The Unexpected Ways Podcasting Changes Your Life

Buzzsprout team member, Cara Pacetti, joins us to talk about how podcasting builds confidence, sparks creativity, preserves meaningful voices, and creates communities where people feel understood. We discuss elementary students running their own show, teenagers connecting across the globe, and a hospice patient whose wisdom continues to reach listeners after her passing.

Then we get into Fan Mail about how to recognize meaningful traction when your audience is still small, and why embracing the quirks that make your podcast different may be the key to making it matter.

Because when we start a podcast, we don’t just create something for other people. Podcasting changes us, too!

Mentioned in this episode: 

• Podcasting Q&A
• Tiger Talk
• This Teenage Life
• Advice 4 The Living
• Yasha
• Turning Casual Listeners Into Superfans

Contact Buzzcast

• Send us Fan Mail
• Tweet us at @buzzcastpodcast, @albanbrooke, @kfinn, and @JordanPods

Thanks for listening and Keep Podcasting!

Transcript

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There Will Be Thunder

Jordan 0:00

Do you have a thunderstorm rolling in?

Alban 0:02

I do. We uh we've got one coming in.

Jordan 0:05

Hearing something, Cara and I are both just like, what is that?

Alban 0:08

Yeah. Cara's about 20 miles from me. So Cara might be headed your way.

Cara 0:14

Oh no. Here we go.

Jordan 0:21

Welcome back to BuzzCast, the podcast about all things podcasting from the people at Buzzsprout. Today we have another member of the Buzzsprout team. Cara Pacetti is on. Cara is a member of the podcaster success team in Buzzprout. And you've actually moved into the role of podcaster success concierge. What does that mean?

Alban 0:44

Concierge?

Jordan 0:46

Concierge. Gotta get that very fancy. Yes. I picture like the white gloves of your concierge. Wait, wait.

Alban 0:52

So if you go to the thing at the hotel, that's called concierge?

Jordan 0:56

Yes. Yes.

Alban 0:58

That doesn't sound right.

Jordan 0:59

In America.

Cara 1:02

But besides because of their role, they probably won't correct you. They're going to kindly help you with whatever you

Guest Intro: Cara Pacetti

Cara 1:09

need.

Alban 1:09

So tell me about this role of concierge.

Cara 1:12

Basically, I am here to welcome new podcasters into Buzzsprout and to just kind of hold your hand as you get started, whether you're launching your podcast or whether you're just troubleshooting something. I have a few different roles here at Buzzsprout. I work in the support inbox, answering emails directly from podcasters. I also host Podcasting Q&A where we answer listener questions about podcasting. And then I also offer classes and orientations for our podcasters. Just anything that can help a podcaster succeed, that's my role, is I want to make it as easy for you as possible. Buzzsprout already does an amazing job at that. So I have a lot of great content and tools to work with. But I just get to help you kind of facilitate and let you know what's available to you here at BuzzSprout. So yeah.

Jordan 1:59

And we actually recorded an episode of Happy to Help with Priscilla, where we talked about Podcasting Q&A and like you using Podcast and QA as a customer support podcast. But it was super cool because Podcasting Q&A, we had rebranded it. Like, so if you know the story of this, it was like five minute Mondays and it was kind of like a marketing thing. And we were like trying out these like quick hits. And then it was like, that doesn't make sense. So we're gonna rebrand it to Podcasting Q&A. And then like I took over it when I started at Buzzsprout. And then we just kind of like put it down because we had like other podcasts. And it was so cool because the support team was wanting to start a podcast that would help in the support inbox. And so that's where you stepped in on it. And you've been doing it for like a year now. And it's, I think it's just so cool that it didn't get rebranded. You guys still kept it Podcasting Q&A, probably because it makes sense because you guys are, you know, doing questions and answers. Yeah. Um, but I just think it's so cool that you took it from like a marketing perspective and put it into a customer support perspective. Yeah.

Alban 3:03

Yeah, it's kind of it does live between those two worlds. It is a little bit of inbound marketing. People might find it and go, oh, these people can help me out with starting a podcast. But most of the questions that we were doing when we did it on the marketing side were we were hearing from the support team. Hey, this is a question that's coming up a lot. We go, oh, yeah, that's a great question for us to cover on Podcasting Q&A. And I saw like two days ago, Cara, you hit 250 episodes with Podcasting Q&A, at least you know, 55 or something. You've you've hit 200 and you hit the 250 mark.

Cara 3:42

Yes, very exciting. Yeah, I um I just surpassed 52 episodes, which is 52 weeks, which is a full year of podcasting. And um, it's been, I tell podcasters this working in the support inbox that you know, you just gotta be consistent, keep going, keep pushing, it'll get easier. And actually living it, I'm like, I've been doing this for a year. Wow. And I've grown so much. It's been really fun.

Jordan 4:08

Yeah. Well, I mean, now that you have been podcasting for a year, what is a way that podcasting has improved your life or improved your skill set in a way that you didn't really think it would or expect?

