The Cliff Ravenscraft Show - Mindset Answer Man

If you are interested in hearing my full recap of my BlogWorld trip to NYC, check out Episode 499 of Pursuing A Balanced Life. It was an amazing opportunity that has already led to several other amazing opportunities. Tony called in to ask how I am able to keep my Skyped in guests and co-hosts from talking over me in my podcasts. While I’ve never really paid much attention to this detail, I share my thoughts on how I think I may have been accomplishing this. Ron says that his stats from Libsyn are reporting that his show is being downloaded in 65 countries. He wanted to know if this was actually true and if so, what does that mean? I shared why I am certain that these stats are correct and how I think this information should affect the way we produce our shows. In the last episode, I talked about how I rarely create podcast promos. In this episode, I share a promo for a brand new podcast that sounds great. The only issue is that the promo probably took more time to create than it would have taken to produce two or three episodes of this new podcast. The ironic thing is that this podcast never existed. Sometimes the best way to promote your podcast is to create consistent content that people will love to talk about. Phil called in with one of the questions that I get asked most often. He is looking to launch several different podcasts and wanted to know if he should create one website to host all the shows or if he should create a website for each podcast individually. I share several different things that I consider when launching a new show as it relates to whether or not the new show will get its own website or if it will simply be included on my network site as a category. Brent Green called in to ask my feelings about the importance of podcast artwork. While giving my response to this question, I mentioned http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/artwork. To wrap up the episode, I mentioned that I will be speaking at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in LA this November. I’ll provide more details related to a discount code and the topic of my talk as I get more of those details. I’m now accepting registrations for my November Podcasting A to Z course that will begin on November 11th. Please check out the full details at http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/atoz. 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. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

iTunes Ratings/Rankings Blog Post In this episode, I talked shared about a recent blog post that I wrote about iTunes Ranking. In the post, I shared how I was able to get a new podcast to rank higher than Oprah’s Book Club podcast in the literature category after having the podcast in the directory for only two weeks. I talked about how creating the following video invitation to my BlogWorld & New Media Expo session gained me the attention of the CEO and Co-Founder of the conference, Rick Calvert. I was so excited to learn that learn that he wants to include it as an example of how to promote your BlogWorld sessions in the official BlogWorld & New Media Expo newsletter. Here’s the video invitation: In the video above, I used my new wireless mic system and lighting kit that I recently blogged about. Professional Audio Promo Production I also mentioned my friend Rick Tarrant who I turn to to create professional sounding promo materials fro myself and my clients. You can find Rick at http://ricktarrant.com. How Do I Know If My Show Is In The Blackberry Podcast Directory? Steve asked if there is a way to actually confirm whether or not your podcast is listed in the Blackberry podcast directory. I originally talked about this topic in Podcast Answer Man Episode 173. I shared that you could try and find someone who has a Blackberry device and ask them to look or you could go to http://rimpodcast.quickplay.ca/rimpodcasting and log in with the email address and password that you created. If your show is listed there, you “should be” in their directory. What Settings Should I Change For Good Levels On The Edirol? Dave called to as if it matters which method of amplification he uses to get his Edirol to hit between -12 to -6 for his recording levels. I shared that there are various ways that you can get to this leve. Personally, my own settings change for time to time, though my Edirol is current set on audio input level 80 and my Gain is between 12 and 1 o’clock. With that said, Dave’s audio is awesome and I really wouldn’t recommend much of a change if it’s working for for him. Next Podcasting A to Z Session Happening In July! I shared that I am doing the Podcasting A to Z course again in July. The course will begin on Monday, July 11th and run for a full five weeks. Please check out http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/atoz for more information about the course. Want To Earn Some Cash? If you want to become an affiliate for this course, please email me at Cliff@PodcastAnswerMan.com. You can earn $150 for each referral that you send to the course. No More Free Adobe Audition For Mac Users! The Adobe Audition Pre-Release Has Ended. I found out this morning, just before I recorded the show, as I needed to edit some audio clips to play in my shows this week. After some investigation and a chat session with an Adobe sales representative, I found out that I could not upgrade to Mac without shutting off access to my previous PC version. So I went ahead and purchased a new full version license for $349 using my affiliate link and had the software downloaded and installed in five to ten minutes. The best part is that with my single license I am able to install the software on two machines. So I installed the new Mac version on both my 27” iMac and also on my 11” MacBook Air. It works great! The only thing is that I am not able to use the software on both systems simultaneously. I just love that I have Adobe Audtion now available on my work desktop and on my laptop for when I’m on the go. Interview With Darrell Darnell The second half of this episode contains an interview that I did with my good friend Darrel Darnell. Darrel hosts a very successful podcast devoted to the television show, Fringe. You can find his show at http://TheFringePodcast.com. I wanted to have Darrell on the show to show that other folks are out there and building an online community around shared passions.

