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Transcript

Your Podcast's Invisible Enemies · Your Mic

• 0:00
  Let's pretend for one second that your podcast is a movie character, they're tired, they're
• 0:05
  a little beat up, and they're wearing those same sweatpants from episode 12, and you're
• 0:12
  on episode 50.
• 0:13
  They're standing in a dark alley and they're punching at shadows.
• 0:17
  And that's what it feels like when your show is getting hammered by invisible enemies,
• 0:22
  not trolls, not bad reviews, not even the algorithm, and trust me, the algorithm can be an
• 0:27
  enemy sometimes.
• 0:28
  I'm talking about the stuff inside your head that quietly wrecks your podcast before
• 0:31
  it ever, ever hits the feet.
• 0:34
  We're going to name a few of those enemies today, and if one of them sounds like it's been
• 0:40
  living rent-free in your head, then I want you to write down because once you see it,
• 0:44
  you can actually fight it, and then your podcast can grow whatever that growth looks like
• 0:49
  to you.
• 0:50
  Enemy number one is going to be something I can absolutely relate to.
• 0:53
  It's called download shame.
• 0:56
  Do I know all about that?
• 0:58
  It's the sinking feeling every time you go into your hosting dashboard, and you see numbers
• 1:02
  that don't match the movie in your head.
• 1:05
  You're expecting a hundred downloads, or a thousand downloads, and nine.
• 1:14
  And I've been there before.
• 1:16
  Trust me I've been there before.
• 1:17
  I've had two download episodes.
• 1:19
  That was when I first launched this podcast, your mic.
• 1:22
  And man, does it just wreck your ego?
• 1:28
  So what I want you to do is think about download shame, okay?
• 1:35
  Think about it because if you've ever expected a ton of downloads and you only got a hundred
• 1:41
  a few hundred or whatever, that's okay.
• 1:46
  But don't tell yourself it's not a big deal because there is a part of you that flinches
• 1:51
  whenever you log into your dashboard and you see those results, they don't lie.
• 1:55
  Download shame doesn't just feel bad.
• 1:57
  It changes your behavior if you don't, if you don't nip it in the butt.
• 2:02
  Because what happens is you start, you start making decisions from insecurities, chase topics
• 2:07
  you don't really care about because maybe it's just going to hit different.
• 2:11
  You can tort your titles into clickbait because you're desperate for a spike.
• 2:16
  You avoid looking at your analytics altogether because, well, your ego.
• 2:21
  And let me tell you what does not get measured, cannot get managed in your show.
• 2:27
  If you ignore your analytics is never going to take off.
• 2:31
  The tragedy is shame never built anything worth listening to.
• 2:36
  Say that again, shame never built anything worth listening to on to enemy number two,
• 2:43
  the ghost committee.
• 2:44
  The ghost committee is my term for the imaginary group of people.
• 2:50
  You picture in your head every time you're ready to publish.
• 2:54
  These can be old co-workers, family members, and the one teacher who said you talk too much.
• 3:00
  Maybe at some peer you low key want to impress.
• 3:03
  None of them are actually sitting by the phone waiting to dissect your new episode and
• 3:08
  your brain.
• 3:09
  However, they're in the front row, arms crossed, and they're ready to judge your every word.
• 3:16
  Not the case.
• 3:17
  The ghost committee doesn't even listen to your show.
• 3:19
  They probably, they're not even thinking about you.
• 3:22
  When you think about it, most of the world is not even thinking about your show.
• 3:27
  Much less you altogether.
• 3:29
  They just aren't.
• 3:30
  I'm not trying to be a jerk.
• 3:32
  Nobody's thinking about it.
• 3:33
  Nobody's thinking about me.
• 3:34
  Nobody's thinking about this show.
• 3:36
  Nobody cares.
• 3:37
  There are what, eight, nine billion people on this planet, you and me, a grain of sand
• 3:47
  on an infinite beach.
• 3:50
  The ghost committee doesn't even listen to your show, but they are effectively your show's
• 3:55
  executive producers in that socks.
• 3:58
  Enemy number three is algorithm worship.
• 4:02
  I have fallen victim to that too.
• 4:03
  This is where you take a tool, a crude recommendation system built by a company that does
• 4:07
  not even know your name, and then you turn it into a god.
• 4:12
  You start talking about what the algorithm wants, like it's Zeus on a mountain.
• 4:17
  You make creative decisions based on half understood social media tips.
• 4:21
  You obsess over posting times, clip links, hacky hooks, and trends you don't even like.
• 4:29
  Now, there's nothing wrong with respecting how platforms work.
• 4:36
  You should, but the second, what the algorithm wants out ranks what my listener needs, well,
• 4:45
  you're in trouble because the algorithm doesn't buy from you.
• 4:49
  It's not going to share your show with a friend over coffee.
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  It's not going to send you an email saying that episode got me through a rough week or
• 4:56
  better yet, finally, someone gets me real people do that.