Cara 4:20

Honestly, hosting a podcast and doing all of the work behind it. So editing, scripting, recording, publishing, promoting, all of it. It has really taught me to lean into my creativity, like flex that muscle. Because in all of my previous jobs and things that I've pursued, I wasn't the creator. I was given a task, complete the task, you know, maybe think outside the box a little bit, but mostly just get the work done. And with this, it was here is a podcast that existed. Now you take it and you run with it. And I had direction, of course, but I it's very autonomous. Uh, and I'm the creator. And so that has been amazing. And it trickles down into everything that I do in life. And it's really built confidence and it's allowed me to really lean into that skill. So, even a kind of small example is I'm coaching cheerleading right now for um a small organization where I live. And I'm not intimidated by creating new routines or about managing this because I've for the last year been the manager of Podcasting Q&A. And so that was a surprising like confidence boost that I didn't know was happening until I lived it.

Alban 5:28

There's something really valuable about having an area as an adult. I think that as we get older, there's fewer and fewer opportunities to lean into something totally new and creative. Cause we kind of feel like I shouldn't feel all that scared. I shouldn't feel intimidated. It's probably that I'm not naturally good at this thing, is why it feels awkward. When the reality is nobody is really good at podcasting day one. The only people who are good right off the bat were basically doing podcasting on the radio. Or they were do you know, they were already a reporter for MPR or something. For you to be good at this, you've got to actually do it. And a lot of it is kind of that emotional work of like, oh, I don't feel great about this because I haven't really written a script for me to read uh many times. But once you've done it, five, 10 episodes, you start to feel not only more confident about podcasting, more confident about next time that I feel nervous, I know that will go away over time because it really is just like a skill issue.

Cara 6:27

It really is. Yeah. And that's such a great tool to have to take with you into everything that you do. So yeah, it's been awesome.

Jordan 6:35

Well, I think this is so perfect to have you on for this episode because I know that we've had recent interactions with podcasters. I know that you have care that we'll talk about a little bit later. Um, I actually did a Creator Spotlight. If you subscribe to the Buzzbrot newsletter, you will have seen a Creator Spotlight about Tiger Talk. We talked about them, I don't know, like six months ago or something like that. It's this fourth and fifth grade students that won an award for their podcast. And so I kind of want to talk about how podcasts will grow the people who are creating the podcast. Because we always talk about like how to grow the show, how to grow your audience. But let's talk about how podcasting can grow you as a person. And I have pulled some examples that range from childhood, like early childhood, into like young adult life, because I really feel like these are the most form, I mean, they are the most formative years of your life. And like maybe podcasting can really contribute to that.

Cara 7:34

Absolutely.

Jordan 7:34

Okay,

What Kids Learn Podcasting

Jordan 7:35

so we'll start with Tiger Talk. Um, so like I said, I had done a creator profile on them talking about how these students um started the podcast. And it was really cool because I talked to their teacher, and I thought that the teacher had some sort of like um, you know, hands in on the podcast, because you would assume that an adult would be the one like, you know, really driving it and the kids would be on the microphone and stuff. And it was so cool because when I did the interview with her, she didn't know how to work the roadcaster or set up the microphone. And I was like, Oh, yeah, she had no idea. And I was like, You've never set it up, and she goes, No, the kids do.

Cara 8:14

That's amazing.

Jordan 8:15

Oh, I know. So it was really funny because we couldn't use the microphone. Like, I tried troubleshooting, like, we couldn't use the microphone at all for the interview because she just didn't know how to do it because the kids have done it for years. And what's so cool is that the students, the way that they do this is the fifth graders will train the fourth graders on how to podcast. And she said it's like a huge deal at the school. So they have auditions to be the host of Tiger Talk every year. And it is like the biggest thing. She said it's bigger than like a presidential election. It is the thing at the school. You want to be a Tiger Talk host. Oh my goodness. And so I know. And so they do these uh auditions, and so they'll have two fourth graders and two fifth graders that are doing the podcast. And every year, the students will pick the theme for that season and they will um like schedule the interviews. So this year they did like a thing about veterans, and so they found veterans, sent the emails inviting them to be interviewed. And when the veterans came to their school, they would give them a tour of the school and then walk them into the like studio and sit down and interview the veterans.

Alban 9:31

That is so cool. I think I know. Honestly, when I heard about this, I went and listened to it, and my daughter is about the age that she would be doing this as well. And so I was like, I know a lot of fifth graders, and I'm like, they're probably there, they've just got like a really good A V teacher, like audiovisual teacher who's setting everything up and giving them the script and they're kind of doing it. If they're running this, the amount of like skills they're getting out of this are incredible. That is so cool.

Cara 10:01

That is amazing. And if there's one thing, that age, like you said, it's so formative. If you give kids a task and maybe you just have written out instructions, but you let them figure it out and troubleshoot it and do that work, like that is so empowering for them. Talk about build skills that trickle into everything else. Like, that is such a huge foundation that's gonna really catapult them in other areas. That's that's really, really cool.