In this episode I share some more thoughts on my blog post about where I was invited to speak at BlogWorld & New Media Expo NYC. If you live in the NYC area, I hope that you will consider joining me for a special meetup I’m planning for Monday, May 23rd. For more details of the meetup, please click here The Podcasting Formula For Success: I probably should have edited the part where I tried to read the bio of one of my Podcasting A to Z students in this episode. However, I hope that the value found in the formula that I share from those who I have seen experience similar success to what I’ve experience through podcasting. The formula was: Introduce yourself to your audience. Be Authentic and relateable. Share what you know with your audience for the purpose of improving their lives. Share what you are learning as you continue your journey. Become the “can’t live without” source of information and inspiration in your niche field. Become a sought after consultant, coach, speaker, etc. Create passive income through informational products that are far more valuable than what you charge. Prepare to be amazed at the opportunities that follow. Things I mentioned that fuel the success of the formula above: Passion Talent Determination Self Discipline Faith Support of spouse if married. Questions covered in this episode: Mark asked if it is normal for the gain to be turned up so high when using a Heil PR-40 microphone. Kirk asked which sample rate and recording settings he should use on his recorder. Shawn Roberts asked if I had some thoughts on an issue he’s having with Feedburner. Link to blog post mentioned by Shawn J. Roberts - http://goo.gl/KFhTe Santos asked about using the LAME encoder in Audacity and how I recommend using iTunes. Link to post on tagging - http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/tagging Mark asked why I don’t record into multiple tracks and simply use digital recorder as a backup. Danny asked about editing a .wav file imported multiple times in Adobe Audition CS5.5. Podcasting A to Z Update I am very delighted to tell you that the Podcasting A to Z podcasting class did get fully booked. To be sure that I have plenty of time to promote the next course, I’ll be doing the Podcasting A to Z course again in July. It will be a five week course which will begin on Monday, July 11tth. If you are interested in signing up with a special early bird pricing discount, please email me at Cliff@PodcastAnswerMan.com. 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. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

In this episode of Podcast Answer Man, I open the show by talking about a new video blog post that I did at http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/podcasting101. The post is titled “How Podcasting Works” and is intended to give you the “Big Picture” of how podcasting actually works. I answer a question from Dodge who asked if I had any recommendations for someone who was considering moving over to ServInt Hosting as their web provider. I do have an affiliate link with Servint Hosting. If you are considering going with them, please CLICK HERE. Here are the three recommendations that I have for anyone who moves to ServInt Hosting: 1) Purchase the Fantastico Software option when signing up for your service. It is a very small additional annual fee to have this service that allows you to do one click installs of WordPress. 2) Once your account is activated, submit a support ticket requesting that they install/run your php as suPHP. Trust me, they will know what you are asking for, even if you don’t. 3) If your site gets a lot of traffic, you may want to consider installing the W3-Total-Cache WordPress plugin. This is a rather complex plugin to set up. I was delighted that someone from ServInt actually offered to install and configure this plugin on each and every one of my WordPress installations for me. Also, in this episode, I am very pleased to introduce Barry & Lynne Morgan from http://SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com and now http://HydroponicsFarmer.com to the Podcast Answer Man and gspn.tv community. I believe that this interview will inspire many people in so many ways. 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. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

