May 5, 2025 • 22 mins
When Lesa McDermott talks about camping, her enthusiasm lights up like a crackling campfire. A Nebraska native with a background as rich as the landscapes she explores — former golf pro, EMT, dive master, lawyer, and now the vice president of Girl Camper — Lesa embodies the spirit of adventure and empowerment that defines the Girl Camper community.
“I kind of inherited the podcast,” explains our May Podcaster of the Month. Lesa recently spoke with Mike Dell, Blubrry VP of customer relations, about her path to podcasting. “It was more of a default.”
This wasn’t a random handoff, she explained. It was the natural next step, initiated as a devoted listener who evolved into becoming the voice behind one of the most inspiring outdoor lifestyle brands for women in America.
From Listener to Leader
Lesa McDermott
Lesa’s introduction to the Girl Camper podcast came as a fan. Founded by Janine Pettit, the show began a decade ago when few outdoor-centric podcasts — especially those geared toward women — existed. “It became really popular really quickly,” Lesa recalls. “I loved listening to it and learning all kinds of things about camping.”
When Janine later expanded the brand to include local guides and hostesses who would lead camping trips and events across the country, Lesa jumped at the chance to get involved. “I became the South Dakota guide,” she says, “and hosted some trips and events.”
Reigniting the Podcast and Expanding the Vision
The Girl Camper podcast briefly went on hiatus in 2020 when the organization launched its quarterly magazine, but Lesa was among the first to rally for its return.
“I missed that weekly episode,” she admits. When the timing felt right a year ago, Janine asked her to cohost the podcast, now in video format as well. The dual-format show is helping Girl Camper reach a broader audience.
The transition hasn’t been without its challenges, especially when it comes to production. “I had no podcasting experience,” Lesa says. “I had to jump in with both feet.” From learning editing software to managing technical hiccups, she’s taken on the production responsibilities, ensuring the show retains the authentic Girl Camper voice.
Despite the learning curve, Lesa is thriving. She even credits tools like AI for streamlining her workflow. “I'm using ChatGPT quite a bit... it helps me narrow down topics and write scripts,” she said.
A New Kind of Camper
For Lesa, camping isn’t just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. She proudly boasts an arsenal of outdoor gear: “I have a small teardrop. I have a van. I have a fifth wheel. But I also have multiple tents. I love to hammock camp.”
She emphasizes that Girl Camper is about inclusion and flexibility. “We like to say at Girl Camper, there’s no wrong way to camp like a girl, and we absolutely mean that.”
Whether it's river rafting trips through the Grand Canyon or backpacking 125 miles through the Black Hills with a group of women ranging in age from their 40s to their 70s, Lesa is constantly organizing and leading new experiences.
This summer, she’s particularly excited about a 10-day backpacking trip in South Dakota. “We are all carrying all of our supplies — our tents, food, and water. It’s going to be epic.”
Evolving Media and Community Impact
In addition to the podcast, Lesa and the Girl Camper team’s digital magazine is filled with how-tos, gear reviews, and real-life stories. Originally a print publication, the magazine has fully transitioned to digital — a move Lesa sees as an opportunity. “Now we can really focus on offering interactive content,” she says, such as embedded videos within ads or tutorials.
For example, “There’s going to be a video in our upcoming summer issue on how to make a Japanese shaved ice dessert called kakigōri. It’s something we couldn’t do on paper.”
Lesa also values the strong online communities that support new podcasters and content creators. She credits the Facebook group RV Content Creators as ...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike
Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the
Blueberry team,
bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips
and tricks to help you start, grow, and
thrive through podcasting,
all with the support of your team here
at Blueberry Podcasting.
Welcome. Let's dive in.
(00:27):
Hey. Well, welcome to,
Podcast Insider.
I guess this will be considered a special
interview, and I've got Lisa McDermott from Girl
Camper here. How are you doing? Thanks, Mike.
I'm doing great.
Did I pronounce your last name right? I
didn't ask before we started.
You did. That one that one's a little
harder to screw up than my first name.
(00:48):
Yes. There you go. There you go. But,
yeah, Lisa's gonna be our, podcaster of the
month, I think, for May, is it, or
is it April? I don't remember which.
I'm hoping May because it's the April.
But, anyway,
we met Lisa or I didn't, but, our
team did down in, Tucson for TravelCon.
(01:12):
Mhmm.
Yes. I met the great, Blueberry team down
there at TravelCon, and it was nice to
speak to them. And you and I have
spoke a few times on the phone Oh,
yeah. When I've needed some customer support with
with the hosting on Blueberry, which has been
so simple to use. So
Oh, very good. Very good. And speaking of
that, how did you get started in podcasting?
(01:34):
Well,
I love this question because,
it was more of a default.
My our company, Janine or Growcamper has been
around for ten years, and it really started
with a blog post and a podcast
that was is hosting. She's my cohost, Janine
Pettit. She's also the founder of Grow Camper.
And she kind of entered the podcasting world.
