Latest / Your Mic / How to Use Hot Takes Without Turning Your Show Into Noise

Transcript

How to Use Hot Takes Without Turning Your Show Into Noise · Your Mic

• 0:00
  There is a difference between a properly seasoned meal and one that is trying too hard.
• 0:06
  You know what I'm talking about.
• 0:08
  You sit down, you take a bite, and it's just too much.
• 0:13
  Too salty, too spicy, too greasy, too something, too everything.
• 0:19
  Every single flavor is fighting
• 0:21
  for attention at the same time, and then there's the other one.
• 0:25
  It's the one where you take a bite
• 0:26
  and you go, what is that?
• 0:29
  Not in a bad way, in the best possible way.
• 0:32
  In the, I can't quite put my
• 0:34
  finger on it, but I need to know what's in this kind of way.
• 0:39
  That, my friend, is what garlic does.
• 0:42
  It's what salt does.
• 0:44
  What the right amount of the right thing does to an otherwise good meal.
• 0:48
  And that is exactly what I want to talk to you about today.
• 0:52
  Not cooking.
• 0:53
  I'm not a chef,
• 0:55
  A mediocre home cook at best.
• 0:57
  But what I'm talking about is podcasting, specifically the one ingredient most podcast hosts are either too afraid to add or adding so aggressively that it's all anyone can taste.
• 1:11
  This is your mic.
• 1:13
  My name is Freddy Cruz and today we're talking about the anti-hero.
• 1:17
  Some of you know PodQuest.
• 1:18
  That's my online course for podcast hosts who want to build something binge-worthy from the ground up.
• 1:25
  In PodQuest, we talk about the storytelling elements of a great show.
• 1:30
  Your listener is the hero.
• 1:31
  Always the hero.
• 1:32
  The show is never about you.
• 1:34
  It's for them.
• 1:35
  Their pain point is the villain.
• 1:37
  The thing keeping them up at night.
• 1:39
  The problem they keep running into.
• 1:41
  The question nobody in their industry will ever answer honestly.
• 1:46
  Then there's the supporting cast.
• 1:48
  Co-hosts.
• 1:50
  Recurring guests.
• 1:51
  One-time guests.
• 1:52
  The voices that add texture and credibility to your world, to their world, and of course the plot.
• 1:59
  That's the arc of the entire show.
• 2:01
  Episode to episode, season to season.
• 2:05
  If you're listening to this and realizing your show has all the elements but still feels a little bland,
• 2:10
  that's exactly the kind of problem Speak Podcasting solves.
• 2:14
  If you want help building a show that actually tastes like something,
• 2:18
  go to speakpodcasting.com that is s-p-e-k-e podcasting.com hit the contact form tell me
• 2:24
  you came from this podcast and what kind of show you'd like to build and now back to the antihero
• 2:30
  that antihero it's the hot take it's the thing you say that does not fit neatly inside the
• 2:38
  conventional wisdom of your industry the opinion that has been sitting in the back of your throat
• 2:44
  for two years waiting for someone to give you permission to say it out loud.
• 2:48
  Now, I know what you might be thinking.
• 2:52
  Freddie, you've talked about this before.
• 2:56
  Saying the quiet part out loud, isn't that the same thing?
• 3:00
  Kind of.
• 3:01
  But I want to reframe it because I think saying the quiet part out loud,
• 3:05
  giving the hot take, well, those phrases have become a little cliche at this point.
• 3:10
  everybody's got a no fluff no filter call it like it is podcast now it's become its own kind of
• 3:16
  noise so let's talk about the anti-hero the way a chef talks about garlic and salt a properly
• 3:25
  seasoned dish is never bland but it also is not assaulting you the salt is there the garlic is
• 3:33
  there you can feel it it makes everything else taste more like itself more alive more
• 3:39
  intentional.
• 3:41
  Too much salt, too little salt, too little garlic, and the food is flat, safe,
• 3:49
  forgettable.
• 3:50
  Too much salt, too much garlic, and all you've got is salt and garlic, like your
• 3:56
  favorite big chain restaurant.
• 3:58
  The dish is ruined, and more importantly, nobody comes back for
• 4:02
  seconds.
• 4:03
  The anti-hero in your podcast works exactly the same way.
• 4:07
  If it's too little, your
• 4:09
  show is pleasant, fine, inoffensive, and completely forgettable if we're being honest.
• 4:15
  You're one of
• 4:16
  10,000 podcasts in your niche saying approximately the same things in approximately the same order
• 4:23
  too much, and you become the host who is contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.
• 4:30
  Every episode is a hot take.
• 4:31
  Every guest is a foil.
