Behind the Microphone A Broadcaster's Journey to Podcast Mastery

Navigating the twists and turns of a broadcasting and speaking career has never been a straightforward path, but it's one I've walked with passion and dedication. As I've transitioned from the airwaves to the podcasting agency helm, I've garnered a treasure trove of insights that have shaped not just my career, but also the direction of this very podcast. In today's episode, I open up about this personal and professional evolution, revealing how the worlds of podcasting and speaking blend harmoniously, and what this means for our community of listeners.

You may not know this, I have two podcasts! You'll find out about a powerful merger that's about to happen as Speaking of Speaking meets Podcast Solutions Made Simple!

Embrace the transformation as we merge the power of the spoken word with the dynamic realm of podcasting, reflecting a journey many of you are familiar with—growth through change. We'll examine the current podcasting landscape that's expanding at a breathtaking pace, and I'll share my story of adapting to these shifts, from being behind the mic to guiding others in finding their podcasting success. No guests join us today; instead, it's a raw and candid look at the realities of embracing change, and how it's led to the exciting new phase of Podcast Solutions Made Simple.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Podcast Solutions Made Simple.
It's the podcast.
That's all about podcasting.
I'm your host, carl Richards.
You know, in my 25 plus yearsin the broadcast and speaking
world, I've noticed a lot ofoverwhelm when it comes to
podcasting, and I'm here to tellyou it doesn't have to be that
way.
If you're a coach, consultantor other subject matter expert
and the thought of starting apodcast seems too technical, too

(00:25):
confusing, too time consumingor just way out of your reach,
then this is the podcast for you.
On this show, we give you thetools, tips and techniques to
run a kick-ass show and sharestories from people who have
been there, done that and areenjoying massive success with
their own shows.
Oh, and, if you're an existingpodcaster, this show is also for

(00:47):
you.
The mics are up, so let's diveinto today's episode, so
thrilled to have you along onthe journey today.
There's so many things that Ireally want to cover today, as
we do a deep dive, and it's sortof a bittersweet moment, but
also a very exciting time, notonly in the world of speaking,
but also in the world ofpodcasting and in the world,

(01:08):
shall we say, of this podcast,because this podcast has evolved
a lot.
It's not going away.
It is just evolving, and I justwant to give you a little bit
of framework for where we aregoing with this podcast because
of the fact that, as my businesshas evolved and my career
itself has evolved from being abroadcaster to now being
full-time in business running apodcasting agency the other

(01:31):
thing that has to evolve is thispodcast.
So, to give you a little bit ofa backstory, in 2020, somewhere
around the summertime of 2020,we really started to make some
decisions about what we weregoing to do here, because I was
on my way out of the door, beinga broadcaster for the last 25
years, and I didn't know what Iwas going to do, but I did know

(01:53):
that it probably wasn't going tobe in the world of radio,
probably wasn't going to bethere, but it was definitely
going to be somewhere inbusiness.
For myself here's the thing as apart-time speaker, trainer, and
then, with the full intention,it would always evolve into a
full-time gig and it never did,because my broadcast career
presented many opportunitiesthat I didn't expect, and when

(02:16):
opportunity knocks you, ofcourse you answer.
You don't have to, but I did.
So that meant really puttingthat dream, shall we say, on
hold of being in businessfull-time.
For myself, it just neverreally took a deep dive into it.
And then COVID-19 hit andthat's when things really
started to change.
So my broadcast career endedand I appreciate all the

(02:39):
opportunities that I had alongthe way, but then what happened
was I had this speaker trainingbusiness.
That was part-time and, if youremember back to 2020, nobody
was getting out on physicalstages.
Everything was shuttered,everything was closed up, so
there were no live stages.
It was a lot of peopleembracing the virtual stage,

(03:02):
virtual platforms, and that'swhen I knew that we were going
to be taking steps into thepodcasting space and I know
there have been some episodes onthis podcast about that, and
there have been a lot ofepisodes on my other podcast,
which is called podcastsolutions made simple, about my
speaking journey.
But safe to say that that partof my business has gone very

(03:22):
well, been very successful inthe last three and a half years,
and we are very thrilled to beable to merge that podcast and
this one together.
Now with this merge, we don'tknow what this is going to look
like, because we do have a lotof people who have joined us on
this journey.
That's been all about speakingand now, all of a sudden, to do

(03:43):
a complete 180 and just talkabout podcasting.
I'm not quite sure if it'sgoing to work, but we're going
to try.
And here's what I'm thinking,because the podcasting world and
the speaking world, shall wesay, collide or run in parallel
together.
Quite nicely, I don't thinkit'll be that difficult to
transition.
But here's why we really wantto focus on this, because the

(04:07):
podcast space is changingimmensely.
It really is.
When I got into this space in2019, podcast there were
probably oh, I don't know therewas something like 700,000
podcasts worldwide.
There are over 5 millionpodcasts now, so that's a big
upswing in the last five years.

