Full Transcript: School of Podcasting – Three Audio Sharing Tools Reviewed

Full Transcript: School of Podcasting – Three Audio Sharing Tools Reviewed

: Today on episode number 616 of the School of Podcasting, we have a Because of My Podcast Twin Spin. That's right, and we're gonna look at three tools that help you share your audio on the internets, and we've got the Question of the Month: what did you plan on doing that didn't happen the first quarter of the month? Hit it, ladies!

: (singing) The School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson.

: Podcasting since 2005, I'm your award-winning personal podcast coach, Dave Jackson, thanking you so much for tuning in. This is where I help you massage your message. I help you tackle that technology. I help you face your fears, and flatten that learning curve, and not just get you podcasting, but get you podcasting right.

: This is where I help you plan, launch, and grow your audience. The website, SchoolofPodcasting.com. Use the coupon code, LISTENER – it's L-I-S-T-E-N-E-R – when you sign up on either a monthly, or yearly subscription.

: All right. Well, you know I like to start off the show with a Because of My Podcast story, and I'm gonna give credit where credit is due. This came in from Troy Heinritz, from Blacklist Exposed.

: He said, "You gotta talk to Aaron Peterson, from the Hollywood Outsider podcast." So, Aaron, thanks for coming on the show to share your Because of My Podcast story.

: Thanks for having me. This is exciting.

: And, with that, without further ado, because of my podcast, what happened?

: Well, I've been doing the Hollywood Outsider for many years now, and we've got, you know, a nice base of devout listeners. One of the listeners was very, very diehard, and introduced his soon-to-be fiance, or the other way around. I can't remember which way it went. I don't remember if she was first, or he was first, but they were getting married, essentially.

: And so, they both became very active listeners to the Hollywood Outsider, and would listen religiously, and became active members of the community, to the point where we would actually become friendly.

: We ended up actually meeting them, once, while I was on a vacation. We actually met up with them. And, you know, we do that- we do that sometimes with our shows. If we're in a different area, we'll try to have a meet up.

: And then, they were getting closer to their wedding, and they asked me about a year, probably about a year before the wedding, would would I'd be willing to officiate their wedding?

: That's fun.

: It was fun. Scary. I'll be honest, a little scary. I mean I've done emceeing, and panel … You've done a bunch of those, too, but that's not the same thing as if you screw this up, that's all they're gonna talk about for the rest of their lives.

: No pressure.

: None. None at all. So, you know, I, of course, thought about it, and then I said, "Well, how would you want me to do it? I mean, do you want me to do just what every other person does? Because anybody could do that," and they were very specific. Amy and Steve were their names. Amy, in particular, because, you know, the bride … The bride runs the show [crosstalk].

: So, she was very clear that she wanted me to be myself, and she wanted it to be …. They said, "Please tailor it to movies and television," which I did. So, I wrote the entire program according to both love, and movies and television. So, there were little nods to … She's also a Matt Nathanson fan, which is a musician that I had never even heard of, so I had to do research on him, too.

: I did a lot of research, and put together this entire program that was specifically tailored to them. That led to actually officiating their wedding. Their wedding- their love was consummated because of our podcast.

: That is awesome. That's right, it's a Twin Spin from Aaron. He and Troy got to go on the actual set of The Blacklist for a very special episode. Here is another Because of My Podcast story from Aaron Peterson.

: You know, I've always loved entertainment, and being- doing the podcasts, I've gotten more opportunities in entertainment than I ever had-

: Well, yeah, you and Troy, and The Blacklist, man. I mean, who else just gets … "Yeah, I'm just gonna go hang out with Jon Bokenkamp, no big deal …"?

: Yeah, that's insane. It really is. And Hollywood Outsider, on top of that, we've- I've talked to so many directors, and I've been invited to South By every year, as press, and I guess so many opportunities have come up that I never would've thought would've arisen from podcasting.

: The Blacklist stuff is like ice on the … I mean, that's … Their hundredth episode of that, being invited to that, I don't think any podcast has been invited to something like that, that does what we do. I can't think of any that has for something … And that was insane to me.

: Yeah.

: We get there, and we're hanging out with like the studio … And there were only six media outlets that were invited, and we were one of 'em, and that includes the Hollywood Reporter, Variety. I mean it just was insane, insane.

: Wow, that's cool.

: Yeah, that's pretty cool.

: So, did you get to meet like any of the cast while you were there?