(01:56):
Like I said, ten years ago when there
really weren't a ton of podcasts out there
and there certainly weren't,
very many
that dealt with camping, at least not in,
in our aspect of it and, and really
geared towards women.
And so Janine's podcast, the girl camper podcast
became really, really popular very quickly, which was
(02:16):
awesome
and is how I discovered it. I loved
listening to it and learning all kinds of
things about camping.
And then when she decided about five years
ago
to start bringing on guides and hostesses to
do events across the country and help other
women learn how to camp and, and provide
opportunities to bring,
women who enjoyed the outdoors together. I jumped
(02:38):
on that and became the South Dakota guide
and was able to host some trips and
things like that. Well, then over the years,
my job duties have changed drastically. I'm no
longer the South Dakota guide. I'm actually the
vice president of Grow Camper,
and part of that includes being the cohost
of the Grow Camper podcast.
So how did I get the podcast? I
(02:58):
I kind of inherited it. Yeah. Let's say
not a bad way to go.
But, so, you know, has podcasting really helped
you, get, you know, get some more reach
out there for your community?
It has. You know, we put the podcast
on hold in 2020
to launch the magazine.
And I, for one was one of them
(03:20):
that kept by bugging Janine, bring it back,
bring it back. I missed that. I missed
that weekly,
episode.
And but, you know, is, you know, podcasting
is is takes a lot of work
and we just didn't have the the the
bandwidth at the time to do it. And
then a year ago,
it was the right time. We're like, alright,
we're ready. Let's bring it back. She asked
(03:41):
if I would co host it and I
said, I sure would.
And we we brought it back, and we
brought it back not as a podcast, but
also as a video
podcast too.
So that's been a different aspect,
for us, but we are seeing our numbers,
growing again, which is awesome,
to get back in there. For the podcasting
standpoint, we've got a lot more competition out
(04:02):
there. There's a lot camping
orientated
podcasts.
But I think for girl camper, we're still
very unique in our niche. We are
female,
campers.
Not that there isn't useful information for
everybody on what we do, but our our
target audience really is,
women campers.
(04:23):
Yeah. I noticed your your last episode, you,
were talking to some guy about,
toilets.
Yes.
Yes. It's an important part of, of the
of camping, I'm sure. But, you know, I
thought that was funny because, you know, usually,
anything goes wrong with a toilet, I'm the
guy.
(04:43):
Exactly.
And for us, you know, for women camping,
a lot I mean, it's not a lot
of us are married. I'm married. My husband
does come camping with me, but we camp
by ourselves too. I'm taking off this week
to be gone for for a couple of
weeks.
I'm a new brand ambassador for new camp,
and I'm gonna be taking one of their
campers on the road and and showing how
(05:04):
to use it. And I gotta show how
to use it as a solo woman traveler.
Mhmm. So we've gotta be able
to educate our our our audience on how
you can do different things and make them
comfortable,
so that that
they do wanna go camping and things like
that. So yeah. You know,
just out of curiosity,
I mean, do you you covered
(05:25):
RVing and tent camping and and all the
above, or is it, just, you know, kinda
one niche within camping?
We like to say at Crow Camper, there's
no wrong way to camp like a girl,
and we absolutely mean that. And I think
I'm kind of the epitome of that too,
because
I,
I have
a small teardrop. I have a van. I
(05:46):
have a fifth wheel, but I also have
multiple tents.
I love to hammock camp
and I,
you know, I just I love being outdoors
and there's just, you know, whether you wanna
car camp, maybe you wanna stay at a
cabin. We don't care. It's more about getting
out there, getting together, experiencing nature,
(06:06):
and camping in some sort of fashion.
Yeah. Neat.
Yeah.
My wife and I went camping once in
a tent, and I told her after that,
we're never gonna do this again.
So we've always had RVs after that, but,
in one shape way, shape, or form.
Somebody having a little teardrop. Those are cool.
(06:30):
They are really fun. They're so adorable.
Yeah. But, you know, like, at GrowCamper, we
not only do camp I mean, we do
camping events,
but that can run the gamut of what
that is.
We usually do a river trip each year
where we're on a we're whitewater rafting some
river for a week. So on that, we're
sleeping on the beach,
you know, whether it's Grand Canyon, the Salmon
(06:51):
River, the Green River. This year, I'm super
excited. I'm taking
15 women well, 14, because I'm counting 15,
counting myself. We are doing a 25
mile
through hike in the,
backcountry
of the Black Hills Of South Dakota.
We are backpacking, which means we are all
carrying all of our supplies,
our tents. I'm gonna be hammock camping, all
(07:13):
of our food, all of our water.
It's gonna be over ten days. My youngest
person so far signed up is 46, and
I believe I have
a handful of women that are in their
seventies. They're gonna be doing this. Nice.
Yeah. That's
I don't know if I'd wanna do that,
but,
I'm comfortable with my,
(07:34):
La Z Boy or whatever, but
you know? So as far as the, the
podcasting and video, you're you're I assume you're
doing a YouTube channel and,
and plus
on top of that, a video podcast. And,
are you doing any video podcasting
via RSS?
