Learn How to Podcast: Lessons From the Pizza Parlor

Podcast Movement was a great success as all of the previous events. WOW. The one thing different this year was I was working for Libsyn. I spent pretty much three days talking from about 7 in the morning to somewhere between midnight and 2 AM talking loudly. Consequently, my voice is still kind of raspy today. I had originally planned on playing the talk I did, but to be honest the audio has so much room noise it's unusable. Instead I want to share some quick insights from Podcast Movement.

Bring a back pack. - I was using a laptop case and my shoulders still hurting.
If you want to meet someone, you need to set this up in advance.
Don't be afraid to try things. I did a Q&A. This was new at PM16, and it was in response to customer feedback. I thought my session went well, and I enjoyed not having to working on a bunch of slides.

Be Careful Extending Your Launch

I love Giordono's Pizza. Every time I go to Chicago I have to get some. It's super-duper thick, and it's quite yummy. They look small, but one piece will fill you up.

We went one night, as did apparently the entire event. There was a 90 minute wait. We found out that we could order out pizza and they could start making it, and then (hopefully) by the time we got to our table, the pizza could be ready.

That sounded like a great plan. The problem is what we were told and what was reality were very different. We got to our table and instead of having the pizza soon, we waited another 90 minutes. So all in all we waited three hours for food. Was the pizza good? Absolutely, but did it make me roll my eyes back into my head and make me go "oooooh this is soooooo good..." like the other times I've enjoy ed their pizza? No. Why?

I had been telling people how good it was. That is half the fun of going there is to take someone who has never had their pizza, and watch their face. But after three hours of waiting, unless they threw in a Heil PR40, I don't think the pizza would've lived up to the hype.

So if you are a person who is getting ready and setting up your auto responder, your squeeze page, your sales funnel, etc. meanwhile you had already told your audience that you would be launching a podcast "soon," by the time it arrives the wait may take away from the over-all experience. With this in mind, be careful when you announce your podcast is coming. You might want to wait until you have a finished episode ready to go. You might want to wait until your show is approved in iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, etc.

New and Noteworthy Update

I ran into Nicole of the BBRshow.com (Business Building Rock Stars). If you count from the top she is currently #81 in "New and Noteworthy" and said she doesn't seem to be getting any major push from this position. She said she is seeing slow steady growth. This segment was recorded using nothing but my phone.

What it Would've Sounded Like if I had Won an Award

I was honored to be nominated in the Technology category and then the PEOPLE'S CHOICE! (but didn't win either). I had a speech in case I won. It went a little something like this:

Look, I don’t win very often, so I’m going all out on this. OK? I would like to thank:

GOD

My listeners. Without you I am nothing. To the members of the School of Podcasting. Thanks for picking me as your coach. It has been a pleasure serving you. A special shout out to the Ask the Podcast Coach chat room. You folks truly are neat.

Thanks to the academy, and to my fellow nominees. It was great to be nominated with you (I’ve been nominated for 8 different awards, and I gotta say it is nice to win).

To my co-hosts I’ve have over the years. Rob Walch, Paul Colligan, Gary Lealand, Erik K Johnson, Jim Collison, and of course my tripod brothers Daniel J Lewis and Ray Ortega. Gentlemen thanks for being great co-host and in some cases competition, but thanks for being even better friends.

To libsyn for hosting all of my files without a glitch, and thanks for the job while I’m at it. Use the coupon code sopfree to get a free month. Cmon, you know I had to go there.

This is really overwhelming. Ask my ex-wife and she will tell you I don’t handle compliments well.

I do want to thank some people, Daniel J Lewis, Marcus Couch, Erik K Johnson, and Steve Stewart who called me during my divorce just to make sure I was OK. As I got divorced 10 days before Christmas, Steve took time out his family time, and called me on Christmas day. I know we like to talk CPM advertising, and income reports, but when you’re spending Christmas with your cat that phone call was worth a million dollars.

Two more quick points. If you’re almost ready to launch your podcast, but you’re waiting on that one thing LAUNCH. An almost perfect podcast will impact 100% more people than the one that never makes off your hard drive.

Lastly, people ask me why I have Jeremiah 29:11 on my website. Well in 2015 I got divorced. Shortly thereafter I was laid off. I was estranged from my family due to some things my ex-wife had said. It was a dark place. I moved back to my home city of Akron where I now have a peaceful house. I called some friends and got a job at Libsyn. After 7 years of not talking to my brother, that bridge has been restored. So when things get dark, remember Jeremiah 29:11 it goes a little something like this. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Tonight I stand here with a trophy in my hand and say this is why I have Jeremiah 29:11 on my website because it's true.

Thank you all