Jordan 10:26

You're totally right, Cara. And that's one of the things that she talked about is like sometimes when they're doing these interviews, they will, like everyone, encounter equipment issues. And so these fourth and fifth graders have to be the ones to do the technical troubleshooting. They'll like restart things, they'll make sure that the chords are plugged in correctly. And it gives them that kind of like critical thinking skills. Yeah. And she said that it has taught them, you know, like leadership and teaching other students and representing the school well and um also like recovering during an interview, especially when you're um interviewing adults. Think about this. This is fourth and fifth graders, and they are pursuing adults, asking them questions, leading the interview, like prepping it. Yeah, it's just it's it's taught them so many skills that you just can't learn in the classroom.

Cara 11:20

Yeah. I feel like uh TV production or like the morning news show was what we had in school. So podcasting is way cooler. I love that for them.

Jordan 11:30

Well, and it was like, I don't know, at least for me, it was only in high school that they did that. Yeah. And so, like starting young, I mean, I think a lot of people, if I were to look at um my daughter, so she's in fourth grade. I don't know if I would trust her to like start her own podcast and stuff like that. But it was funny because she said she wanted to start a podcast. She had like Cap Cut on her on her iPad. And I was like, oh yeah, like people use Cap Cut. I handed her my Samsung Q to you. She plugged it into her uh tablet and just like scurried upstairs an hour later. She came back with this great episode, and she had used like they have like vocal enhancement on it, and she had done like sound effects and like theme music. She found theme music and she did it an hour, and I was like, this is great. And like these kids are capable of doing these things on their own. Yeah.

Teen Podcasting As Global Community

Alban 12:25

All right, so Jordan, you have this one about elementary school. I actually found one about teenagers that was on, I think it was on the Today Show, and it's called This Teenage Life. And it I think like the subtitle is like a podcast where people belong or teenagers belong or something like that. And the idea with this was it was just like an after-school club, and a few people got together, they recorded, they put out an episode, they got 10 listeners, you know, slowly kind of the same story of podcasting that you know, it starts growing. And then in COVID, when everybody is basically working from home, um, everybody was going to school at home, it really took off. And so this is a podcast that I mean it's got big enough that it got featured on TV and really cool. Have you seen this?

Jordan 13:16

I didn't like quite listen to it until I like got a snippet of it. And I think it's just so cool because what's what's like the main thing that you hear from teenagers? So I my daughter just started high school, and it's very much like the you just don't get it. Like you just don't understand. Like you don't, you don't understand me. And so I love that these teenagers have like a platform to talk about the things that they're going through because teenage being a teenager is horrendously awkward and weird, and you're just like you, you feel like alien in your own body, and you don't know how to like socially interact. And it's funny because they're they're realizing that they're not alone in that. Like it's it's not like a unique experience that you have.

Alban 13:56

One of the things that um in the interview where they're talking, they're like, Yeah, we're talking about everything, we're talking about the environment and politics. And I'm like, okay, that and then they're like, and then we're talking about you know, crushes and pimples. And one girl was like, Oh, the first episode I did was the divorce episode. And I'm like, there's something like about when you're a teenager, you're like in this place of life where all the big topics of the world are now accessible. You can care about the environment and care about everything that's going on, but also like pimples are a huge issue. And like having a crush is like, oh my gosh, this is overwhelming. I don't know what to do how to deal with it. And it I remember where it's like, I got two big things I'm thinking about. It's the pimple and my parents' divorce and both happening at the same time.

Cara 14:44

Yeah. What a great outlet. I just know community is so important. And I mean, in COVID, it was next to impossible to have community. So this was the I I understand why this podcast took off during that time. But even then, as it's continued, um, they said it's global. So, like, we are bringing teenagers, teenagers in Sweden are having pimples and economic problems, just like teenagers in California. Like, it just really ties that community and just brings everybody together. And that is so important when you're a teenager. Like you just you just have to know that you're not alone. So, what a cool way to bridge that gap.

Alban 15:22

Well, one of the other things that you made me remember was that they have all of these now like guest hosts, people who are getting onto the podcast and are connecting with the community. All of them emailed the show. And so it starts off as a very tight, you know, four people and an adult or something, four teenagers and adult. So it was a small group.

Jordan 15:42

Because it started as a club, like a physical club, yeah, right?

Alban 15:46

And so it's just like the little club, and there's not many of them. And then as they growed, people are writing in saying, like, hey, uh, I listened to this episode, this really impacted me. I love this. And they're like, Oh, cool, come join us. And so they're getting other voices from around the world on the podcast. Maybe they're recording on Zoom, but they're showing these like Zoom calls in the in the like today's show spotlight where they've got like 12 people on the screen, you know, kind of all connecting. Just very cool. I love like we all say it. There's something different about podcasting that you feel the intimacy of connecting to somebody else when they're in your ears, and you can just listen for hours while you're doing something else. And then you go, I kind of do know these people. Oh, that's right. That is how I'm feeling. Oh, that's how I'm processing these similar emotions, and this person gets me. My guess is that if that had been a video, it's just way too easy to scroll past and go, you know, jump into the next TikTok video that's also asking for your attention. And now they're getting to kind of sit down, listen for a few hours, connect to people who over time start to feel more and more like friends. It was just a very, very cool little thing on the Today Show.