(07:56):
So, like, to Apple Podcasts or whatnot.
The video,
we're not
you know what? Honestly, Mike, I don't know.
That's one of the technical sides I don't
know.
I know we are on Apple
Podcasts
as far as our podcast goes. Yeah. Yeah.
Your audio. Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. Like like
I said, there's a lot there there's kind
(08:16):
of a controversy going on in the podcast
world.
What what you can call a podcast, well,
viewers and listeners don't care. So, you know,
you can have a podcast on YouTube, I
guess,
and that's cool.
Yeah. That's what I actually suggest to people.
You know, video is where you'd you know,
YouTube shines,
(08:37):
and audio is where podcast shines. You know,
podcasting
via the RSS feed or, you know, all
the technical geekery that we're not talking about.
But,
anyway But it does bring up a challenge
when you are doing something like we're doing
where our podcast is also video.
We have to make sure that when we're
doing,
our podcast,
(08:59):
that what we're or
when we're as we're videoing, we've gotta make
sure that what we're talking about
is conveyed to the audio listener.
So when we look for a podcast sponsors,
I have to explain to them, yes, this
is a video ad that I'm looking for,
but your audio has to be, think of
it as more as video ad. Right. So,
(09:20):
you know, it can't be yes. We want
a lot of pretty pictures, but there better
there better not be a lot of,
quiet time or however you call that. Sure.
Sure. Yeah. You know, and that and the
thing with and a lot of podcasters that
also do video
do forget that they have an audio audience.
And, you know, hey. Look at this. Well,
the person that's listening on their, iPhone or
(09:43):
in their car can't look at that.
Yeah. So We've
we've been guilty of that too, and I
think I've usually had to qualify those podcasts
by saying, hey. You might wanna go watch
the video on this one because
it might be translated. You know, another technique
I've found that works pretty well with that
is, you know, say, all all these things
I'm referencing, we're gonna have on the blog
(10:04):
post over at whatever.com,
you know, you know, wherever you publish your
show,
you know, the show notes as as so
many people say. But,
again, you know, if there is a visual
element that the audio listeners are getting not
getting in the audio, they can get it,
you know, maybe on your blog post or
in the video. You know? It might, you
(10:25):
know, help you build the video channel too.
So Right. Why not? You know?
Again, you know, we don't care where people
listen or consume it as long as you
do. Exactly.
Alright. And as far as technical challenges, I
don't remember any of the specifics,
of any of the technical challenges, but has
(10:45):
it been pretty smooth mostly?
Mostly. I mean, for me, it was, you
know, I I I had no podcasting experience.
And so I had to kinda jump into
this with both feet. And in the past,
Janine had hired
an outside person to to do the editing
and things like that of the podcast. Well,
when it was just audio, it was a
(11:06):
little easier to edit than it was when
you've gotta edit a video. And one of
our concerns was hiring someone outside of Go
Camper was that they really didn't know our
voice or what what we do.
And then to have to,
in our video, add some images and things
like that. We wanted to make sure that
they made sense. So
(11:26):
I ended up inheriting the production part of
it too.
And, so having to learn that was, was
a bit of a challenge and then finding
the right software to do editing. And I'm,
I'm, I'm still not sure I have the
right software because once in a while there
are some video or video audio glitches,
things like that.
And, and then being able to do things
(11:47):
on a budget too, you know, since we're
not a big production
studio,
what can we
how can we tweak our audio to make
it sound better
without breaking the bank?
Sure. Sure. And, you know, the thing
with that with a lot of indie podcasters,
and I would consider you an indie podcaster,
you know, You do have to kinda learn
(12:08):
everything. You know? You don't have a program
manager. You don't have a a an editor,
a producer, a this or a that. You
know? You're you're the whole radio station.
If you think of it Right. Video terms
or TV.
Yeah. You're the whole thing, and, you know,
learning this stuff takes some time, but, you
know, give yourself some grace on that. You
(12:29):
know, the beauty of independent podcasting is
people will forgive you for
crappy audio once in a while. Don't do
it all the time, but, you know, you
could have, you know, I had an issue
over the one of my episodes the other
day, and and, you know, I had just
sent it. Sorry about the audio, but, you
know, here it is. You know? And Exactly.
(12:50):
You know, you're never gonna be perfect. You
know? If you want perfect, then you gotta
have a team of 10 and
and, you know, all that. And, you know,
you just most people don't have the resources
for that or the want to manage something
like that.
Exactly. There's only so much time in the
day and, you know, that there's there's plates
are very full.
(13:11):
Yeah. For sure. And, you know, just just
keeping up with the weekly show, just the
recording and the the Mhmm. You know, preplanning
and
and, you know, if you're gonna have guests,
you gotta coordinate with the guests and, you
know, it's it it's a it's a it's
a slog sometimes and, you know, you but,
again, you know, indie podcast listeners
(13:33):
and viewers
don't care so much as long as they
get their content.