: Everybody. Yeah, everybody. We met James Spader, and Megan Boone, everybody that was there. We'd interviewed some of 'em, but we had never talked to Spader, because he's kinda the guy that doesn't wanna do many of these things.

: He's Spader, yeah.

: Mm-hmm, yeah, and he's about as eccentric as you would think. Super-nice guy, but he's definitely eccentric. He's been in Hollywood a long time.

: But we met all of them. Megan actually was such a … We were on our way out. All the press had been escorted out, and she came to find us, and said, "Hey, do you guys wanna come behind the scenes?".

: And so, took us back to see them film a scene, and Andrew McCarthy was the director. So, we got to also meet Andrew. He comes out, and says, "Hey I'm Andrew," and I'm like, "Well, of course you are. I grew up in the '80s, man. I know who you are."

: Wow, that's cool.

: Yeah, it's pretty cool,and they listened … I mean, they listen to our podcast. It's just surreal, a lotta times, honestly.

: That is awesome. Very good. Well, Aaron, thanks for coming on, and sharing your Because of My Podcast story.

: Thanks for having me. This is great.

: Super-nice guy with Twin Spin Because of My Podcast stories. You can find Aaron at thehollywoodoutsider.com. You can find him at theblacklistexposed.com, remakethismovieright.com, and his latest podcast is called Smirk. I'll have links to these out in the show notes, SchoolofPodcasting.com/616.

: We are gonna get to the Question of the Month in just a second. I wanna thank everybody who came to my rescue, and sent in some insights into what didn't work that first quarter.

: The first thing we're gonna talk about today, which I've also promised for a while, is some audio-sharing tools, and I've played with them quite- pretty much all of today.

: And for the record, I'm not talking about … Like Bluebrry has the ability, they'll post your episode to Twitter. They'll post a two-minute clip to Facebook, and YouTube. Libsyn will post to Libsyn … Will post to Libsyn … Will post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, all the other places. I'm not talking about those.

: These are, and the big difference, you ready? Is these have little squiggly marks on them, like audio waves. Exactly. I'm not talking … I'm not ignoring Libsyn, and Bluebrry, and Spreaker, and Podbean.

: These are tools specifically designed to make fun little videos with squiggly lines on them. And one is called a Wavve, which is W-A-V-V-E. The other one is called Audiogram, and the other one is kinda weird. People call it Headliner, but it's actually SpareMin, like spare minute.

: These are tools that you can use to make snippets of your podcast, and turn them into a video that you can then share on Twitter, and Facebook, and Instagram, things like that.

: This is not really the first tool to be based on sharing audio snippets. Clammr, C-L-A-M-M-R, rest in peace, 2014 to 2017, had all this stuff. I think the quickest I could get it was about two minutes to make a Clammr, maybe a minute, but it was doing it on the phone. You couldn't see what you're doing, and that was probably the biggest hurdle. They had a lotta press. They got mentioned a lot. They were integrated into Libsyn. They were integrated into, I think … I know Bluebrry did. I'm not sure if Spreaker did.

: This was the scenario for doing this, because, remember, always consider the source. So, in this case, I said, "I wanna do a weekly show." That would be four, let's call these videos, for lack of a better phrase … I need four videos with four different designs.

: So, I looked at whatever you wanna call it, Spearmin, SpareMin, Headliner. Here's the fun part of this one, it's free. It's absolutely not a penny, and it allows you to make a video out of your audio. In theory, it can transcribe your audio, which is true. The other thing that's true – it does it poorly. I've tried this a few times, and it's not even close. It was pretty awful.

: It does give you the ability to have more than one image, so you can actually have the image kinda change halfway through your little video. You can easily make a copy of a project. I guess that's what we could call this, when you're making it, and edit that to be a new one. So, if you had things that were always used over, and over, and over, you could copy it, make a new one, and then tweak it.

: There is an image-search tool. That's kinda what makes this one different, so you can find images to use in your video, but be sure to read the terms of service, as one of their services is Getty Images. Now, if you say Getty Images to most podcasters, they kinda flinch a little bit, because that is one company that will take you to court quicker than you can say, I don't know, "Insert something quick, here," and yeah …

: But it is free, and there are videos inside their system to kinda give you a little bit of a nudge in the right direction. I'll have links to all this. If you go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/616, you'll see the one I did with, oh, let's call it Headliner.

: The next one is not free. It's called Audiogram, and I like that Audiogram actually gives you a live, animated preview of your finished file, so you're not guessing. You don't have to like, "Hey, let me render this," and then look at it, and go, "Oh, I don't like that." So, I like that aspect of this one.