Adobe Audtiion CS5.5 Adobe Audtion 4.0 is actually named Adobe Audition CS5.5. The new version is now available for both PC and Mac users and is available for pre-order now. The affiliate link (http://goo.gl/SRC9q) here on my site will automatically take you to the page where you can pre-order the new version. If you simply can’t wait for the new version, you can purchase version 3.0 for the PC or it does appear that you can still down the beta pre-release version of the CS5.5 at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/audition. The full version is $349 and the upgrade price is $99. I don’t have any specifics at all, but I know that teachers and students are often eligible for special pricing. The new version is expected to ship by Mid May. Alesis iO Dock Alesis has announced the the iO Dock Pro Audio Doc for the iPad. The specs show that it will provide users with two combination XLR and 1/4-inch inputs, each with its own gain control and switchable phantom power for condenser microphones. Theoretically, podcasters could connect outputs from their mixer and record their shows with the iPad playing the role of the Digital Audio Recorder. Users can connect the iO Dock’s stereo pair of 1/4-inch main outputs to studio monitors or I would assume a PA system system if you were doing a live show. You can monitor on headphones, and independently control the levels of the two outputs, each on its own knob. The iO Dock’s direct-monitor switch enables you to toggle between the incoming and playback signal on their headphones. Would I consider using this for my own shows? I’ll just say that I am HIGHLY SKEPTICAL at this point. I’m admittedly an Apple Snob. I love my Apple products. However, with that said, I’ve had enough spinning beach balls on my Mac computers to keep me from ever considering relying of software to record my shows on anything other than a dedicated device that is designed to do nothing more than record professional audio. The iOS system is actually more buggy than the Mac OS. App crashes on the iPhone or iPad are quite common place and I would imagine that those who would rely this device as their only method of recording the audio for this show will actually see a higher percentage of episodes completely lost than those who record into their computers. Testimonial from Stacy Westfall Folks, you’ve heard me do a lot of talking about my Podcasting A to Z Course. In this episode, I play a testimonial from one of my students who went through the March course. There are many other success stories that have come out of our March that I’ll be sharing in the future. However, I did want to share Stacy’s testimonial that she called in for the show. I’ve transcribed the testimonial for those of you reading the show notes. Hi Cliff, it’s Stacy from The Your Horse Career Podcast at http://YourHorseCareer.com. And I needed to call and give you some feedback on your a to z course. I was in the first A to Z course and it was amazing. I started to listening to podcasts about a year ago with Dave Ramsey and that led me into listening to Dan Miller, and then that led me to listening to you. My husband and I had wanted to do an internet talk radio hosted type thing on our website for years, before I even knew what podcasting was. We kept listening and looking for ways to get into it but we kept getting conflicting messages on what equipment to use, what software, how to host it, and so I never pulled the trigger. When we heard that you were advertising your a to z course, I saw my opportunity to complete a program, a full out program, that would take me from step one all the way through the finished product. I was not disappointed. You over delivered with your webinars and tutorials, your conference calls, and everything you had was so much information. My husband, Jesse, and I were actually able to launch a website and a podcast during the course.

In this episode of Podcast Answer Man, I share the concept of what I call “gateway content” that helps me introduce new people to my brand. This topics is actually addressed at the end of the episode. I started this episode by answering the following questions: - Is there an affordable way to have transcripts done for your podcast? - Should I use my business name in the name of my podcast? - What project/sample rate should I use in my recording/editing software? - What should I do with unclaimed premiums used in giveaways? - How did you get to the place where your name is popping up all over the place? - Should I edit out all the slience in my podcast episodes? Update to Adobe Audtion 101 Tutorial I mentioned that Adobe Audition 101 now has an extra video to explain the minor tool placement differences between version 3.0 and 4.0. You can purchase this tutorial at http://podcastanswerman.com/products/#adobe As of the time when I am posting this show, the Pre-Release of Adobe Audtion 4.0 is still available, for free, at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/audition Podcasting A to Z There are still spots open for the May Podcasting A to Z group study. For full details, please check out http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/atoz 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. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