Jordan 17:02

Well, and the other thing that is so cool about this too is that when you're a teen or you're like in high school, like a lot of times you'll get bullied for these things that might seem like quirky or or odd or strange. And so for them to get together and they're finding out, like, oh, all these other people do this weird thing too, and they have these like oddities to them. And so maybe it's kind of silly that I'm bullied for this. And it gives them more of a sense of like, I don't know, comfort. Yeah. That they're worthy of having friends and like being part of a community, and they're not actually like being ostracized for you know having ADD or you know, whatever.

Alban 17:46

Yeah, just knowing that other people are feeling the same way you felt or confused about the same things you're confused about. You're like, oh, I'm not the only one who got tripped up around that. Okay, that I feel like I'm not some total weirdo. Um, for me, it was being homeschooled. You know, meeting other homeschoolers was like, oh, cool. So I don't have to like hide the fact that I was homeschooled because everybody I encountered was like, oh yeah, that's definitely weird.

Cara 18:13

Well, and one thing that I thought of when you were saying that, Jordan, is, you know, in high school, you kind of if you're a part of a team, like a sport or even part of drama club or something like that, like that really connects teenagers. And so if you're walking into school and you're like, I'm none of those things. So where do I fit in? You know, then joining this podcasting club really can unite not only the ones who maybe aren't a part of the team, but if others from those teams are connecting all on that same level, it just really brings everybody together on the same playing field. So it's not like, oh, the quarterback, of course, he has a whole big group of friends, you know. Like, nope, he's in the he's in the uh podcasting club as well. So it just, it's a really cool way to like bring community to where maybe it just didn't come so naturally.

Alban 19:02

I just love the idea that this episode has turned into, hey, maybe podcasting is cool. I'm pretty sure about two examples, but I'm not sure this is uh this is universal.

Jordan 19:15

Speaking of, you know, like being bullying, bullied, and having a hard time finding where you like fit in, Cara, you actually brought a story to us from the support inbox that ties in perfectly with this too.

Cara 19:28

Yeah.

Sage Advice That Lives On

Cara 19:29

So a podcaster wrote in two support asking for troubleshooting advice on her podcast. And in doing so, I went and looked at her podcast, uh, looked into it a little bit, and I noticed that her podcast was actually being recorded from hospice care. Uh, and so I was really surprised to see that.

Alban 19:44

Is she a nurse or is she a patient?

Cara 19:46

So she's a patient. Um, yeah. So her podcast is called Advice for the Living. And she started all of her episodes by saying, Welcome to this podcast. Um, this is advice for the living for someone who only kind of is, because she was, yeah, she recognized that this is, you know, terminal care. So she knows. Um and I just feel I was so moved. Even the fact that she was starting this podcast, uh, so just the initial email, I was immediately inspired. Like, this is very cool that you are doing this. Um, I also was super inspired that when you're in hospice care, you're limited depending on what it is that has got you there. And so the fact that she can start a podcast and utilize her voice as her strength in this to create something for listeners was just super impressive. And so when she wrote in, um I read a little bit about how the podcast was designed. And basically, she was requesting that her listeners would send in topics. So they would send in questions or they would just send in stories that they had experienced. And she would share those and she would offer her perspective. And she just wanted to create her whole goal was to create a community where there is no ridicule, there's no um judgment, there's just a safe place to send in your story or your question. And she, I just feel like it had that vibe of what do we have to lose? Let's talk about it. This is a safe place. And yes, yeah, it was it was it was awesome. And the podcast really took off. Uh, she recorded over 274 episodes uh with less than a year. Uh it grew to a great listenership and it just it really was so touching.

Jordan 21:37

That makes me feel very like. Sorry, it just it makes me feel very much like what's my excuse for not having like a bunch of episodes out. You know what I mean? And I just I love that because she's in a situation where you're right, like you would feel like, oh, I can't record this because I'm in a hospital bed or you know, whatever. But she was recording these from the hospital bed and presumably editing them and then publishing them through BuzzProut, which is crazy. And I, it was so neat because I looked through and um, yeah, some of the episodes are really mundane things. Like someone was talking about their neighbor and she did like a whole episode about that.

Cara 22:18

Yes. Like, yes. It's so cool. The topics ranged to a lot of different things. Some of them were very almost heart-wrenching, like really hard stories to tell. You could tell that the listener felt safe sending this to Kayla. And some remained anonymous, some she would share their names. Um, and to add to Kayla's story, she was speaking, you spoke about this earlier about bullying. She was uh bullied in school for sometimes being a little too opinionated or just like talk too much. And so she used this thing that people kind of held against her, her voice and her opinion to literally create a safe, empathetic community for her listeners. And I I was just blown away. It was just such an inspirational story. And she just embodied kindness in the way that she responded to her listeners, created a safe place. And I even heard an episode where the listener said, and Kayla, if I need uh to be held accountable or you know, some tough love, then give it to me. And they welcomed that. So I just I loved that. Yes.

Alban 23:23

I I love the idea that if you've ever been told you talk too much, which I know I have, then you might be a podcaster. Yeah. You found what you're supposed to be doing.

Jordan 23:34

I was always the kid that like got their desk moved out into the hallway and I had to do my work in the hallway. Yeah. So leave me now.

Cara 23:42

I'm a talker. Yeah. I think most podcasters are. Yeah.