: You can see it before you turn it into a video, and they have a bunch of premade designs. Now, the designs are not like, "Oh, wow!" They're like, "Oh … It's white text on a black background. How creative," but you have much more control over things like the titles and positions of the animations.

: I'll give an example, with the free version, the Headliner, you kinda either go top, middle, or bottom, where you want the little squiggly line to show that, "Hey, look, it's audio, because it blinks now." That's all you get: top, middle, bottom.

: This, you can really get specific on where you want those little squiggly lines to show up, and you can even load an existing design from a previous movie that you made, which could save you some time. So, if you like this certain font, and you want it a certain way, it looks like you can take the design settings from a previous movie, and use them on a new one.

: Audiogram, it also shows your social sites, if you want, at the end of the video. So, as you're getting to the end of this video, it could show my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, things like that. Now, these are not clickable, but it's a branding thing. When you're done creating the video, you can download it, or email it to your phone for easy sharing on Instagram. That is the same on all these tools.

: For me, to do four videos a month would cost me $19. I can do two videos for free. Now, again Headliner, from SpareMin, is absolutely free for everything. Audiogram, a little more control, a little more bells and whistles – $20. I can do two for free, or 19 to do up to 50.

: The Cadillac one is Wavve, and it has the most elaborate tools. You can drag and drop things exactly where you want them to appear. That was kinda cool. They have more fonts … When you're done, you can actually post your video to Facebook, and Twitter, right from within your account. You don't have to download it and do … You just, "Oh, here it is. Put that on Facebook now. Here, put that on Twitter now." And then, again, it has the ability to email the video to your phone, where you can then put it … What you do is you download it, you get that video, and then, you know, somewhere on your phone, you'll have a share button, and you can share it to Instagram.

: It does give you the ability to do a few free videos per month, but it depends on how long they are, because they have a time limit. They do have video tutorials that will walk you through the system. If you're a person who's really like, "I want these to look cool," this is the one that gives you the most control over the look. Now, for my scenario, to do four different videos a month that were different, it would cost me $18 a month, so it was pretty cool.

: Now, if you're gonna base this solely on budget, it's super-easy. That would be good old SpareMin-Headliner, cuz it's absolutely free. It'd be interesting to see how long that hangs around. Usually it's about three years before something that … I mean, you're making videos; they're hosting these videos, and that's not free, so it'd be interesting to see how long this holds around. And it's not as versatile, but it does give you something to share, and you'll see, it's not a whole lot different than the other ones. The other one, again, Audiogram, $19 a month. Wavve is 18.

: Now, there are different features. As I said, Audiogram has the ability to save your design choices, and use them over, and over, and over. I thought that was cool. Wavve has the ability to post to Facebook, and Twitter, right from your account, and SpareMine-Headliner has the ability to search for images, right from within there, so, if you wannna use different images … I think they all have the ability to transcribe, and I just … Every time I did that, it was like, "Well, that was a train wreck."

: And so, you'll see that you can turn these little tools into a giant time-suck, if you're not careful, because you can go, "Ooo, should I use this font, or that font?" or things like that. So be careful with that. If you have something to make trackable links … So, for me, on WordPress, I use a plugin called Pretty Link. I know there are other systems out there, but if you're not using WordPress, you know, there's been Bitly.com, something, because what this does is it makes your audience … It catches their eye, especially on Instagram, because it's kind of a pain in the butt to get a movie on Instagram, because unless you made it on your phone, you've gotta do this whole email/download/share thing. And so, when I see one, it's like, "Ooo, that's different."

: That's the whole point – you wannna stand out. But there's nothing here to track: did this deliver subscribers? Did this deliver downloads? Things like that. So, I'm actually making special links. In the audio that I have there, I have a special link so I can see is anybody following this? Because, if I'm spending $20 a month, roughly, or if I'm spending …

: That's the other thing we should talk about the … All of these, I went through, and I have a video for you, if you wanna check this out. If you go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/616, you can sign up for a quick video, where I show you how I used all three of these. It'll, again, flatten the learning curve. SchoolofPodcasting.com/616 will take you right there. Sign up, and instantly, you will get a video, where I show you these. All of them took five minutes or less, somewhere between four and five, because I was explaining what I was doing in the video. So, I would say somewhere between three to five minutes, if you …

:  Cuz you think about this, you're gonna figure out what your favorite font is. You're gonna figure out what images you're gonna use, and things like that. So, it's not a huge amount of time. It's just, this might be something, if you're … Something you're gonna be doing that's gonna be another part of your workflow, and that's where you're like, "Another thing to add to my workflow." That's why I am making clickable links, and I'm trying to track this.