In this episode of Podcasting Answer Man, I covered the following topics... Educating Your Audience About Podcasting Danielle from the Netherlands asked about how to train your audience to subscribe and download your podcast episodes. I believe it is important for us, as podcasters, to educate our audience about the benefits of subscribing to podcasts. However, it’s important that we do this without annoying those who are content with simply listening to our show right from the website. I encouraged Danielle to look at these two links: - http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/iTunes - http://spinalcolumnradio.com/whats-a-podcast Why No Pay Per Episode Model? John Wilkerson called in a question a long time ago about why I had not offered a pay per episode model when I was still pursuing premium content via podcast episodes. I shared that I had changed my approach to premium content in January of 2011. You can read about this change at http://gspn.tv/plus Now I did share, in this episode, that I did test the option of the Pay Per Episode Model and even mentioned that you can still see the page I used for this at gspn.tv/single (MISSING LINK INTENTIONAL!). You can type in that url and see the page that I used to sell individual episodes back in the day. To Blog Or Not To Blog Chris called in and said that he had been thinking about my advice to blog in between podcast episodes. However, he said that every time he went to blog about something, he felt that it should be something that he felt should be included in the podcast. I share my thoughts on doing both! New YouTube Channel I mentioned my new YouTube channel that you can find at http://YouTube.com/PodcastAnswerMan. I would love it if you would take a moment of your time and subscribe to my channel. My Newest Gear - Sony UWP-V6 Wireless Microphone System - http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/uwp - New Studio Lighting! - http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/lighting Enrollment For Podcasting A To Z Course Now Open! In March, I devoted my entire month to walking 20 participants of my Podcasting A to Z course through every aspect of audio podcasting. I had full confidence that the class would be well accepted and that everyone who participated would benefit greatly. However, I had never dreamed that I would enjoy group coaching as much as I did. Never before have I felt more efficient with my consulting/coaching time. I loved the experience of helping the greatest number of people for the lowest cost during the month of March. The only thing that has come close to this has been my digital tutorial products which continue to do extremely well. However, I really love having the ability to offer an avenue where I can answer specific questions for my clients. I’m very happy to announce that I am offering this five week Podcasting A to Z Course again during the month of May. FOR MORE DETAILS, PLEASE VISIT http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/atoz. The Benefits of Podcasting As A Family I ended this episode with the talk that my wife, Stephanie, did at Podcamp Nashville 2011. In the talk, she shared the wonderful ways that podcasting as a family has had a positive impact on our lives. 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. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

In this episode of Podcast Answer Man, I cover the following topics. Dave Thackery called in to ask how much he should charge a new sponsor for an upcoming podcast. In response, I shared the many things that I consider when thinking about how much to charge for sponsors of my own podcasts. Here’s a list that I shared. - Potential Benefit To My Audience - Potential Benefit To The Sponsor - My confidence level that I can convince my audience of this benefit - The potential size of the audience - The lifespan of the content - The ability to track results & get feedback on effectiveness of the sponsorship - My relationship with my audience Robinson called in and asked if podcasters should compensate Interviewees if we release as the interview as premium content. I give several of my thoughts related to this issue in the podcast. Anthony Vicars called in to ask about what to do with the missing images from his Enhanced Podcast after moving from AAC to MP3 format. Also, he asked about how I am getting my show notes to pull up in the iPod player on his iPhone. In response to Anthony’s questions, I explain what an Enhanced Podcast is and my thoughts about them. Also I provide some suggestions that may be worth considering. As for the show notes showing up for my podcasts, I referred him to a video blog post that I did at

In this episode, I invite my friend, Daniel J. Lewis of http://Noodle.mx , into the gspn.tv / Podcast Answer Man studio to discuss the upcoming Podcamp Cincinnati event that will be held on Saturday, October 22nd, 2011. Learn more about Podcast Cincinnati at http://PodcampCincinnati.com. Judi Graff from http://farmandranchcountry.com called in some feedback to share her thoughts on her first Podcamp Experience in Nashville this past weekend. Judi and her husband, also produced this YouTube video about the event. Dodge called in to ask some questions related to migrating his existing podcast and all the archived episodes over to Libsyn. I shared that Libsyn will do this for $0.05 per MB. Jim Bramham called to ask if there was an easy way to embed a podcast episode into the sidebar of his website. I shared my own personal recommendation of turning that single episode into a YouTube video that you can then embed in a text widget in your sidebar. I have done something similar to this with my two YouTube videos that are in the sidebar of my site as of March 31st, 2011. I shared a bug that we had found in the PowerPress Plug-in versions 2.0.1 & 2.0.2. There will be fix for this bug that is rolled out over the next week or so. Version 2.0.3 should be available for direct download and manual installation on the plug-in website. Vince called in to ask my thoughts on how the stats of his particular podcast stack up among the stats of other shows out there. In response, I give my overall view on the relevance of stats tracking. During episode, I mention that I was recently featured as a guest on the following podcast episodes: Learning With Leslie aka The Freebie Guy: Episode 11 = Part 1 - http://goo.gl/ZYiAG Episode 12 = Part 2 - http://goo.gl/ehJwS ConnieAndSheilaTalk.com Episode 50 - http://goo.gl/u2OEx 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. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

