Hands up! Guilty as charged. From conception to actual publication of episode 1 took a mere 12 months. I know, my head hangs in shame. The idea was and still is a great one, 159 episodes in and still going strong. I’m talking about World Organic News. (Update 2020: Now called ChangeUnderground)
So what was going on? I contacted a friend on Facebook who was about to start her show The Organic Gardener Podcast, for some technical info. Where to host? What will it cost? And that sort of thing. Then Jackie decided my two year old blog, World Organic News would qualify me as a guest on her show.
It was fun but the technical stuff and, of course, the great fear, ‘Would I have enough material to put out a show every week?’ kept me frozen from action. Unlike many of my students, I was not concerned with how different my voice sounded in audio as opposed to in my head. I’d been recording myself since I was twelve when my Uncle gave me a reel to reel tape recorder for christmas 1973. So one less reason to not start.
Why did I actually start? A friend and now co-host on Permaculture Plus, Rich sent me a link for Zencastr or something similar and off I went. I found the Opinion podcasting app. This is a great tool to start off with for a single voice show. It records through the iPhone, allows basic editing and then to move the file for post production processing through Auphonic. More on the Opinion app here.
There are as many reasons for not starting as there are individuals contemplating podcasting. In the end, if you don’t make the actual decision and take action, your podcast will be a great idea without a home.
It is only in the doing that you will get it done. I know that seems self evident and sometime we need to hear it that bluntly. Your voice matters, you have listeners out there waiting for your vision, (Even if they don’t know it yet!) and your individual growth depends upon you publishing.
Explaining how podcasting changes the podcaster to someone who hasn’t started is a bit like a frog trying to explain dry land to tadpole. It can’t be explained, it can only be experienced. Hit the record button and publish!
Takeaways
- You will have excuses to not start.
- Start anyway, don’t waste a year like I did.
- Podcasting will change you, for the good.