: That's the one thing that it's just not possible. Back when we were using Flash, you could make videos that had links that you could click on the movie. That is not the case anymore, at least to the best of my knowledge.

: So, the one thing I really like about these services, though, has nothing to do with making a movie, has nothing to do with Instagram, has nothing to do with that. This is why I like these services, and that is it makes you think. And, if you're a new listener to the show, ah, if you can make me think, I am your friend for life.

: And what I like is you have to kind of ask yourself, "All right, what's the key clip of this episode that's gonna wanna make people hear more?" Or, if you're making up a clip, if you're just gonna make something, you're not gonna pull something from the actual episode, but you're gonna make some sort of promo to motivate people to come and listen to your show, what's that main point? That's what I like about this, because it really kind of gives you a mirror to go, "Is there anything of value in this episode?" That's one of the things I really … Even if you're not gonna use these services, that's a cool thing to think about.

: There is a book, it is called- it's by Ken Davis. It's called Secrets of Dynamic Communications. I've talked about this book before. It's made for public speakers, but I love the section on developing your presentation, and your podcast is a presentation. That's one of the things he says is you have to figure out what is the one thing that you're gonna base your presentation on? That's kind of what you do when you use these kinda tools. You're looking for something that is going to inspire your audience to go, "Wait, I wanna hear more about that." I'll have links to all of these. Again, if you want to get the video, where I show you how to use these, simply go out to SchoolofPodcasting.com/616.

: It is the last episode of the month, and this is one, where we're bringing back the tradition, where I ask you a question. And I wanna thank everybody who sent this in, because I had a few people say, "Dave, this wasn't your best Question of the Month." And, you know what? I am weird this way. I really am. I would much rather have somebody give me constructive criticism than lie to my face, and say, "I love everything about your show."

: They made some great points. Number one, I'm asking people to throw themselves under the bus. What didn't you do? You know, maybe the question should have been … Kim, from Toastmasters101.net, had a great point. She said, "Maybe we shoulda made that more positive. What DID you get done the first quarter, as opposed to, 'Hey, how did you fail? Way to start 2018!" I was like, "That's a good point." And so, then, after you throw yourself under the bus, can you do it in public? It's not an easy question to answer, and that's why I'm really super-appreciative to everyone who sent in an answer. And here's our first one:

: Hi, Dave. This is Bill Hutchison, from the YWAM Podcast. They can be found at YWAMpodcast.com, as well, as other podcasts at YWAMpodcast.net.

: My goal for the first quarter of 2018 was actually to be more consistent in my production of podcasts for the organization I work with. I have not been able to do that quite as well as I had hoped. But, that said, so far in 2018, I've managed to produce 13 different podcasts. These include editing and remastering some old teachings that we have within our organization that go back as far as 1970s. So, you can imagine they take a bit of work to get remastered; as well as producing a new show, and a prayer guide every month.

: In 2017, I managed managed to produce 17 of these podcasts. So far, in 2018, I have managed to produce 13, but they just haven't been quite as consistent as I'd hoped. So moving forward, I'm trying to get myself in a better routine, so that I'm able to release at least one podcast every week. That's kinda what I'm hoping to do, moving forward.

: Dave, I know that you haven't got quite the response you want for answers for this month's question. However, I personally felt that they were valuable, last year, to hear from other podcasters. I do hope that you continue to do them, moving forward.

: Thank you, Bill. What a nice guy. Yeah, I think we all wanna be more consistent, but here's the thing, and this is what I think is kinda interesting about that is, on one hand, he's saying, "I wish I could be more consistent," but yet, you put out 17 episodes of this, and 13 episodes of that. There are a lot of people who haven't even put out a single episode, so buddy, you're doing a whole lot better than other people.

: Also, I wanna point out on this, because some people are like, "Yeah, I'm not consistent," I'm like, "Well, what's going on?" "Oh, I don't know. My grandpa lost a limb, and, you know, Aunt Mildred has double cancer squared," and you're like, "Well, you know, it's okay to take some time off when you have double cancer squared." So, here's our next one:

: Hey Dave, this is Brad, from The Cinema Guys. Our little roundtable discussion about movies can be found at wearethecinemaguys.com. What is something that we wanted to do in the first quarter of this year? That would be engaging more with our audience, as well as calls to action, which we didn't do a great job with. We kinda really laxed on it, especially calls to action.

