Guest Blog: What I’ve Learnt From Starting A Podcast - Part 2

CONTINUED FROM PART 1…..

CONSISTENCY IS KEY & THE FORCE FUNCTION

As with anything consistency is key and when I committed to this I unknowingly was implementing the force function.  I only recently had the actual theory behind the Force Function explained to me.

The actual definition is: “A forcing function is any task, activity or event that forces you to take action and produce a result.” 

Whether its money you’ve spent, the fact you’re collaborating with others, the fact you want your show/podcast to be released weekly, often giving yourself no choice can actually be a huge benefit to your productivity.  

This works amazingly well for me, but I also recognise this technique could also cause a level of anxiety in some people. So you will need to try it out with something not overly important & see how it works for you. 

For me when I committed to releasing the podcast every week it motivated me to book guests, organise myself better and not let my fear of failure stop me. 

If this doesn’t sound like something that would work for you make sure whatever you do is something that motivates you.  Figuring out how you learn & what motivates you are two incredibly valuable life assets.

DON’T EXPECT ANYTHING IN RETURN

Now when I say this, I’m not saying you will never receive anything in return, but at the beginning you shouldn’t expect anything. 

I have been running my podcast every week for over a year, spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on it and I haven’t asked for anything in return ever (except maybe to follow & share the podcast). 

I haven’t tried to monetise the podcast & I only advertise my recording studio I run.  I also helped out a clothing business as a sponsor for a few weeks because it was such a great fit with the beer puns.

To this day I still spend hundreds of dollars on making what I do even better without asking for any money in return (jab, jab, jab right hook). 

I know what I’m doing has value for people, but I also know I can reach more people by making it free & it has already started to benefit me in other indirect ways.

If you want people to care (and ultimately wanna pay you for whatever it is you do) then you need to offer value for free because until they value what you do you can’t expect anything in return.

PEOPLE WON’T ALWAYS UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE DOING IN THE BEGINNING

The simple fact is that in creative spaces sometimes what you’re doing may just be a little different, making it hard for people to understand in the beginning. 

While podcasts had been around for a long time when I started, there wasn’t really much out there that was long form about artists lives around dance music. 

Yes there is EDM Prod by Sam Matla and many other podcasts with producers and DJs, but most focus far more on advice and technical skills in music production.  

Still to this day I have people ask me if I want to be on radio eventually, which sounds like hell to me.  

Even now with my new projects some people still don’t fully understand what I’m doing and how different the experiences are that I’m trying to achieve.  Occasionally people need to experience something instead of being shown or told about it. 

The key is to keep doing it and showing people the value in what you’re doing (it almost always comes back to consistency).

They’ll catch on eventually. 

They just don’t understand what they’re missing out on yet.