198 Podcast Answer Man – Am I Just An Egomaniac? My True Motives For Podcasting Exposed!
Summary: This episode is very different from my normal format for Podcast Answer Man. I was not very happy how the last thirty minutes of last week’s episode went. It turns out that I was not the only one who was unhappy with that portion of the episode. It’s ironic in response to John Wilkerson’s question last week about how to entice your audience to provide audio for your show, I had shared that one of the ways was to “provoke your audience.” Last week’s episode did provoke at least one listener to respond. Fred from Texas called in with what I consider to the third most overly critical pieces of negative feedback that I have received since I’ve been podcasting. I debated not sharing this feedback because of many of the inaccurate assertions about who I am as a person and the inappropriate name calling that was persistent throughout the call. However, because this audio feedback was actually left and intended to be played in the podcast episode, I went ahead and shared the voice feedback, in it’s entirety. I didn’t share this in the episode. But one reason I chose to include the feedback in the show was because among the other overly critical, negative pieces of audio feedback that I’ve received, this is the only one that was actually provided for and meant to be played in the show itself. I hope that this does not scare people away from the prospect of podcasting and opening up a voice mail feedback hotline. However, I did want to share this as an example of just how negative and critical some people can be about what you might say in your show. And trust me, I’ve had worse than this. I haven’t listened to this episode is a long time. However, this may be a good time to encourage you to listen to Episode 106 of Podcast Answer Man where I share some practical insights on how to deal with negative, critical feedback when you get it. One thing I’ve learned about this type of feedback. Even if the feedback is shared without grace, compassion, and outside of any relationship with that person at all, there may still be a great deal of truth to the criticism that is being made. I certainly agree that there is “some truth” to the negative feedback provided by Fred. However, I knew that before I posted last week’s episode online. Of course I explain, in detail, why I put the full episode out as I did without editing out the last 30 minutes. While I completely disagree with the assertion that I’m an “egomaniac,” I realize that if one person came away from episode 197 feeling so strongly, that it may be possible that some other folks might have received the wrong impression about who I am and what my motives are in the world of podcasting. I’m VERY HAPPY to share, in this episode, the talk that my wife and I gave on Dan Miller’s No More Mondays Cruise, where we share a great deal of detail about our personal story. It shares who we are, our lives before podcasting, how we got involved in podcasting, how podcasting became my full-time career, and our heart and motivation for podcasting. As I said, this episode is very different from the normal weekly format of questions and answers. Also, this episode is the second episode in a row that exceeds one hour in length, which a personal pet peeve of mine in the world of podcasting. I ask each of you to forgive me for my outburst last week and for creating two incredibly long episodes back to back. With that said, I REALLY hope you enjoy the talk that Stephanie and I did and that it will be a source of inspiration. PODCAST CONSULTING: I'm available for one on one podcast consulting and coaching. Whether you want someone to get everything set up for you or you just need a little help along the way, I'd love to work with you. I'm able to demonstrate using screen sharing technology during our call which makes it just like I was there sitting next to you at the computer. If you are interested, email me at Cliff@Ravenscraft.org or call me at 859-757-1399.