: One, like when we get on the show, we either forget to mention things, or completely forget … And engaging with our audience, it seems like sometimes it's just crickets out there, so it's hard to tell who's listening, and who's not. Occasionally, we'll get an e-mail, or occasionally get a message, so it's been tough.

: Recently, we've kind of started that upswing. We've made the conscious effort, as a group, to be more active on social media with our show. Within the last few weeks, we have doubled followers on our Twitter, and Instagram, and tripled followers on our Facebook, nd we've gotten some more interaction with people on those sides than we had before, which is great.

: I think that's all, because I'm not the only one in control of our social media. My cohosts can also get on, and post, and comment back to people, which has really helped out. As far as our calls to action, we have recently started making sure we put that in our outline for our show, saying, "After we talk about this part, let's mention this – people contacting us – or after this, let's mention this of our TeePublic store," or whatnot. We've gotten a little traction from that, which is kind of nice to hear that there are voices out there. Again, our show can be found at wearethecinemaguys.com.

: Brad, thank you so much. It was cool hanging out with you in Cincinnati, a little bit ago. Here's the thing, again … You hear this, "Well, we didn't get to do this, but we did triple this; we doubled that; we did that …" Just because you didn't get to everything you wanted, doesn't mean that the whole quarter was down the tubes. Great to hear that, while some things aren't going the way you wanted, other things sound like they're going great.

: Hi Dave. This is Sarah Mikutel, host of The Postcard Academy. My travel podcast aims to help listeners get the most out of every vacation by sharing insider food, and culture tips from ex-pats, and other adventurist citizens of the world. This past quarter, I had wanted to formalize my project management plan for my podcast. It's all in my head, and I usually do all the steps but not having it written down with boxes to tick makes me feel like I am drowning.

: I don't really know why I haven't done this yet. I guess it's because I really love the creative side of podcasting; interviewing people, doing research, and all of that. Mapping out a production and promotion plan just feels like treachery, but I know it's important, so this quarter, I'm going to make it happen. I have an Asana account, and my goal is to map out everything that is in my head. Now that I have shared this with you, I will have to do it, so please hold me accountable. Thank you for this opportunity to share, and I will see you at Podcast Movement.

: Sarah, thank you so much. I need to start listening to your show, because I just got a passport. That's exciting. Asana is a great tool. My favorite tools for organization are Evernote and Todoist. I love Todoist. If you're a regular listener, "He's gonna say he's gonna do the Gmail thing again." Yeah, I'm gonna do the Gmail thing again.

: In Todoist, you can install Todoist into your Google Chrome, and when there's an email there that you wanna follow up in, or for whatever reason, you just, "Hey, make this a Todoist," and you can give it a date for it. Then, you just go into Todoist, and what's cool is you can see, "Ooo, I was supposed to do this last week." You click on it. It opens up Gmail, and takes you right to that email. I love Todoist.

: Hi Dave, it's Max Trescott, proud graduate of the School of Podcasting. My podcast is Aviation News Talk, and people who are interested in flying can find it at aviationnewstalk.com. Last year, I saw a post in your School of Podcasting Facebook group, from Cale Nelson, of Ham Radio 360. He posted an image showing that his download numbers spiked up, after he presented at the largest ham-radio convention in the US.

: I had been planning all along to request a slot to present at AirVenture, which was the largest air show in the United States. It's held in late July, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I've had an incredibly busy spring, and I just continue to put off doing it, so I'm gonna put in that request later today. I presented there for 10 years in a row, but haven't been back to AirVenture for six years. Hopefully, they'll remember me, and give me a presentation slot.

: I probably wouldn't have done it at all, if you didn't pose this question on your show. So, Dave, thanks for that subtle kick in the butt that I needed to get this done. Thanks, again, and as I tell fellow pilots, keep the blue side up.

: Thank you, Max. He has a … Man, that guy is super-decorated, when it comes to flying a plane, if you go listen to his show, over at aviationnewstalk.com.

: I'm with you on that. I have something on my to-do list. I found what I think is gonna be a great resource for future podcasters, and I haven't reached out to the company yet. That was on my list of things to do like January, first week. It's just one of the things, where it's like, "Uh, I'm not really sure …" Just shut up, and do it. I think we've all been there.

: Dave, I planned to do a whole complete podcast in the first quarter of 2018, about fashion, and yuck … It just fizzled. It just fizzled. As you know, a podcast takes time, it takes money. It takes all the effort in the world to organize guests, to organize people, to organize editors, which I've only had one, which I'll get to in a minute.