• 5:04
  No people share your episode, real people listen, real people spend time with you.
• 5:08
  It's not the algorithm.
• 5:10
  The algorithm doesn't care.
• 5:13
  On to enemy number four, loyalty to suffering.
• 5:17
  Now, I'm going to tell you one thing.
• 5:20
  I'm a fan of suffering because anything worth having does involve some suffering.
• 5:26
  You got to ride this struggle bus.
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  I don't care what the guru say.
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  I'm just a fan of chosen suffering, not unchosen suffering.
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  So think about that.
• 5:35
  Loyalty to suffering, it is really, really sneaky.
• 5:41
  Somewhere along the way you convince yourself that a real creator is always exhausted.
• 5:46
  So if podcasting doesn't hurt, you're probably not doing it right.
• 5:50
  You take on too many episodes.
• 5:53
  You have too many guests, too many platforms.
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  You sleep badly, you eat worse, and then you call it a grind.
• 6:01
  When in fact, you're just running yourself through a meat grinder.
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  Then what happens is you eventually burn out.
• 6:08
  You tell yourself you're weak, and then you double down again, you rinse and repeat.
• 6:14
  Loyalty to suffering keeps you from changing your format, asking for help or got for bid,
• 6:19
  taking a season break, and again, it wrecks your sleep and it wrecks your health because
• 6:24
  you're eating worse, and that is a killer when it comes to creativity.
• 6:30
  Much less, your overall health.
• 6:33
  So let's talk about enemy number five, future fantasy.
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  I love to fantasize.
• 6:39
  You can find my head in the clouds every time I'm walking my boy's sparrow.
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  I'm a dreamer.
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  I'm a daydreamer.
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  I like to fantasize.
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  Future fantasy is that beautiful, dangerous version of.
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  Once my show hits x, then I'll dot, dot, dot.
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  Examples.
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  Once I hit 100 episodes, then I'll be legit.
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  Once I hit 10,000 downloads, then I'll start selling.
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  Once I land that big name guest, then everything is going to change.
• 7:10
  And I've been at all three of those examples.
• 7:13
  100 episodes.
• 7:14
  I'm at over 100 episodes of your mic.
• 7:16
  I was at over 100 episodes in my first podcast, phrase, huge ask podcast.
• 7:21
  I was at more than 120 episodes of the previous one cruised through HTX.
• 7:25
  Trust me, when you get to 100 episodes, it doesn't even feel like a big deal.
• 7:29
  I've taken all of my podcasts, post radio, past 100 episodes.
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  It's really not that deep, not that big of a deal.
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  Maybe I'll do something for episode 200.
• 7:40
  A future fantasy is useful if it pulls you for, but often what happens is it becomes
• 7:45
  a reason to not do the uncomfortable work in front of you today.
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  I don't need to get clear on my hero right now.
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  I'll figure it out once I have more listeners and spoiler alert.
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  You won't.
• 7:58
  So what do you do with all these enemies?
• 8:01
  You don't try to positive mindset them away.
• 8:04
  You put them on paper.
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  You drag them into your process.
• 8:06
  And I've got a simple exercise for you, okay?
• 8:10
  After this episode, you sit down with a blank piece of paper, yes, paper, in pen or
• 8:15
  pencil, you're going to actually write, actually writing is good for you, okay?
• 8:21
  My podcasts, enemies are, and then you're going to list them, download shame, the ghost
• 8:27
  committee, algorithm worship, loyalty to suffering, future fantasy, or whatever.
• 8:34
  And for each one, I want you to ask these two questions.
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  How does this enemy change the way I host, plan, or publish?
• 8:41
  And then you're going to ask, what would I do differently this month if my enemy suddenly
• 8:46
  vanished?
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  Poof disappeared.
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  Be as specific as possible.
• 8:53
  Maybe you'll write, if I wasn't ashamed of my downloads, I'd finally talk about the
• 8:57
  subject I care about instead of chasing trends.
• 9:01
  If I wasn't scared of what my old boss thinks, I'd say what I really believe about how
• 9:05
  this industry treats people and how it treats creators.
• 9:10
  If I stopped worshipping the algorithm, I'd build for people not robots.
• 9:16
  Those answers, those answers give you a roadmap.
• 9:21
  Your show doesn't just need better gear or better guests.
• 9:25
  It needs a host who isn't secretly taking marching orders from invisible enemies.
• 9:33
  The crazy thing is, once you start making decisions from clarity instead of fear, your metrics,
• 9:38
  actually will improve, not because you hacked the system, but because you're finally making
• 9:43
  something that sounds alive, like a breathing, like a living breathing podcast, because you're
• 9:51
  a living breathing soul.
• 9:54
  You're a human.
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  You're not a robot.
• 9:58
  So today's episode, for you to admit, you've been shadow boxing good.
• 10:03
  It's the first step to actually landing a punch.
• 10:06
  Appreciate you listening.