• 4:33
  Every industry norm is a target.
• 4:35
  And pretty soon your audience doesn't trust you because you seem more interested in being edgy than being right.
• 4:41
  And this is the craft.
• 4:43
  Is the anti-hero as a presence in your show?
• 4:46
  Not the whole show.
• 4:48
  A presence.
• 4:49
  The garlic you can taste but can't quite locate.
• 4:53
  The je ne sais quoi.
• 4:55
  Let me make this concrete.
• 4:57
  The anti-hero is not just an opinion.
• 5:00
  It's an informed opinion that your listener suspects is true but has never heard anyone else say plainly or not in the way you say it.
• 5:08
  It is the episode where you tell your audience that more downloads will not save a bad show.
• 5:14
  It is the moment you push back on a guest respectfully but clearly because you disagree and your audience deserves to hear that disagreement.
• 5:22
  It is the episode where you say, here's the advice every expert in this space gives and here is why I think it is incomplete.
• 5:31
  It is the quiet admission that you made a mistake and here is what it cost you.
• 5:36
  None of those are attacks.
• 5:37
  None of those are manufactured controversy or as the kids will say, a non-troversy.
• 5:44
  What they are is salt.
• 5:47
  They make everything around them taste more like what it is.
• 5:50
  And here's what happens when you add the anti-hero to the pod quest framework.
• 5:54
  Your hero, your listener, suddenly has a guide who is not just cheering them on, but telling them the truth.
• 6:01
  And the right truth, when it is delivered with care and context, and the right amount of seasoning, that is what builds a binge-worthy show.
• 6:09
  Before I keep going, if you want to go deeper on all of this, the hero, the villain, the supporting cast, the setting, the plot,
• 6:16
  And now the Antihero Podquest is where we build it out all together.
• 6:22
  And right now, you'll score 20% off with the code in the show notes.
• 6:28
  So how do you know where the line is?
• 6:31
  Well, you make like a chef and you taste as you go.
• 6:35
  Literally, taste the food.
• 6:38
  Now, before you publish an episode with a hot take in it, ask yourself three different questions.
• 6:43
  One, is this true or is it just provocative?
• 6:48
  The anti-hero has to be grounded.
• 6:50
  It has to be something you can defend, something you have lived or observed or researched or all of the above.
• 6:57
  If it is only provocative, it's not salt.
• 7:01
  It's only noise.
• 7:03
  Two, am I saying this for my listener or for myself?
• 7:09
  There is a version of the hot take that is really just venting.
• 7:13
  That is not the anti-hero.
• 7:15
  That is a bad day with a microphone, and you've got to know the difference.
• 7:20
  Three, would I say this to somebody's face?
• 7:24
  And this is a big one because everybody on the internet is nice and brave until you have to say it to somebody's face.
• 7:30
  If the answer is no, if this is only brave because you are behind a mic and they cannot respond, reconsider.
• 7:37
  bitter.
• 7:38
  The antihero has conviction and it never hides.
• 7:44
  Now, if you can answer yes to all three of
• 7:47
  those questions, add the damn salt.
• 7:50
  Hit publish.
• 7:52
  Here's the thing about great cooking.
• 7:55
  Nobody walks
• 7:55
  out of a great meal talking about the salt.
• 7:58
  They talk about the experience, the feeling, the fact
• 8:00
  that they could not stop eating even when they were full.
• 8:05
  The salt did its job quietly.
• 8:08
  That is what the antihero does for your show
• 8:10
  when you use it right.
• 8:13
  It never announces itself.
• 8:15
  It just makes everything else better,
• 8:17
  more honest, more alive, more worth coming back for.
• 8:21
  Your listener does not need you to be edgy.
• 8:25
  They need you to be brave enough
• 8:26
  to say the thing that is actually true.
• 8:29
  That's the whole game.
• 8:31
  Season accordingly.
• 8:32
  My name is Freddy Cruz and thank you so much for listening to your mic.
• 8:36
  If you'd like some help weaving this kind of honest, well-seasoned perspective into a show that actually serves your listener and your business,
• 8:44
  hit up speakpodcasting.com and hit that contact form.
• 8:48
  Tell them you came from this podcast and what kind of show you're trying to build.
• 8:52
  And do not forget, PodQuest is open and you do get 20% off with the code in the show notes.
• 8:58
  And as always, share this episode if it hits you.
• 9:01
  Subscribe if you haven't.
• 9:03
  And thank you so much for spending your time with me.