: My plan for 2018 is to keep Ask Win going strong. As soon as I graduate with my journalism degree, hopefully in 2019, I will be able to start a podcast about fashion, and/or some other aspect of my life. That's how my podcast kind of fizzled, my idea for a podcast, kind of fizzled out in 2018. I have a couple episodes of it, but I really want to do it strong on Libsyn, and it's not happening right now.

: I did find a … I did find a Emily … I did … God, I'm laughing to myself, because I did find a editor, and she is [inaudible] all right, so now, I'm using her to edit my podcasts. I guess Ask Win is going strong, because … It's going strong, just because I found an editor, but my podcast on fashion – I should probably do a podcast on books, more than fashion – didn't pan out the way I thought, but maybe I'll do a podcast on books, and journalism. I don't know when. I don't know when. That's one of my other ideas.

: Thank you, Dave, and this is Win, from Ask Win, and hopefully soon to be the books and journalism podcast. Maybe I'll come up with a new name for that one. Hopefully that one will start in 2019. I know I should give myself a date. After my life settles down, I'll give myself a date, and go from guns ablazing on that one. Thank you, Dave. Bye.

: Thank you, Win. Hey, you just said you're a student, and you wanna start another podcast? From from my chair, I'd be like, "You know what? School first. School first, podcast second," and then once you get outta school, see if you have any time. Because you're right, it takes a lotta time.

We get the bug. We wanna start a second, a third, and a fourth podcast. I have multiple shows. That's because I'm testing other media hosts, not because, in some cases, I'm like, "Oh, I just wanna talk about socks, so I'm gonna start this socks podcast!" No, I'd need to test somebody out. We'll talk about another podcast host, here in a minute, but here's another response:

: Hey, Dave, how are you? This is Zack Demopoulos. My podcast is Raising 'Rents, as in parents. You can find me on www.raisingrents.com. I think I will be the brave one here, and get out, and give you the answer to your question. You were curious why people weren't calling in. You know, it's not easy to try to express maybe what might be viewed as a failure, or just something that maybe procrastination is involved.

: My goal, to start, that I haven't started yet, that I should've is to get my season two going, with Raising 'Rents. My last episode was in November, and though I am enjoying quite a few downloads, continuous downloads, instead of sitting back and enjoying that too much, I really should be telling myself, "It looks like this is a valuable show. I need to get started with my season two."

: I haven't started, as of first quarter, and not sure what the reason why. You know, saying that I'm too busy is just an excuse. I heard that recently. I can't remember where I heard that. I think it was on the Tim Ferriss show, but being too busy is an excuse. It's more about allocating time, and getting rid of something that you shouldn't be doing, and I need to do that, so that's where I'm going to focus on..

: I think the other thing that's gonna help me is just get the accountability thing going. I think doing this with you is one of those ways. Harry Duran is also on my butt, and has asked me publicly what am I gonna do, and when am I gonna do it by? I think that helps me.

: So, what the heck? I stretched my neck out. Thought I'd throw this your way. Let's see if I can get my season two up and running. I appreciate the question, Dave, and as always, I appreciate everything you do for all of us in the podcast community. Take it easy, buddy.

: Thank you, Zack. Always great to hear from you. You know, sometimes we need a little kick in the pants, and I'm sure that you are up to something. It's not like you're just kicking back. If you are kicking back, I'm actually reading a book right now that … When I say 'read,' of course, I mean listen. They're talking about the importance of downtime; that a lot of big-shot-smarty-pants people, their best ideas come when they take some time, and actually unplug, which is unheard of for me. If you think about it, I always talk about how I get great ideas in the shower. It's because I'm undistracted. I'm relaxed. I'm chillin' out, and all of a sudden, bam, here comes a great idea. So, maybe you're just taking some time to do that.

: Harry Duran will be coming on the show in the future. He's the host behind PodcastJunkies.com, and if you wanna hear … Let's do that; Let me give out a couple of shout-outs here, and then I'll talk about what I didn't do the first quarter, since we're talking to Harry.

: Harry always does great episodes, but he has a great interview with Drew, from Sleep with Me, the show where the guy- the original guy, I should say, by the way, that is attempting to make a show to put you to sleep. Great interview on just Drew's story, and the fact that he's kind of an introverted guy, but his podcast is helping him kind of come out a little bit out of his shell. I thought that was a really great interview.

