seen over and over again is that the best podcasters spend a lot of time writing. Want to learn how to be a better writer? My guest this week – Glenn Leibowitz – wants to help you get there. Glenn has been writing and editing for the past 17 years, mostly for his company, but two years ago he started his own blog and also started to blog weekly on LinkedIn. He writes about professional development, technology, social media, and writing. In December 2015, LinkedIn named him one of 90 “top voices” on LinkedIn (out of the 1 million people who blog there). He ranked #2 in the marketing and social media category. In 2015, he launched his own weekly podcast – Write With Impact – where he interviews authors of nonfiction and fiction and tries to pick apart their secrets and have them share what they’ve learned over the years as writers. I asked Glenn to join me for a three-part podcast series to share what he's learning about writing and growing an audience, the benefits of storytelling (even if you write non-fiction), how to get started with publishing on LinkedIn, and more. In this episode, Glenn shares his top tips for becoming a better writer, we discuss why outlines are critical for success, why you should edit after you're done writing, how to write great titles, and so much more.

Man. Interviews! There are so many things related to interviews that I could talk about. I was working on the outline and I had all these topics and tips written out (so many tips). But I was thinking, and I said to myself, “Aaron. What are the 3-5 most common mistakes you see less-experienced podcasters make when doing interviews?” So instead of trying to cover a bunch of different topics related to interviewing people, I'm going to focus on a couple and give you some solid, practical advice to help you avoid the common mistakes that many podcasters make when doing interviews.

My second episode was a guide to gear for podcasting, but I’ve learned a lot in the past months, so I wanted to make an updated guide. I said back then that if you couldn’t afford good gear, you should wait and save up money. I was wrong about that. I still believe that great gear will give you better sound quality which will help your show be more successful, but I don’t believe you should wait to get started. There’s so much you need to learn when you’re first starting out; great gear isn’t going to magically make the process easier. It’s best to get started with what you have, or buy what you can afford and then upgrade later. So let’s talk about podcasting on a budget. I’m going to cover gear for those of you who have little-to-no money to spend, and also share what I think is the best podcasting gear so that you’ll know what to get in the future when you have money to upgrade.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to make a podcast? What the steps are? This week, I’m going to walk you through my process, step by step. I'm going to give you a better understanding of what it takes to make a podcast, take some of the mystery and scariness out of podcasting, and give you actionable steps to follow to make your own podcast.

In this episode, I'm sharing a list of all the resources that have helped me learn recording, mixing, and mastering. Not all of the resources in this episode are specifically about podcasting, but they are great places and people to learn from if you’re interested in editing and mixing your shows, if you want to become a professional podcast editor, or if you want to record and mix music.