Yeah. True. And AI has really helped,
streamline the process for us.
I'm using ChatGPT quite a bit when I've
I know
that it's it helps with, narrowing down topics
that we haven't done before or that we
know that our demographics,
(13:54):
would like to hear.
And then it helps me, when I have
that topic, like, I'm gonna be doing one
on traveling with pets.
It helped draft the questions for the person.
And then I can put in there, you
know, who is the person they're gonna be
interviewing, what's a little bit of their background,
and it helps write the intro and the
outro script for me
(14:14):
that I'm gonna use. So,
I I really appreciate,
how
much AI is helping.
Right. And, of course, you know, Blueberry has
some AI stuff built into our platform as
well. But, you know,
I use a lot of chat GBT and,
you know, for for things work related. I
mean Mhmm. You know, I'll write something, and
(14:35):
I say, well, it's technically right, but who
would wanna read that? I'll run it through
there to,
you know, friendly it up or or, you
know, detectify it or whatever. And it it
really is a a handy tool
for
just life in general these days.
It really is. And I found, you know,
the more that I use it and I
(14:56):
don't have a paid version.
The more I use it, the more it
does pick up on what my voice is.
I finally got it to stop using
in conclusion
and words like that, or the big fluffy
words to describe things. I'm like, okay, I
don't use I'm a lawyer by by background,
so I don't use fluffy adjectives usually. Yep.
So,
(15:16):
I have to be very, very precise in
that that line of work. Exactly. Words matter.
Yep. Yep. So very good. So,
see.
You said you got quite the community from
the looks of it here at girlcamper.com?
Yes.
(15:37):
In a magazine. Wow. I I was in
the magazine business as a graphic artist
years and years ago.
You know, how are you doing print, or
is it just an online magazine, anything like
that?
We just transitioned from print to digital. As
you know, magazines are tough these days. And
if you do a
(15:57):
dive into
what magazines are no longer being printed, it's
pretty amazing.
You know, oh, magazine
and, Playboy.
Yeah.
Oh, you know, the glamour, I think. And
Sports Illustrated even almost stopped printing,
last year. So bringing the print market is
was super, super tough, and we were finding
(16:18):
that our advertisers
didn't wanna do print. It's hard for them
to track their return on investment. Yeah. So
we recently just decided to go all digital.
We always had our magazine as a digital
option, but now we're a % digital. But
what's exciting with this is that we can
really focus now on offering interactive content. And
(16:38):
when I say interactive content, it's imagine an
advertisement
for
Curt Manufacturing who makes weight distribution hitch does
for campers.
So you can picture, an ad, a typical
ad that you see in a paper magazine.
But maybe in one of the picture boxes,
there's still a picture.
But now there's also a video
(16:59):
that will play that shows you how to
hook up this,
their weight distribution pitch nice and easy in
thirty seconds.
So I'm excited about that opportunity
or like in our DIY or a cooking,
story in the magazine.
The summer issue that's gonna be coming out,
there's gonna be an article on shaved ice.
This is a Japanese type dessert. It's called
(17:20):
Kikagori.
So yummy.
It's not snow cones, completely different.
And, there's gonna be a video in there
on how to actually make a shaved ice
dessert in addition to the the written article
with instructions and pictures. So one thing we
couldn't do on paper for sure.
Right. Exactly. Of trailer hitches,
I know it's this is way off topic.
(17:43):
But, I remember an ad,
this this will age me, but back when
the Oldsmobile
Toronado
was a thing with a big front wheel
drive v eight car,
and Reese did a a weight distribution hitch
ad where they took the rear wheels off
of the old Toronado
and told a kid tow the camper around
(18:04):
because it took all the weight off of
the back wheels.
Oh my gosh.
Anyway,
ironic. Oh, it is.
Yeah. But, yeah, the print print thing is
kind of going away. There are certain magazines
that are, you know, still print, and
and they're
really
focused on that, and and that's fine.
(18:25):
Mhmm. I have some print. You know? My
but, you know, as far as books, I
mean, I had a joke,
that that I put online when I built
my office out here. I brought in the
bookcase be that go that's behind me,
and I put my Kindle on it and
said, oh, I got all my books all,
moved to the bookcase.
(18:46):
Yep.
Yeah. And I fight for camping of of
Kindle, the the old style e ink Kindle,
you know,
is really a great thing to bring along
because you can have all your books with
you. You can read it in the sun.
It's,
it's pretty cool. Anyway, and Yep. No. That's
that's what I do too. I'm I'm an
ebook.
That's how yeah. And I loved books. I
(19:07):
grew up low. I still love to read.
I love books and there is something about
holding them, but,
yeah, we live tiny,
you know, where my house is less than
900 square feet, so I don't have room
for four books. So Right. Yeah. And like
I said, most of mine are in, bins
out in the garage. You know, I Yeah.
(19:27):
You know, I get a book or a
physical book now and again, and but for
the most part, if it's not available on
Kindle, I'm not reading it.