Alban 23:47

Uh so Cara, I hear you a few times have said um she's done some amount of episodes and you're using was. Is Kayla still doing the episode or has she has she passed?

Cara 23:58

She's passed. Yes. Yeah. Um, so she there will no longer be any new episodes. Uh she's she's no longer with us. So it was it was sad, but her podcast really did grow uh in her last year creating this. So it's been a really beautiful thing.

Jordan 24:13

I mean, but like, how beautiful is that that she, you know, is no longer here in body, but her spirit like lives on through the podcast, and people will continue to get to know her and fall in love with her even after she's gone. I I just like that makes me very, very emotional. Yeah, I really love that.

Alban 24:32

I over the last few years have lost a few people, and I love hearing like old voicemails or videos where you can hear them talking. And multiple of them are not all of that special moments where they're telling you, like, oh, here's how I feel about you. Instead, they're just kind of like talking to a friend in the background. And there is something about just hearing somebody's voice, even after they've passed, that feels like so powerful. And now I'm looking up her podcast. I see the last episode was called Infinite Gratitude, Last Nuggets of Wisdom and a Final Farewell. Um yeah, we should link to it. We should, yeah, I would love to for other people to go listen to it. I want to go listen to it myself.

Recording Family Voices For Later

Jordan 25:16

Yeah. You know, uh this actually what you were saying, Alban. You remember when you were recording people like at Thanksgiving and stuff like that, like members of your family. I actually interviewed this guy. Um, his podcast isn't out just yet. It'll be out like in a week or so. Um, but he has a podcast called Yasha. He actually also wrote into the support inbox, which is awesome that we keep finding these podcasts when they write into support inbox. So if you, if you want listeners, write into support, right? We'll listen. Um but uh he actually had like before college, interviewed his grandfather about like this story of like escaping Germany as a child. And it was just like this huge epic story. And he was like, whoa, that's that's crazy. And then he like put the tapes in a drawer, then like went off to college and like got married and went on with his life. But his grandfather passed and he started thinking about those tapes again. And so he went in and found them, and he said that he originally was going to write a book based on his grandfather's story, and then he was like, Oh, that's hard. And so he actually made it into um a podcast, like docuseries, like a small mini-series, and he used his grandfather's voice in gosh, this series. Yes. Yeah, and I was thinking of you the whole time, and now I'm thinking of that again because like how what a great way to honor somebody after their passing than a podcast telling, like a it's like a memoir, right? I just think that's amazing.

Alban 26:48

So that was part of what um, for people who don't remember last Thanksgiving, I tried it. We were at this house that we pretty much was my great-grandfather's house a long time ago. It's this tiny little cabin in the middle of nowhere. And we go there for Thanksgiving, and I was like, you know, this house has kind of been a place we've gone to for most of pretty much my whole life. There's a photo of me there at one. I was like, oh, I should interview everyone in the family about the house. But with the knowledge that, you know, I've got memories of my grandfather being there who had passed, and my grandmother who had passed, and all these people who are no longer there, and then thinking, you know, I do want to record this because there will be a point when the group that was there last Thanksgiving, that group will not all be there. You know, a sibling or a parent or somebody uh won't be with us. And I really, you know, for every person that has passed, I think I really wish I had recorded something. Not that it has to be a podcast, uh, but just like to hear their voice. And I think that I really want to do this more, you know, just take a little voice memo and record stuff because I would give anything to have the version of Yasha for my grandfather, you know, he served in Korea, and I'd love to hear like his story. And, you know, obviously I never recorded that.

Cara 28:07

Absolutely. Yeah. So podcasting is used in so many ways, speaking about fifth graders practicing skills and teenagers coming to community and Kayla's voice living on and her advice living on, and like one medium. Like you said, there's just something different about podcasting, and it's just it's amazing.

Fan Mail

Jordan 28:30

All right, let's get into some fail messages. We got a lot of this episode. I'm very excited. I love it when our listeners write in. So, first up, we have a voicemail message from Damon.

Damon 28:43

I recently launched a niche history podcast on BuzzSprout called the Titanic Provenance Files, where we use artifacts, documents, and other pieces of evidence to explore how we know what we know about Titanic. Since I'm only a few episodes in, I'm curious, what are the earliest signs that a new podcast is actually gaining traction? Basically, when the numbers are still small, how do you tell the difference between a podcast that's beginning to find its audience and one that's just, well, small?

Alban 29:17

This is a great question, David. I I'll I'll jump in here. I think the way you can tell about whether or not something is starting to catch traction or if it already has an audience, it's are there a few people in the audience? And the number could be one that say, I love this show. If there's one person that loves it, they will tell other people about it. If there's five people that love it, they're gonna tell other people about it. If there's a hundred people that kind of like it, it doesn't have an audience yet. And so I would, even when you've got 10 listeners, try to get them to reach out, tell them, I'd love for you to shoot me a fan mail and tell me what you like about the show. And really the goal is find a couple people that love the show and make the show better and better for them. Because for every one person who's found the show that loves it, there's probably 10,000 other people just like them. And you just want to be able to reach them by creating something that will fit perfectly for them.