(04:28):
The other thing that's happenedis as far as the success with
the medium itself.
It's surpassing radiolistenership.
It's kicking it when it comesto advertising dollars A lot of
people investing their ad spaceand podcasts versus conventional
mediums like radio andtelevision and print media, even
pushing digital mediums out ofthe way too, things like push

(04:51):
notifications and social mediaads.
It's even dominating over thoseones.
So that's why I think we'regoing to really focus on
speaking on virtual stages,specifically the podcasting
space.
That's not to say that we stillwon't have people who are in
the speaking space from time totime make their way to this
podcast, but I think for themost part, we're going to

(05:13):
transition and this podcast willmerge with the podcast
solutions made simple.
The other thing that I wanted toshare with you is the plan for
2024.
Now here's the thing 2024 ifyou're listening to this, and
it's way beyond that, then youcan tell whether or not we
actually follow through withthis.
But there's so much informationnow being put out there, not

(05:34):
only about podcasting but aboutspeaking in general, because the
world has changed a lot Since Igot into the speaking world.
It's changed a lot withdifferent medias, as I've just
mentioned.
Some medias are going the wayof the dodo.
Other medias, like podcasting,are expanding.
So one of the things that we'llbe doing in business is
providing more training, moreopportunities for things like

(05:54):
boot camps and in depth programs, eight week programs.
That's something I did when Iwas a speaker trainer and really
focused on that.
It's also something that I'vedone as a podcast trainer and
running a podcast agency.
So more boot camps forbeginners, more boot camps for
advanced podcasters, more launchprograms you know, eight week

(06:14):
launch programs, things likethat but then, to go along with
that, we had built a communitythrough the podcasting and the
podcasting business and we wererunning.
It started out running weeklyevents and then that moved to
biweekly events and then thelast few months we were running
monthly events.
Well, those events aren't goingaway.
We're just going to structurethem a little differently so
that they can pop up and appearon your feeds and certainly in

(06:39):
this podcasting space they willappear on probably on a
quarterly basis, right.
But to go along with that,there'll be other meetups,
whether they be in virtual or inperson.
We'll also be focusing someenergies into the Facebook page.
I have two Facebook pagesactually, a Facebook group and a
Facebook page, so this pagemight evolve a little bit.
The speaking of speaking page,but then also the podcast launch

(07:00):
made simple group, will alsoevolve.
So a lot of evolution.
As we look ahead to the new yearand excited for some of the
events that we're going to beconceptualizing, we have a
couple of boot camps alreadyplanned.
We have one that's actuallytaking place later this month.
So if you're listening to thisin early January of 2024, we'll
put the link in the show notesthat you can check out the

(07:22):
podcast jumpstart boot camp,which is a great beginner boot
camp.
So for anyone who is brand newto the podcasting space, who
wants to get launched in, say,the first quarter of 2024, then
this is a great event for that.
But even for those who are, youknow, advanced podcasters, it's
a great event, or a greatopportunity to maybe even

(07:43):
reimagine your podcaster.
If you're thinking of doing areboot or a rebrand, it'll be a
great boot camp for that too.
So I'll post the links in theshow notes for that.
We have an advanced boot campcoming up, a boot camp for
advanced podcasters.
It's on marketing andmonetization.
That's slated for February.
So, as I said, so many excitingthings that are going to happen,
and when you hear of thesethings happening not only in the

(08:07):
podcasting space, but you'refollowing me on social media or
if you're on the email list,you're going to want to check
out some of the things we'redoing.
I already mentioned about thealliance that the alliance will
be moving to a quarterly eventand we're going to have guest
speakers there.
So if you are a speaker and ifyou also have your own podcast,
there'll be an opportunity,maybe even for a speaking

(08:28):
opportunity, or maybe even achance to just come and check it
out.
So a lot of things happening inthe podcasting space, and I
think this is a testament towhere we are, because we live in
the virtual world, even forthose who are speakers.
There are a lot of people who Iknow who are in the speaking
space and I'm a member of aspeaking organization here in
Canada and there are a number ofthose members who have podcasts

(08:50):
or they are getting on podcastsor they are.
You know, they're guesting onpodcasts or they're looking at
podcasting as a way to get theword out about what it is that
they do.
So there is an evolution forspeakers.
We're embracing live events,just like other speakers are as
well.
So that's why there will besome information about the
difference between, say, thelive stage and the virtual stage

(09:12):
, and how does that look for youand your business.
You know how do you take yourmessage that's maybe used to
being on a live stage and put iton a virtual stage, or how do
you take your virtualpresentation and put that on a
live stage, something that I'vedone recently, actually, and was
very interested to and veryexcited to see how that process
all came together.
So a lot of exciting thingshappening as we do step into a

(09:36):
new year, kind of like a newyear new, you kind of feel in
the podcasting space.
So this podcast is actuallygoing to go on my other
podcasting channel as well, witha few edits.
So if you are listening, itdoesn't matter what podcast
you're listening to know thatthe channel is probably going to
move.
It might stay the same in thesame place, or it might be in a

(09:57):
slightly different place thanwhat you're used to finding it.
Either way, the content thatyou've come to know and love is
going to be there.
It's going to be just asexciting and I welcome you along
on this journey.
If you ever have a question,you know how to get a hold of me
.
It's still askcarl atCarlsbeaksca for the time being.
You can also follow me on mysocial media channels.
All of those links are in theshow notes and, again, don't

(10:23):
hesitate to click on the linksfor any of the events that we
are conceptualizing for the nextcalendar year.
All right, get out there andown the platform, whether it be
a virtual platform or a liveplatform.
It is the place to be and it'sthe place where we will continue
to serve you in the nextcalendar year.
Bye for now, and thank you forjoining us today.

(10:45):
Special thanks to our producer,aidan Burrows, our production
lead, kieran Doherty, our musicguru, nathan Simon, and the
person who works the arms all ofour arms, actually my trusty
assistant, stephanie Gefort.
If you like what you heardtoday, leave us a comment and a
review and be sure to share itwith your friends.
If you don't like what youheard, please share it with your
enemies.
Oh, and if you have asuggestion of someone who you

(11:07):
think would make an amazingguest on the show, let us know
about it.
Drop us an email.
Askcarl at carlspeaksca.
Don't forget to follow us onLinkedIn and Twitter as well.
You'll find all those links inthe show notes, and if you're
ready to take the plunge andjoin the over 3 million people
who have said yes to podcasting,let's have a conversation.
We'll show you the simplest wayto get into the podcasting

(11:29):
space because, after all yourpodcast solutions made simple,
we'll catch you next time.