Yeah. And same with magazines. You know? I,
you know, I've subscribed to several magazines
that do send print
copies, but I have already read it by
the time I get the print copy in
the mail,
(19:49):
because it's available online. And,
you know, that's not a bad way to
go. And I like the interactive
ads that's you know, that really helps the
advertiser,
you know, showcase their their thing, whatever that
thing is. And
Mhmm.
Yeah. Our advertisers are really excited about it.
So this, our summer issue will come out
in June, and I'm excited to see what,
(20:11):
what what they submit and how that all
looks like.
Nice. Nice. Do you do you have do
you design that, or do you have somebody
that does that, the the layouts and all
that? We have somebody that designs it.
But I have a feeling that as far
as the interactive ads, that might be something
I might have to show them how to
do because,
I'm the one that discovered that our our
(20:32):
software was capable of doing it.
Okay. So
yeah. I
I guess,
anything we didn't cover that you'd like to
cover?
I can't think of anything other than, you
know,
podcasting is great. There's a lot of great
resources out there, in the you know, social
media groups. Like, for us, RV Content Creators
(20:53):
is a nice group on,
Facebook that is a wealth of information. I
know when I was getting started, it was
a great source for me to go to
say, okay. What mics what what what microphone
should I look at?
What software editing software is good? Of course,
we've always been with Blueberry.
So that that was And we're happy to
have you.
(21:15):
Well, congratulations
on being the podcasters of the month, here
at Poolebury.
And, we'll,
we'll get this, into one of our episodes
and, probably on YouTube. So
Fantastic.
Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it.
Thanks for joining us. Come back next week.
(21:36):
And in the meantime,
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That's Blueberry without the e's because it can't
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You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike
Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the
Blueberry team,
bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips
and tricks to help you start, grow, and
thrive through podcasting,
all with the support of your team here
at Blueberry Podcasting.
Welcome. Let's dive in.
(00:27):
Hey. Well, welcome to,
Podcast Insider.
I guess this will be considered a special
interview, and I've got Lisa McDermott from Girl
Camper here. How are you doing? Thanks, Mike.
I'm doing great.
Did I pronounce your last name right? I
didn't ask before we started.
You did. That one that one's a little
harder to screw up than my first name.
(00:48):
Yes. There you go. There you go. But,
yeah, Lisa's gonna be our, podcaster of the
month, I think, for May, is it, or
is it April? I don't remember which.
I'm hoping May because it's the April.
But, anyway,
we met Lisa or I didn't, but, our
team did down in, Tucson for TravelCon.
(01:12):
Mhmm.
Yes. I met the great, Blueberry team down
there at TravelCon, and it was nice to
speak to them. And you and I have
spoke a few times on the phone Oh,
yeah. When I've needed some customer support with
with the hosting on Blueberry, which has been
so simple to use. So
Oh, very good. Very good. And speaking of
that, how did you get started in podcasting?
(01:34):
Well,
I love this question because,
it was more of a default.
My our company, Janine or Growcamper has been
around for ten years, and it really started
with a blog post and a podcast
that was is hosting. She's my cohost, Janine
Pettit. She's also the founder of Grow Camper.
And she kind of entered the podcasting world.
(01:56):
Like I said, ten years ago when there
really weren't a ton of podcasts out there
and there certainly weren't,
very many
that dealt with camping, at least not in,
in our aspect of it and, and really
geared towards women.
And so Janine's podcast, the girl camper podcast
became really, really popular very quickly, which was
(02:16):
awesome
and is how I discovered it. I loved
listening to it and learning all kinds of
things about camping.
And then when she decided about five years
ago
to start bringing on guides and hostesses to
do events across the country and help other
women learn how to camp and, and provide
opportunities to bring,
women who enjoyed the outdoors together. I jumped
(02:38):
on that and became the South Dakota guide
and was able to host some trips and
things like that. Well, then over the years,
my job duties have changed drastically. I'm no
longer the South Dakota guide. I'm actually the
vice president of Grow Camper,
and part of that includes being the cohost
of the Grow Camper podcast.
So how did I get the podcast? I
(02:58):
I kind of inherited it. Yeah. Let's say
not a bad way to go.
But, so, you know, has podcasting really helped
you, get, you know, get some more reach
out there for your community?
It has. You know, we put the podcast
on hold in 2020
to launch the magazine.
And I, for one was one of them
(03:20):
that kept by bugging Janine, bring it back,
bring it back. I missed that. I missed
that weekly,
episode.
And but, you know, is, you know, podcasting
is is takes a lot of work
and we just didn't have the the the
bandwidth at the time to do it. And
then a year ago,
it was the right time. We're like, alright,
we're ready. Let's bring it back. She asked
(03:41):
if I would co host it and I
said, I sure would.
And we we brought it back, and we
brought it back not as a podcast, but
also as a video
podcast too.
So that's been a different aspect,
for us, but we are seeing our numbers,
growing again, which is awesome,
to get back in there. For the podcasting
standpoint, we've got a lot more competition out
(04:02):
there. There's a lot camping
orientated
podcasts.