: Then, if you haven't heard, thanks to Chris Krimitsos, from Podfest, and from the kid-friendly Joke of the Day podcast, he's got another podcast about doing live events. He told me about Lou Mongello, WDW Radio, interviewed – you ready for this? – the guy, the head of Marvel, which just came out with the whatever it is, Infinity Wars show, and apparently this guy is a big fan of WDW radio. Gotta get Lou on the show to tell that story.

So, there are two shows for you to listen to. Now, back to what I didn't do this quarter. I had a couple. Number one, I'm trying to get my inbox down to something that's not 11,431, as I look at it. I'm trying to go through, and … Because obviously, the first 10,000 that are still in my inbox right now can just be archived, but I'm trying to get those down.

: The one thing that I started off doing really, really well was I went … I had Jeff Sanders on, about getting organized, and I read his book, The 5 A. M. Miracle. I had my routine down, and then, I'm not quite sure where, but somewhere, I fell off the wagon.

: It's sad when the first thing you have to put on your to-do list is look at your to-do list. That's a problem. I just wasn't. I kinda lost my morning ritual. So, I've kinda started that, actually today. I woke up. I made time to kind of do a little whatever you wanna call it – prayer, meditation. I did that. I've been exercising a little more, and getting more sleep. That's the other thing that can really kill you.

: So, that's the big thing. I was kind of bummed. I really came outta the gate in January, just nailing it, being a super-organized. This weekend, especially, I looked around. I can't even see my desk anymore. It's just a pile of papers, and mints, and a thank-you card here, from Steve Stewart – Thank you, Mr. Stewart – and my passport. All sorts … It's just junk everywhere. I need to take some time, back up, and get a little focused. That will always be, I think, one of my top priorities is getting focused.

: It dawned on me, too, one other thing that I do, that I used to do when I did … I think, at one point, I was doing six different podcasts. What I would do is I would have my notes in Evernote, and I would be taking notes … This was before I worked at Libsyn. I would take notes on my lunch, and I was constantly working on my podcast, when I … Anytime I had a free moment, I was putting things into Evernote, so that when it came time to do the show notes, when it came time to come up with my topics, and my bullet points, it was there. I would turn off Gmail, I would turn off YouTube, I would turn off Facebook, and I would record my podcast in a hyper-stealth mode, just, bam, focused.

: I don't do that anymore, and I'm not sure … I think it's because back then, I was married, and I only had … We had a set … There were a couple of days that were Dave-Cave days, and that was Tuesday, Thursday, and part of Saturday, and we agreed on that. Consequently, it's hard to do that many shows on three days, so I was hyperfocused, and I guess now that I can do podcasts whenever I want, I'm just kind of not being as efficient, and I could be doing other things.

: I just bought a course on SEO, and I've already got a course on- Jeff Sanders' course. I have his course on getting organized. It doesn't do any good to buy the book; it doesn't do any good to buy the course, if you don't pencil in the time to do it. That's one of things I've done now, just this week. I went back … My little wakeup routine now is on my calendar, my exercise is on my calendar. Everything that I do now is on my calendar, so I can see exactly where I'm at.

: Then, the other thing that you have to look at is how much margin do you have? This is just something, right now, that I don't have a ton of. Obviously, I keep margin open for consulting, and things of that nature, to pay the bills, but I am hoping to, again, get organized, get some of this stuff stacked away, and have a little more margin in my life. I'm not complaining, because I really like being busy. I am a bit of a workaholic, but that is something that I know, in the long run, you can't do.

: I wanna thank everybody who sent in their comments. I deeply, deeply, deeply appreciate it. You might be thinking, "But, Dave, what's the Question of the Month for May?" 'Well, I'm gonna need that by …" he said, pulling up a calendar, "May 25th, 2018."

: I wanna give Scott Johnson from computertutorflorida.com … Hey, check this out. Scott changed his format. That's right. You can do that. Hey, have you heard about Lee Silverstein, The Colon Cancer Podcast? He's been on the show. Guess what? Lee changed his format. He's gone from colon cancer to wehavecancer.com. He's gonna open up … He's gonna kind of un-niche. He kind of approached me, he's like, "I'm gonna need your opinion on this." I said, "Talk to your sponsors, because don't you have sponsors that are super-niche?" Everybody is excited about it. He's gonna open up his niche a little bit. It's still about cancer, though.

: I say that just because if you're sitting there thinking, "Uh, I don't know what I should do about …" you can always change it later. I'm just saying, but I wanted to thank Scott Johnson, from Computer Tutor Florida, for sending in some questions.

