← Podcast Answer Man
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:01]
A
Today, I want to talk about the deeper question that I believe every podcaster could benefit from asking when it comes to creating a podcast. And that is, what do you really want your podcast to do for you? You see, many people get out there and they launch a podcast and they think that their desired outcome is to actually create a podcast and grow a massive audience. But I have witnessed thousands upon thousands of podcasting journeys over two decades and I can tell you right now that the desired outcome is usually not the podcast itself. In fact, if it were, there wouldn't be as many people who stop creating content once they've actually found figured out all of the tactical technical related items to their podcast. You see, the reason why most people have decided to shut things down is because the podcast and or the audience that they created for themselves did not produce the life that they desired. You see, I believe that most people, when they want to create a podcast and or grow an audience, when that is their motivation for coming into the space. Oftentimes if you dig deeper, you'll find that the real motivation, the real desired outcome is more fulfilling work, income related to your expertise, maybe a little bit more freedom in your life, some stronger relationships with people who are peers in your industry or space. Maybe you want to have a little bit more influence in the world, some thought leadership, or maybe you're just looking for a creative outlet to express yourself. And I can tell you that all of those things are possible. More fulfilling work, more freedom in your calendar and more meaningful income, greater influence and creative expression are all available to you without needing to feed an algorithm or growing a large audience. The reason I can speak to this today with great confidence is because I have more than two decades now in podcasting. I have produced over 55 different podcast shows. I have well over 5,000 podcast episodes with my voice out in the world. I've helped more than 40,000 people in the world launch a podcast. And I've observed closely thousands of those podcasting journeys over the past 20 years. And what I now understand about podcasting success is that technical knowledge is widely available everywhere. The tactical advice on how to feed the algorithms and grow your audience and all of that stuff is out there everywhere. However, longevity, consistently showing up and creating content without pod fading requires a lot more than the technical understanding of the equipment, the publishing schedules to feed the algorithm and all of the other growth techniques. Meaningful results that get you your desired outcomes require clarity. You have to have a clear picture of why am I creating this? What do you really want your podcast to do? For you, it's only when you know the answer to that question that you will be able to devise the right strategy and that will serve your desired life. I've seen too many people's lives get sucked into feeding algorithms, creating content in ways that are not aligned with what they desire. And I want you to know that a podcast can be ultra successful in helping you get your desired outcome, even with a small audience, a focused audience, a strategically designed audience. And this is why I have decided to return to my roots. 20 years into my podcasting journey, I brought back Podcast Answer Man. Not to share the tactical and the technical aspects of podcasting, but to share the deeper layer of what podcasting can do for you. And I'm not just sharing that here in the Podcast Answer man podcast, I'm also returning to podcast events. It started back in January of this year and it is continuing here in 2026 and already into 2027. And the reason why I have decided to return to podcasting events specifically, and of course I'm also going to be attending and have been attending other broader business and entrepreneurial and personal and professional development related conferences that have nothing to do with podcasting. But specifically, the reason why I've come back to these podcasting events is because podcasting conferences reconnects me with a community that has shaped my life for the past two decades. Some of the most valuable relationships that I have today came out of a hallway conversation or a lunch invite or a dinner invite or a meetup that happened at a podcast conference. I also appreciate the fact that because of my years in this industry, I've developed a little bit of a reputation and some credibility in this space. And I've recognized the value in walking into rooms where my name has been echoed in those rooms before I walk in. I never want to take for granted the value of being able to walk into the room, introduce myself to somebody I've never met before, and have them say, oh, somebody was just telling me about you. They said I should come find you and ask you this question. I love that. And I also love the fact that I get to stand in rooms filled with creators who are standing today where I stood 15 to 20 years ago. And I'm able to share with them today what some people spoke into my life years ago and then what nobody had ever spoken into my life back then because there was nobody at the time who had multiple decades of experience creating a life around their podcasting journey. I'll share with you a few of the events that I plan to attend. And if you are on a podcasting journey, you're thinking about getting into a podcasting journey. These are the events I certainly would encourage you to consider. The next one I'll be heading out to is Empowered podcast podcasting conference three. This is going to be in Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference will run from August 21st through the 23rd. You can find out more information over@empoweredpodcasting.com and I will be speaking there. I will be doing my limited series podcast presentation. Why you should consider creating a separate podcast with only five to 10 episodes. Now, this event was created, I believe, by Mark Ronick. And I will tell you I have mad respect for Mark Ronick. The level at which he is devoted to creators in the podcasting space is hard to match. This guy shows up five days a week, every week