But I think for girl camper, we're still
very unique in our niche. We are
female,
campers.
Not that there isn't useful information for
everybody on what we do, but our our
target audience really is,
women campers.
(04:23):
Yeah. I noticed your your last episode, you,
were talking to some guy about,
toilets.
Yes.
Yes. It's an important part of, of the
of camping, I'm sure. But, you know, I
thought that was funny because, you know, usually,
anything goes wrong with a toilet, I'm the
guy.
(04:43):
Exactly.
And for us, you know, for women camping,
a lot I mean, it's not a lot
of us are married. I'm married. My husband
does come camping with me, but we camp
by ourselves too. I'm taking off this week
to be gone for for a couple of
weeks.
I'm a new brand ambassador for new camp,
and I'm gonna be taking one of their
campers on the road and and showing how
(05:04):
to use it. And I gotta show how
to use it as a solo woman traveler.
Mhmm. So we've gotta be able
to educate our our our audience on how
you can do different things and make them
comfortable,
so that that
they do wanna go camping and things like
that. So yeah. You know,
just out of curiosity,
I mean, do you you covered
(05:25):
RVing and tent camping and and all the
above, or is it, just, you know, kinda
one niche within camping?
We like to say at Crow Camper, there's
no wrong way to camp like a girl,
and we absolutely mean that. And I think
I'm kind of the epitome of that too,
because
I,
I have
a small teardrop. I have a van. I
(05:46):
have a fifth wheel, but I also have
multiple tents.
I love to hammock camp
and I,
you know, I just I love being outdoors
and there's just, you know, whether you wanna
car camp, maybe you wanna stay at a
cabin. We don't care. It's more about getting
out there, getting together, experiencing nature,
(06:06):
and camping in some sort of fashion.
Yeah. Neat.
Yeah.
My wife and I went camping once in
a tent, and I told her after that,
we're never gonna do this again.
So we've always had RVs after that, but,
in one shape way, shape, or form.
Somebody having a little teardrop. Those are cool.
(06:30):
They are really fun. They're so adorable.
Yeah. But, you know, like, at GrowCamper, we
not only do camp I mean, we do
camping events,
but that can run the gamut of what
that is.
We usually do a river trip each year
where we're on a we're whitewater rafting some
river for a week. So on that, we're
sleeping on the beach,
you know, whether it's Grand Canyon, the Salmon
(06:51):
River, the Green River. This year, I'm super
excited. I'm taking
15 women well, 14, because I'm counting 15,
counting myself. We are doing a 25
mile
through hike in the,
backcountry
of the Black Hills Of South Dakota.
We are backpacking, which means we are all
carrying all of our supplies,
our tents. I'm gonna be hammock camping, all
(07:13):
of our food, all of our water.
It's gonna be over ten days. My youngest
person so far signed up is 46, and
I believe I have
a handful of women that are in their
seventies. They're gonna be doing this. Nice.
Yeah. That's
I don't know if I'd wanna do that,
but,
I'm comfortable with my,
(07:34):
La Z Boy or whatever, but
you know? So as far as the, the
podcasting and video, you're you're I assume you're
doing a YouTube channel and,
and plus
on top of that, a video podcast. And,
are you doing any video podcasting
via RSS?
(07:56):
So, like, to Apple Podcasts or whatnot.
The video,
we're not
you know what? Honestly, Mike, I don't know.
That's one of the technical sides I don't
know.
I know we are on Apple
Podcasts
as far as our podcast goes. Yeah. Yeah.
Your audio. Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. Like like
I said, there's a lot there there's kind
(08:16):
of a controversy going on in the podcast
world.
What what you can call a podcast, well,
viewers and listeners don't care. So, you know,
you can have a podcast on YouTube, I
guess,
and that's cool.
Yeah. That's what I actually suggest to people.
You know, video is where you'd you know,
YouTube shines,
(08:37):
and audio is where podcast shines. You know,
podcasting
via the RSS feed or, you know, all
the technical geekery that we're not talking about.
But,
anyway But it does bring up a challenge
when you are doing something like we're doing
where our podcast is also video.
We have to make sure that when we're
doing,
our podcast,
(08:59):
that what we're or
when we're as we're videoing, we've gotta make
sure that what we're talking about
is conveyed to the audio listener.
So when we look for a podcast sponsors,
I have to explain to them, yes, this
is a video ad that I'm looking for,
but your audio has to be, think of
it as more as video ad. Right. So,
(09:20):
you know, it can't be yes. We want
a lot of pretty pictures, but there better
there better not be a lot of,
quiet time or however you call that. Sure.
Sure. Yeah. You know, and that and the
thing with and a lot of podcasters that
also do video
do forget that they have an audio audience.
And, you know, hey. Look at this. Well,
the person that's listening on their, iPhone or
(09:43):
in their car can't look at that.