: We're gonna bounce this off'a Win, because Win just answered this question; so, Win, you've already answered May's question, thank you. That is: do you have plans to start a new show, and what will it be about? That's for those people that maybe don't have a podcast at all, or maybe they have one, and they wanna start two.

: Then we have, that's right, bonus question, and this one's for me. This is something that I wanna ask my audience. When I go to all these different events, everybody is really interested in getting a sponsor, and for the record, it's not one of the best ways to make money with a podcast. It is a way. I actually have a new sponsor coming on in May, so, obviously, I don't hate sponsors, when they fit.

What I'm noticing, and I'll give you the behind-the-scenes … I had somebody that joined a media host that isn't that well-known, and I asked why. They said, "Because they can get me a sponsor." For the record, Libsyn, Bluebrry, Spreaker, who am I missing, Podbean can all get you sponsors. I also know there are things like … Well, there's other media hosts.

: My question is for those of you that have had sponsors, did they come from your media host? Which is gonna be interesting, because for the record, I worked for Libsyn, and there may not be anybody here, because each media host has different criteria. I say this because I think there are some smaller media hosts coming on that are saying, "We can get you a sponsor," and I'm like, "Really? Cuz, are the criteria different for Spreaker, and Bluebrry, and Libsyn, and Podbean, and suddenly, you're gonna get somebody who has 20 downloads a sponsor?"

: That is my question, and I'm not looking to see how much you got paid, by the way, just for the record. If you wanna share that, you can. Most of the time, there's a Do Not … A DNA, or whatever it is. Do not … No, not do not resuscitate; that's if you're dead, but there's a form where you can't talk about it. I'm not looking to get into your wallet. I just need to know if you got a sponsor, how did you get one? Did they approach you? Did you approach them? If so, where did they come from? Dying to know that one, myself, so, that is the Question of the Month.

: Now, what you wanna do – this is what I forgot to do, last time, and it kinda created a mess – is I need that by May 25th. If you go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/contact, you can actually just call it in, like Zack did, from Raising 'Rents, or if you wanna e-mail me, [email protected].

: A lotta you, Max did this, just recorded it on his phone, and then just emailed it, the voice memo, and just emailed it that way. That's fine. In the subject line, please put May 2018 Question. That way, it makes them very easy for me to find, and the minute they come in, I like to save them in a special folder, because this month, as I mentioned earlier, my email is a bit crazy, and I'm praying I didn't miss anybody. I did my best to do that.

: That's the Question of the Month for May, and again, I look forward to everyone … Be sure, again, to mention your website, so we know where to find you, and just a sentence or two, which everybody did a great job of where we can find you. Don't forget to do that. That's important, as well.

: Hey, if you want to work with me, you can go to SchoolofPodcasting.com. I got real creative. SchoolofPodcasting.com/workwithme. Right now, you can go over, and sign up for the Patreon account, and that'll also get you access to the video I talked about, where you can see me use those different audio-sharing tools. Yep, that's for my Patrons. It's also in the School of Podcasting, as well.

: Also, if you don't wanna spend anything, you can sign up for the newsletter, and get that video that shows you how to use those tools. If you have just a couple questions, don't really need to join the School of Podcasting, I would love to do some one-on-one consulting with you. If you're getting ready to launch your show, and you kinda want a mentor to kinda walk you through, I have mentoring programs, where we can get together for a couple months, and plan your stuff, get you launched, get you going, and we work side by side on that. Everything is super-simple. SchoolofPodcasting.com/work with me. I look forward to working with you.

That is gonna do it for this episode of The School of Podcasting. Thank you so much. Again, everything I mentioned today, SchoolofPodcasting.com/616, and until next week class is dismissed.

: If you like what you hear then go tell somebody. If you like what you hear, go tell someone …

: … Podcasting … Today, we might talk about a wrong path, or at least somebody who's coming into podcasting, who's kinda being not so nice about that. We might hit that today. We might save that till next week. The website that you wanna go to is School … You know, that's a horrible intro. What do you … Do you not know what you're gonna talk about?

: … And there was a book by Ken, and I cannot remember his name. This is gonna be an edit point. Why did you call an audible, Dave? Why did you call an audible?

: If you like what you hear, then go tell somebody. Go … Go tell somebody. Yeah, go tell someone.

: This podcast is part of the Power of Podcasting Network. Find it at powerofpodcasting.com, changing the world, one download at a time.

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