Jordan 30:22

I think that it is very important to focus on the meaningful traction. And, you know, like you, like you said, if you have a few like hundred listeners that keep coming, but every time you ask them to send you a fan mail, every time you ask them to like share the episode or like follow your Instagram account on the podcast and nobody does it, then you know, that feels like you're just talking into a void with like a few people watching you.

Cara 30:47

Yeah.

Jordan 30:48

And so if you just have like a couple people, we have a really great episode about actually actually about um super fans, creating super fans that I'll link to in the show notes. And I think that that will help a lot.

Alban 30:59

All right. So we got another one from Jonathan with the Afterlife Fictions podcast. We got so many about our quick cast about keep podcasting weird.

Jordan 31:08

I know this was such a great topic, Alvin.

Alban 31:11

I like it I was um I watched it on YouTube because I saw that it published, and now YouTube has figured out that I like this YouTube show called Buzzcast. So I uh I watched it to just kind of like give myself some pointers. And I felt like the intro to that episode, I was like, man, I could have tightened that up quite a bit. It would have been better. And so I was really uh happy. I saw John Spurlock shared it on Twitter, and then I saw people start writing in, and I was like, okay, so it something landed.

Jordan 31:43

Um this is the meaningful traction we're talking about.

Alban 31:46

This is the meaning of the top. So I appreciate everybody who wrote in. So, what do we get from Jonathan? Jonathan wrote in, he said, Well, here's how I keep it weird, and it's with my publishing schedule. I publish the bulk of my episodes three times a year, January, May, and September. That's pretty much the worst strategy ever, if you ask some of the internet gurus. Yes, the the self-proclaimed internet gurus. But number one, it's my podcast.

Cara 32:14

Reason enough. Amen. That's all right.

Alban 32:16

Number two, it gives me time to create and be inspired in between release dates since I release multiple episodes at a time, and I can take four to 12 hours to record and produce a single episode. And number three, other successful podcasts like hardcore history have established that you don't have to choose a normal cadence for your publishing, but it's important to be regular in releasing content. So that's the why and the how of how I'm keeping podcasting weird for my storytelling podcast.

Cara 32:46

I love this. And I might be an internet guru because we actually did a Podcasting Q&A episode, and I recommended this approach as an option for recording episodes. Yes.

Alban 32:58

Both self-proclaimed internet guru.

Cara 33:00

Yeah, but I'm the agreeing guru, Jonathan. So yeah, whatever keeps you podcasting is the normal and the correct way for you. So yeah. Yes.

Alban 33:10

I wish that I'd remembered hardcore history when we talked about the keep podcasting weird. Because if you said how many people should be on an episode, mostly it's like two to four people. You don't do a lot of solos. Well, it's a solo show. There's another person who helps produce it, but there's one voice. Okay, well, what should it be about? All about one story from history, all pretty much stream of consciousness after a ton of prep. Nobody would tell you to do that. Hey, it's gonna be three to six hours long. Nobody would tell you to do that. Not a normal cadence. It comes out when it comes out. No one's gonna recommend that. What are the results? Best history podcast of all time.

Cara 33:50

Exactly.

Alban 33:51

Like it just doesn't the advice is all good. And yet some things have to kind of be outside the normal distribution for it to be an outlier and be really great. And hardcore history is out there and it's really great.

Jordan 34:06

Yeah. That's awesome. All right, and we also got another voicemail message from Dave Jackson from School of Podcasting about keeping podcasts weird.

Dave 34:15

In terms of keeping your podcast weird, Kevin would like this. Uh, I do not have a lot of good things to say about Spotify, and I always tell people not to use them for a media host. And I decided to put together all of the reasons why I do not like Spotify as a media host, but it was kind of boring because it was just facts. So I created some AI children and told it like a children's story and had kids say things like, Well, wait a minute, what about all the people that used to use it? Oh, never mind them, Timmy. So that was kind of weird, but it made it entertaining because history channel media is kind of boring, and that's how I spiced it up.

Jordan 34:54

I listen to Dave's podcast, and he does stuff like this that is so campy, it is so absurd, and I cackle every time. Like I think it's Jesus.

Alban 35:06

This is too much for me, Dave. You made AI children to read a you read a bedtime story. This is also like the worst bedtime story of all time. Yeah. Kids.

Cara 35:18

Oh, wait a minute.

Alban 35:20

Tell me why did why did Anchor pivot from being an education app to being a podcasting app? And then Spotify bought them, Daddy. Oh, it's so good. It's so ridiculous that it's good.

Jordan 35:36

It's perfect. All right, we got another message from Sarah from Wish I Known Then saying, I agree. Let's keep podcasting quirky. I like it when hosts share a little bit about something that's going on in their personal lives. I was just listening to the written word podcast, and a couple of months ago, one of the hosts mentioned seeing an owl on her walk. She gave an update. She's now seen the owl family. I'm so jealous. And listeners have been messaging her with information about owls and suggesting books to read about owls. I just thought it was so fun, a quirky detail that resonated in a way that people were connecting with a host on a show about book marketing. Owls and book marketing, who would have put those two things together? This is the alpaca wool socks. Like Albin thing.