Yeah. So We've
we've been guilty of that too, and I
think I've usually had to qualify those podcasts
by saying, hey. You might wanna go watch
the video on this one because
it might be translated. You know, another technique
I've found that works pretty well with that
is, you know, say, all all these things
I'm referencing, we're gonna have on the blog
(10:04):
post over at whatever.com,
you know, you know, wherever you publish your
show,
you know, the show notes as as so
many people say. But,
again, you know, if there is a visual
element that the audio listeners are getting not
getting in the audio, they can get it,
you know, maybe on your blog post or
in the video. You know? It might, you
(10:25):
know, help you build the video channel too.
So Right. Why not? You know?
Again, you know, we don't care where people
listen or consume it as long as you
do. Exactly.
Alright. And as far as technical challenges, I
don't remember any of the specifics,
of any of the technical challenges, but has
(10:45):
it been pretty smooth mostly?
Mostly. I mean, for me, it was, you
know, I I I had no podcasting experience.
And so I had to kinda jump into
this with both feet. And in the past,
Janine had hired
an outside person to to do the editing
and things like that of the podcast. Well,
when it was just audio, it was a
(11:06):
little easier to edit than it was when
you've gotta edit a video. And one of
our concerns was hiring someone outside of Go
Camper was that they really didn't know our
voice or what what we do.
And then to have to,
in our video, add some images and things
like that. We wanted to make sure that
they made sense. So
(11:26):
I ended up inheriting the production part of
it too.
And, so having to learn that was, was
a bit of a challenge and then finding
the right software to do editing. And I'm,
I'm, I'm still not sure I have the
right software because once in a while there
are some video or video audio glitches,
things like that.
And, and then being able to do things
(11:47):
on a budget too, you know, since we're
not a big production
studio,
what can we
how can we tweak our audio to make
it sound better
without breaking the bank?
Sure. Sure. And, you know, the thing
with that with a lot of indie podcasters,
and I would consider you an indie podcaster,
you know, You do have to kinda learn
(12:08):
everything. You know? You don't have a program
manager. You don't have a a an editor,
a producer, a this or a that. You
know? You're you're the whole radio station.
If you think of it Right. Video terms
or TV.
Yeah. You're the whole thing, and, you know,
learning this stuff takes some time, but, you
know, give yourself some grace on that. You
(12:29):
know, the beauty of independent podcasting is
people will forgive you for
crappy audio once in a while. Don't do
it all the time, but, you know, you
could have, you know, I had an issue
over the one of my episodes the other
day, and and, you know, I had just
sent it. Sorry about the audio, but, you
know, here it is. You know? And Exactly.
(12:50):
You know, you're never gonna be perfect. You
know? If you want perfect, then you gotta
have a team of 10 and
and, you know, all that. And, you know,
you just most people don't have the resources
for that or the want to manage something
like that.
Exactly. There's only so much time in the
day and, you know, that there's there's plates
are very full.
(13:11):
Yeah. For sure. And, you know, just just
keeping up with the weekly show, just the
recording and the the Mhmm. You know, preplanning
and
and, you know, if you're gonna have guests,
you gotta coordinate with the guests and, you
know, it's it it's a it's a it's
a slog sometimes and, you know, you but,
again, you know, indie podcast listeners
(13:33):
and viewers
don't care so much as long as they
get their content.
Yeah. True. And AI has really helped,
streamline the process for us.
I'm using ChatGPT quite a bit when I've
I know
that it's it helps with, narrowing down topics
that we haven't done before or that we
know that our demographics,
(13:54):
would like to hear.
And then it helps me, when I have
that topic, like, I'm gonna be doing one
on traveling with pets.
It helped draft the questions for the person.
And then I can put in there, you
know, who is the person they're gonna be
interviewing, what's a little bit of their background,
and it helps write the intro and the
outro script for me
(14:14):
that I'm gonna use. So,
I I really appreciate,
how
much AI is helping.
Right. And, of course, you know, Blueberry has
some AI stuff built into our platform as
well. But, you know,
I use a lot of chat GBT and,
you know, for for things work related. I
mean Mhmm. You know, I'll write something, and
(14:35):
I say, well, it's technically right, but who
would wanna read that? I'll run it through
there to,
you know, friendly it up or or, you
know, detectify it or whatever. And it it
really is a a handy tool
for
just life in general these days.
It really is. And I found, you know,
the more that I use it and I
(14:56):
don't have a paid version.
The more I use it, the more it
does pick up on what my voice is.
I finally got it to stop using
in conclusion
and words like that, or the big fluffy
words to describe things. I'm like, okay, I
don't use I'm a lawyer by by background,
so I don't use fluffy adjectives usually. Yep.
So,
(15:16):
I have to be very, very precise in
that that line of work. Exactly. Words matter.
Yep. Yep. So very good. So,
see.
You said you got quite the community from
the looks of it here at girlcamper.com?
Yes.
(15:37):
In a magazine. Wow. I I was in
the magazine business as a graphic artist
years and years ago.
You know, how are you doing print, or
is it just an online magazine, anything like
that?