and hosts a group chat still today on Talk show for the Podcasting Space. Not only does he do that, he shows up at these events. He is so invested in people's lives. He genuinely cares. And he also created his own annual Empowered Podcasting Conference. I cannot speak highly enough of Mark Ronick and my amazing amount of respect for him as a human being, but also as a thought leader in the podcasting space. Now, I have never been to Empowered Podcasting before this year, but I am thrilled that I've been invited to come speak at this event. And I had already decided beforehand that that I would be attending this event even if I wasn't speaking. So this is an event I highly encourage you to check out, especially from what I hear right now would be the time to get involved with Empowered Podcasting. Because the description I hear over and over again is that this is a more intimate event. It is a smaller event, and by smaller I mean the number of people who attend. But I do not think that that's going to stay that way for very much, much longer. There's a lot of reasons for that. It's not the purpose of this podcast episode, but I genuinely believe that right now would be the greatest time for you to make your first appearance at Empowered Podcasting Conference. Head over to empowered podcasting.com then in September. The next podcasting event I will be attending IS Podcast Movement NYC. This is being held September 17th and 18th at Terminal 5 in New York City. The event website. It'll be linked in the show notes, but it's 2026podcastmovement.com link in the show Notes. I have submitted my limited series strategy podcast session for the ability to speak there. So my participation as a speaker is not yet confirmed. They have just opened what they are calling their voting round. I didn't read all of the details about how this works, but my overview of what I glanced in the email is that 50% of the talks at Podcast Movement are going to be chosen by the community using voting. So you, if you are a speaker or if you're an attendee, you can go in and vote on what sessions you want to be there. So my understanding, I think the way I Understand this is 50% of the content at the event will be voted on and then the other 50% will be decided by people within the industry, very respected industry thought leaders. And, and I think they may be going into it blind without looking at the social media following and, or maybe even the name of the person who is submitting the talk. But just by the talk and the description, I don't know all of those details. You could research more of that if that's important to you. But it is a unique approach to choosing what content is delivered at an event. So I'll be eager to find out what the mix is like, what people say about these sessions that they attended. I know that I personally am not going to go out and do any sort of major campaign to ask people to go vote for me. If you would like to vote for my session, I'm certainly delighted to do that. In fact, I say that I will be attending podcamp or podcamp no Podcast Movement. I did actually go to podcamp NYC many, many, many, many years ago. I think podcamp was there one time or two times, I can't remember, but it was. That was amazing. Fun time. Podcamp is totally different than Podcast Movement. Anyway, I say that I'm going to Podcast Movement nyc. If I am not a confirmed speaker at these events, then I still probably lean towards going there. The only thing I can say is that if I am not a speaker for Podcast Movement, if something else comes up in September that might be a more leveraged use of my time, I might choose to go in a different direction rather than make the trip to nyc. Now I will tell you, if you were to ask me right now, if my talk does not get chosen, what's the likelihood that I will go there? I'm a 7 out of 10. I'm leaning in that direction. I'm kind of interested to see what Podcast Movement would be like in nyc. I've been to a bunch of events in nyc. I used to facilitate and host the podcast community at Blog World New Media Expo. I was the Director of Podcasting for New Media Expo in NYC and LA and Las Vegas. So I love these big events in the big city, but I've also been to the big cities several times. So I'm about a 7 out of 10 on whether or not I will be at NYC for podcast movement if I'm not chosen to present my limited series strategy. If I am chosen, I'm a 10 out of 10. I'll book my stuff the minute I get notified that I am speaking. But I wanted to be transparent with you to tell you that there's a 30% chance that if a better, more aligned opportunity for what my desired outcomes are for my business and my personal relationships and all the other things, there's a 30% chance that if a better opportunity were to arise if I'm not a committed speaker, I may choose something else in the time between now and September. All right, the next one is actually in November for a podcasting conference. Actually, I don't know that I would actually call this a conference. I would call it more of a workshop. An in person focused workshop on podcasting and it's called POD Indy. Now POD ND is something that has been facilitated and hosted by my friend Brad Miller for the last several years. It is going to be on. Let me get that date here real quick. There it is, Saturday, November 7th and I am very honored to tell you that I am the featured key presenter for both the morning and afternoon sessions. If I remember correctly, I'm agreeing to do at least four presentations throughout this day. It is going to be an incredible experience. I'm going to be there to help podcasters and business professionals move to their next level and share how podcasting can be a part of that journey. This is a single day event, but it's all day 9am to 5pm on that Saturday, November 7th. You can learn more over at Pod Indy.com link in the show notes. Also, as far as I know there is a virtual option as well, so check that out. Next up will be January of 2027. I have received my confirmation. I will also be speaking once again at PodFest Expo 2027 in Orlando, Florida. This is coming up on January 14th through the 17th. You can find information@podfestexpo.com again link in the show notes and I will be presenting a brand new topic at that event. It's going to be titled five Strategic Shifts that Help an Established Podcast Evolve. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but the idea is that this is going to be designed for experienced podcasters whose shows were built for an earlier season of their life. The idea is maybe you created a podcast and grew an audience around a passion, and then over time you had a great deal of self discovery and you've realized that maybe the content that you're creating today is not fully aligned with what you've learned about where you want to go next. And so there's this phrase that says, what got you to where you are is not what is going to be necessary to get you to where you're going next. So this is gonna be focused on the evolution of, of your podcasting journey without completely abandoning your audience, without completely deconstructing your full identity, without disrupting your publishing rhythm and losing the benefit of everything that you've built. Now, there may be some cutting back and subtracting of certain things here and there, including the size of your audience, but this is gonna be the kind of stuff that I will be talking about when it comes to the strategic shifts that existing podcasters who want to evolve their podcast to be more aligned with what they've discovered about themselves. That's what my PodFest Expo 2027. Talk more about that over@podfestexpo.com Anyway, the thing is, is that over the past 20 years, after observing all of these things, the things that I am looking to bring to the podcast community at these podcast conferences and here in this podcast, bringing my identity as podcast answer man, this brand, back into the spotlight, the one thing that I have determined is that, well, I know that I could get lots of views. I could feed the algorithm by simply reviewing more and more equipment, giving you technical reviews of software solutions, and giving you tactical strategies for growing your audience. That's not necessarily what I will be doing at these conferences and or in this podcast, but what I will be doing is giving you a strategy for what role should the podcast play in the larger body of your work and life. I will share at these conferences and here in this podcast, what beliefs, fears and expectations or which identity conflicts are shaping your decisions as a content creator. I will speak to longevity. What makes your work sustainable for years rather than getting excited about something, publishing for a few months and then going and disappearing. And of course, I love talking about reinvention. I love the pivot, I love the rebrand. I love talking about what to do with shows when the current show and or shows that you have no longer reflects the person that you are becoming. And business clarity is obviously a focus for me. I love serving those who are on the entrepreneurial journey. It doesn't matter to me if you're a solopreneur, a high performing entrepreneur with a large team. I just love speaking to business Clarity and getting meaningful results that the podcast is intended to help you create with. Getting caught up in all of the narratives about the flashy algorithms and all the other growth strategies that may take up some of that precious freedom you've worked so hard to experience and create in your life. And I know that some of you who have been listening to Podcast Answerman since I brought it back earlier this year, some of you have known me for the two decades that I've been in podcasting. If there's any lessons in what I'm sharing here today with you, maybe it's the understanding that your former identity can contain all of the credibility and the relationships and the skills and all of the accumulated trust that you have built. And you don't have to abandon that when you reinvent yourself under a different brand. You don't have to start over. You can find a way to bring all of that trust and credibility and carry it forward with you into the next season or the next chapter of your life. And if you do find yourself contemplating tapping into some of that old credibility and trust from a earlier version of who you are tapping into, it doesn't mean that you need to shrink back to that outdated version of yourself. It is an opportunity to allow a more mature version of your expression in the world and your work to emerge. And specifically with this episode, I hope that you'll learn that you can put yourself back into rooms where your history and your present wisdom can meet. So the deeper question is this. Do you really know what you want your podcast to do for you? You know, everything I have talked about today comes back to that clarity. What is my desired outcome? Not what podcast do I want to create, but what clarity do I have about the life, the work, the the business, the contribution I want my podcast to make to the world that I want my podcast to support. And if you are interested in getting some clarity around those things and some help from somebody who's been in this for more than two decades, the way that I'm showing up to support people today, beyond this podcast and beyond showing up for these podcast conferences is through hosting a weekly experience called Next Level Mastermind Momentum. Momentum Mastermind is a weekly coaching and mastermind environment that I personally facilitate. I help you clarify exactly what your desired outcome is. I help you identify what's currently standing in the way. I help you get clarity and insight that is needed to choose the next aligned action, then I help you commit that to the calendar, protect your focus that is required for you to act on it and to return back to the group to report on the feedback you you got from those actions so that we can identify the next aligned step helping you get momentum towards the life you want to create. That is the work that I am here in this world to do, and that is how I'm showing up and serving the podcast community in this podcast, at these conferences, at and through Next Level Mastermind Momentum if you are ready for more clarity about your desired outcome and to gain momentum towards it, I would encourage you to check it out today over@cliffravenscraft.com Momentum Again, that'll be in the show. Notes cliffravenscraft.com momentum until next time, I encourage you to take everything you do to the Next Level podcast and some man.