Alban 36:21

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

Jordan 36:23

Which somehow turned into like this stupid sidebar that Alvin had about these like socks turned into probably one of the biggest clips we've ever had on this podcast. Like, I think it is famous.

Alban 36:40

I really love this when I listen to podcasts and you hear something about their lives. And you, especially when they've gone a little too far. One of the podcasters I listened to has just built this huge inventory system for his house. He vibe coded, and it's like there's QR codes on every shelf in the house, and all the items are like categorized. So you can now ask an app on his phone, like, hey, where is the blah blah blah case? And it will just show up and it's like on the specific shelf A4. And then you go there and there it is. And oh my gosh. Do I need this? No, because my my plan is you should have so few things that you know where everything is. So you got to just get rid of stuff. But I love hearing it and I'm like, oh, that's smart. And I'm like imagining this whole system. And I'm like, I love when people are sharing these types of things on the podcast, even if it's not 100% related to the show.

Cara 37:36

Yeah. All right. So this female message says, hello from a Buzzsprout podcaster from England. My podcast is called Becoming a Cut Flower Grower. I love your podcast. I listen to every episode as soon as it's released. I really enjoyed your last episode about how algorithms are making podcasts boring. So I wanted to share with you how I keep my episodes real. I record some of my episodes on my cut flower field, and my hens and ducks often make a noisy appearance. I love it. Oh, so good. Oh my gosh. So my listeners will never think that AI has been involved. Um, we need to check this out. Thank you, Lydia, for sharing that with us. Oh my gosh.

Lydia 38:18

Hello and welcome to the latest episode. It's Lydia from Hen Heel Cut Flowers here. You're joining me on a Friday evening, and I'm up on the field, and it's tea time. So come with me as I feed the ducks and the chickens. Hey guys. Hello. There we go.

Alban 38:39

Carrot, you did a great job reading this, but man, I wish Lydia had sent this in as voicemail so that we got to listen to her voice. We have so many people who leave us voicemail and then you listen to their voice, and you're like, oh, now I know I are a podcaster. Like it's so like homeg. Over here, I'm like coughing into the mic.

Jordan 39:00

She could have done it like from her phone, like in with the like hens and ducks and stuff, and we could have heard it. Yeah. That is so cool. I would love that.

Alban 39:09

So good, Lydia. Thank you so much.

Jordan 39:11

All right. Next up, we have a voicemail from Seth from Entrepreneurs Enigma.

Seth 39:16

Hey guys. First off, Yellowstone is one giant volcano. So Jordan is not too far off from being scared of that thing. I don't blame her for being too scared about the buffalo and the moose and all that stuff. Still, Jordan, I think you're missing out. You should try and go. Love the show this week. By far one of my favorite podcasts out there on the podcast industry. Buy a branded podcast. So great example for my clients who I work with at Podcast Mastery. I can say you can have a branded podcast and do it right. I point it to you guys. So take care, guys. Keep it to good work.

Alban 39:53

Yeah, thank you, Seth. You know, we we say the show is a branded podcast because it does do some marketing for us. I think a lot of it is it's just good for us as a company to like get together once a week or once, well, really now once a week, it used to be every other week. And like Kevin and I are bouncing ideas off each other, Jordan's sharing stuff she's experiencing in Buzz Brow, and we're bringing in other people from the team, and then you get somebody like Cara on the episode and she's sharing something. It's good for us just to explore ideas and keep like the energy moving in the company around like our core problem, which is how do we make podcasting easier and simplified? So we're running into the issues. It's one of the benefits of running a branded podcast, is if you're speaking to your audience, you're also learning about what they're experiencing. So I know we just talked about all these teenagers who are kind of getting to talk to other teenagers and they feel heard and understood. If you're running a good branded podcast, you're also going to get that benefit from your own customers that they're going to go, oh, okay, you kind of understand a little bit of what I'm going through as well.

Jordan 41:04

Yeah. That's literally what we talked about on that happy to help episode that you were on, Cara. That's exactly what we talked about. Like because Podcasting Q&A is a branded podcast, there's all these benefits. It does marketing, it gives you uh it gives your uh customers like empathy towards you because they get to know you as a brand and it gives them a voice. And there's so many benefits to having a branded podcast. So that's great. All right. Well, thank you so much, Cara, for joining us on this episode of Buzzcast. And to our listeners, thanks for listening and keep podcasting.

Post Show: Prime School Day Delivery

Jordan 41:41

I have a follow-up to the last post show in which I talked about my kids like starting school and like the school flooded, and it's been like a little chaotic. Okay. So we reached the first day of school, and Emmy was going into fourth grade, and she's like so excited because this was her first time ever being on a school bus. And so it was really cute. She like got on the school bus, went off to school. We're like, bye. And then, like at the end of the school day, we go to pick her up and we're so excited, like, can't wait to see how her first day of school went. And then she never gets off the bus.

Alban 42:17

Oh no. We did this. This happened before. Yeah. Not with not with your fourth grader, but with like the whole district.