We just transitioned from print to digital. As
you know, magazines are tough these days. And
if you do a
(15:57):
dive into
what magazines are no longer being printed, it's
pretty amazing.
You know, oh, magazine
and, Playboy.
Yeah.
Oh, you know, the glamour, I think. And
Sports Illustrated even almost stopped printing,
last year. So bringing the print market is
was super, super tough, and we were finding
(16:18):
that our advertisers
didn't wanna do print. It's hard for them
to track their return on investment. Yeah. So
we recently just decided to go all digital.
We always had our magazine as a digital
option, but now we're a % digital. But
what's exciting with this is that we can
really focus now on offering interactive content. And
(16:38):
when I say interactive content, it's imagine an
advertisement
for
Curt Manufacturing who makes weight distribution hitch does
for campers.
So you can picture, an ad, a typical
ad that you see in a paper magazine.
But maybe in one of the picture boxes,
there's still a picture.
But now there's also a video
(16:59):
that will play that shows you how to
hook up this,
their weight distribution pitch nice and easy in
thirty seconds.
So I'm excited about that opportunity
or like in our DIY or a cooking,
story in the magazine.
The summer issue that's gonna be coming out,
there's gonna be an article on shaved ice.
This is a Japanese type dessert. It's called
(17:20):
Kikagori.
So yummy.
It's not snow cones, completely different.
And, there's gonna be a video in there
on how to actually make a shaved ice
dessert in addition to the the written article
with instructions and pictures. So one thing we
couldn't do on paper for sure.
Right. Exactly. Of trailer hitches,
I know it's this is way off topic.
(17:43):
But, I remember an ad,
this this will age me, but back when
the Oldsmobile
Toronado
was a thing with a big front wheel
drive v eight car,
and Reese did a a weight distribution hitch
ad where they took the rear wheels off
of the old Toronado
and told a kid tow the camper around
(18:04):
because it took all the weight off of
the back wheels.
Oh my gosh.
Anyway,
ironic. Oh, it is.
Yeah. But, yeah, the print print thing is
kind of going away. There are certain magazines
that are, you know, still print, and
and they're
really
focused on that, and and that's fine.
(18:25):
Mhmm. I have some print. You know? My
but, you know, as far as books, I
mean, I had a joke,
that that I put online when I built
my office out here. I brought in the
bookcase be that go that's behind me,
and I put my Kindle on it and
said, oh, I got all my books all,
moved to the bookcase.
(18:46):
Yep.
Yeah. And I fight for camping of of
Kindle, the the old style e ink Kindle,
you know,
is really a great thing to bring along
because you can have all your books with
you. You can read it in the sun.
It's,
it's pretty cool. Anyway, and Yep. No. That's
that's what I do too. I'm I'm an
ebook.
That's how yeah. And I loved books. I
(19:07):
grew up low. I still love to read.
I love books and there is something about
holding them, but,
yeah, we live tiny,
you know, where my house is less than
900 square feet, so I don't have room
for four books. So Right. Yeah. And like
I said, most of mine are in, bins
out in the garage. You know, I Yeah.
(19:27):
You know, I get a book or a
physical book now and again, and but for
the most part, if it's not available on
Kindle, I'm not reading it.
Yeah. And same with magazines. You know? I,
you know, I've subscribed to several magazines
that do send print
copies, but I have already read it by
the time I get the print copy in
the mail,
(19:49):
because it's available online. And,
you know, that's not a bad way to
go. And I like the interactive
ads that's you know, that really helps the
advertiser,
you know, showcase their their thing, whatever that
thing is. And
Mhmm.
Yeah. Our advertisers are really excited about it.
So this, our summer issue will come out
in June, and I'm excited to see what,
(20:11):
what what they submit and how that all
looks like.
Nice. Nice. Do you do you have do
you design that, or do you have somebody
that does that, the the layouts and all
that? We have somebody that designs it.
But I have a feeling that as far
as the interactive ads, that might be something
I might have to show them how to
do because,
I'm the one that discovered that our our
(20:32):
software was capable of doing it.
Okay. So
yeah. I
I guess,
anything we didn't cover that you'd like to
cover?
I can't think of anything other than, you
know,
podcasting is great. There's a lot of great
resources out there, in the you know, social
media groups. Like, for us, RV Content Creators
(20:53):
is a nice group on,
Facebook that is a wealth of information. I
know when I was getting started, it was
a great source for me to go to
say, okay. What mics what what what microphone
should I look at?
What software editing software is good? Of course,
we've always been with Blueberry.
So that that was And we're happy to
have you.
(21:15):
Well, congratulations
on being the podcasters of the month, here
at Poolebury.
And, we'll,
we'll get this, into one of our episodes
and, probably on YouTube. So
Fantastic.
Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it.
Thanks for joining us. Come back next week.
(21:36):
And in the meantime,
head to podcastinsider.com
for more information.
To subscribe, share, and read our show notes,
check out the latest suite of services and
learn how Blueberry
can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com.
That's Blueberry without the e's because it can't
afford the e's.
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