In this episode of Podcast Answer Man, I share some updated information to confirm that the R-09HR recorder has been discontinued. I assure those who have purchased the R-09HR that they should not feel bad because it is actually a better recorder than the R-05 due to his superior mp3 encoding as mentioned in episode 201 of Podcast Answer Man. With that said, I stand by my recommendation of the Roland R-05 as my preferred digital audio recorder if a new, in the box R-09HR is no longer available. Vince called in and shared how much he loves his R-09HR recorder and to also ask for some advice on how he can make it so that his guests on Skype can hear the audio clips that he plays in his podcast without the need to turn the aux out volume up and down for each clip. I give my advice on how to accomplish this and I mentioned http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/studiosetup Chef Tony called in a question about how I deliver my digital video tutorials to those who purchase them. I gave a brief overview of how the process works and I mentioned that I have an entire video tutorial where I share how I do webinars and turn them into high quality digital products for sale on my site. That tutorial can be found at http://podcastanswerman.com/products/#webproducts The Freebie Guy called in to ask my opinion on the differences between Adobe Audition v/s Soundbooth. I personally have not tried Soundbooth but I have done this research int he past. I share what I had vound in my previous research. I also mentioned the video that you can find here: http://goo.gl/pAkGo Jim called in to ask for some advice on which meta tags he need to use when tagging his .mp3 files. I shared some information on this topic in the episode and also suggested that he look at the free video tutorial that I’ve done on this topic that can be found at http://podcastanswerman.com/tagging Keith Snow has a Blue Yeti microphone and wanted to know about proper mic placement. There are a many differing opinions on this topic. As you might imagine, I gave my opinion on proper mic placement in response to Keith’s question. Wayne from New York called in to ask for my opinion of the new offerings for podcasters to offer premium content to their audience. In response to this question, I played an interview that I did with Rob Walch regarding this exact topic. In an effort to keep the show under and hour, I just briefly shared my thoughts on this, which I’m actually glad that I did start the ending music that forced me to keep my thoughts brief and to the point. Basically, I think that there will be “some” who find this service appealing. Those would be the same people who are comfortable allowing Libsyn to handle every single aspect of their podcasting, including rss fee, website for show notes, blogging, etc. However, a majority of my audience doe not fit into this category. As I was playing the interview, while broadcasting the recording of my show live, my chat room had a pretty harsh reaction to the thought of giving up 40% of the profits of your efforts in creating premium content to anyone for the sake of convenience when you could invest a few hours to learn how to create a password protected page of your own and learn how to use PayPal subscription buttons or some other Shopping Cart solution that would allow you to keep 100% of your profits from premium content. In all fairness to Libsyn, I really dont’ think they have my target audience in mind when they created this service. In 2010, my gspn.tv Plus Membership generated just over $27,000 of income for my business. I spent two weeks setting up my system and about an hour or so every week just to keep my systems maintained. In opinion, it was worth the extra $10,800 (40%) of income to go through the trouble of doing all that work. Of course I completely changed the way that I do my gspn.tv Plus Membership effective January of 2011. You can read about those changes at http://gspn.

Roland R-05 Digital Audio Recorder Review In this special episode of Podcast Answer Man, I give a pretty thorough review of the new Roland R-05 Digital Audio Recorder. I put the record though the test of recording in a walkcast environment which is typically the way I record my Pursuing A Balanced Life podcast. I'm very sad that the R-09HR is no longer being produced. However, with the exception of the .mp3 encoder used in the R-05 recorder, I'm a impressed with this new recorder. Since I recommend recording into .wav format anyway, I am happy to announce that this recorder in my new go to recommendation. If you are considering the purchase of a Roland R-05 recorder, please click here to use my affiliate link. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

Celebrating 200 Episodes! I’m very excited to celebrate my 200th episode of Podcast Answer Man. In this episode, I share that the goals that I had hoped to accomplish with this podcast had been realized years before I had anticipated. I did spend th...

In this episode, I started off by stating that you do not want to miss the 200th episode of Podcast Answer Man where I will be explaining why I have unsubscribed to every single podcast that I have been subscribed to in iTunes. Zack called in to say how much he enjoyed hearing my wife’s side of the story in episode 198. He has had a question about posting both audio and video versions of his podcast for download in iTunes. Judy called in to ask about wheter or not sending a weekly video file in the rss feed might confuse her audio podcast subscribers. I shared an interview that I did with Chris Seal from http://TunePlant.com. Conctact Chris if you are thinking about having a custom theme song made for your podcast. I shared that things are going extremely well for my Podcasting A to Z Group study. Deatails about this group can be seen at http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/atoz. Chris Ross called to share how the iTalk application saved the day on his video shoot. You can find this application here: http://goo.gl/mRNEi I BRIEFLY gave an update on Podcamp Nashville. And finally, Jonathan called to ask about the audio levels that I use when playing my outro music. 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. Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

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.