Jordan 42:26

Yeah, the whole school district. Last year, we made like national news because the school buses lost like 70 children. And they were like driving kindergartners out into the boonies and like kicking them off the bus and then driving them away, like driving away. And it was awful, like just terrible. And so, anyway, flashback to where I am. I'm like, I'm having visions of this. And I was like, oh my God, it's like Emmy's first day of public school and they lost her. And so the bus driver gets off the bus and he's like, Are you guys like waiting for more kids? Because there was a bunch of other parents, and we're like, Yeah. And he's like, Oh, he's like, you know, I had that I was supposed to have 10 kids on the bus and they only loaded five. And I thought that was weird. And we're like, oh, you thought that was weird?

Alban 43:16

That's the only job. That's the only job is 10 kids get on, 10 kids get off. That's the job.

Jordan 43:23

Oh no. This seems to be a recurring problem in my school district. And so I have a solution because they seem to be lacking creativity and resourcefulness and I don't know, like basic organization, accountability. I've been thinking about this a lot and I feel like this is so good. So we have a new massive Amazon facility here. And it's like, it's huge. And we are one of the like few places where they're me testing out like the droid um like package delivery and stuff. Like it's it's a huge facility.

Alban 44:00

Fly the drones over to your house and then.

Jordan 44:01

I'm really nervous where this is going, actually. Okay. No, this is genius. This is such a good idea. Like, I need to get Jeff Bezos on the phone. Um, okay, Amazon is obviously amazing logistically. They can get things where they need to go. And you you trust them with your packages. And kids are like precious cargo. And I feel like I can't really trust the bus company with my kids. So I think that Amazon should start Amazon Firebus. And what it is, is it's an add-on subscription to your Amazon Prime account. If they go and like the kids get on this blue bus with like the little like white arrow on it, and the driver like is fully vetted, by the way, drives them to the houses, walks the kid up to your front porch, takes a picture of the child like on your front porch, and then like gets back on the bus and drives the next kid. I would love this. And here's the thing is like, I think people are very much like anti-Amazon, like, don't give them more money. But here's the thing is a lot of teachers, a lot of educators have Amazon wish lists. So what if the Fire Bus program?

Alban 45:05

Jordan, you gotta stop calling it the fire bus. This is not a good marketing idea.

Jordan 45:10

No, this is genius.

Alban 45:12

Amazon fire stick is fine. That's okay. They can have fire phone, fire, all these other things. You cannot call this thing firebus.

Cara 45:21

Might not be a good sell.

Jordan 45:23

But here's the thing. What if my subscription, like a portion of it, went to filling the educators' wish lists? This is perfect. I've I've thought this through.

Alban 45:37

I just say we need more corporations taking over our school system.

Jordan 45:43

Yes. Because I I don't know. It's just like it's such a mess that I'm just like, I don't know. I kind of want Amazon to take over.

Alban 45:51

It is a bit bizarre if you think about all of the improvements we've made into the logistics for packages. And like you can't order a DoorDash without them being like, we're taking multiple photos of this like you know, this chicken sandwich we dropped off at your house. You can't buy like a $10 thing from Amazon without there being photos and like, hey, we're four houses away, we're three houses away. But when you give away the most important thing in your life, your child, to a school bus, they're like, hey, so everybody else needs to have seatbelts, we don't have them.

Jordan 46:29

Like no tracking.

Alban 46:30

We don't have them. And we we're just gonna drop them off where we think it makes sense. Oh, I mean, if the Amazon guy came to your house and he was like, Are you expecting more packages? And you're like, Yeah, and you go, huh. They told me I had 10 packages, but I only got five. You'd be like, Wow, this is one of the worst Amazon drivers I've ever heard of.

Cara 46:49

You clearly didn't click efficiency option for that one. No.

Alban 46:53

And now there's like and now Idaho, multiple years in a row, is lost kids. Amazon doesn't get away with this, losing two of my little, like, oh, I tried to get some new hair gel or something. Like, they don't, yeah, they find everything.

Jordan 47:06

This is such a good idea. I you're you're inspiring me. I think that all the kids should have an Amazon Firebus ID, and like when they get on the bus, they scan it, and you know how you can like track the packages and you can see where they're at. Like, I want to see where my kid is at on the street. Like, why is this so hard? Yes, and I'm like fabulous.

Alban 47:28

Kid delivered.

Cara 47:30

Jordan, I I'm not sure that this is a new invention or that it needs to be called Firebus. What? Yeah, it might just be incompetence for the school system. Here in Florida, we have GPS, seat belts, air conditioning, and uh kidding me? Not at all. I used to work in transportation and I'd hear over the radio kindergartners gone missing. Uh, and then a few years into that, they implemented all these changes. And actually, they won't let kids off the bus kindergartners uh without a parent present. They'll take them back to school. So oh my gosh.

Jordan 48:05

I literally had a stand at the bus stop yesterday with a kindergartner and a first grader because the driver like kicked them off the bus and he was like, he showed up like 10 minutes early and kicked them out.

Cara 48:16

Yeah. Nope. Incompetence. Oh my gosh. So if the same bus drivers get hired with Amazon Fire bus, it's still not gonna be great.

Alban 48:26

So this is an Idaho issue. This isn't a school issue.

Cara 48:29

Kind of specific. I'm sorry. Florida hasn't figured out. Yeah. They have it mailed down. That's crazy.