Mike Murphy Unplugged

Episode Summary: A Happy New Year check-in — a walk down memory lane through Mike's path from a one-man band in Naples, Florida to nearly a decade of content creation, plus a look ahead at 2024 goals.

What You'll Learn

• Mike's background: English degree, a law school master's he's never used, and a decade of Adobe/creative tech deep-diving
• Why he put his name in the podcast title against conventional advice, and why that stil...

Episode Summary: A behind-the-scenes look at creating Mike's first online class, Introduction to Adobe Audition, with the creative-education platform Domestika — from the first pitch email to filming in their New York City studios.

What You'll Learn

• What Domestika is and how it works as an online creative-education platform
• What Mike's Introduction to Adobe Audition course covers and who it's for
• The full production timeline,...

Episode Summary: An early, playful experiment: the entire script for this episode was written by ChatGPT, and Mike read it word for word to teach the basics of AI and how podcasters could put it to use back in 2023.

What You'll Learn

• The entire script for this episode was written by ChatGPT and read word for word — an early experiment in AI-generated content
• The difference between narrow AI, general AI, and strong AI
• How Chat...

Episode Summary: Marking the 7-year anniversary of Mike Murphy Unplugged, this episode tells the story of walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across France and Spain in the fall of 2021.

What You'll Learn

• What the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage is and where the Camino Frances route runs
• What a pilgrim's passport is and why it matters for staying in albergues
• The day-by-day timeline of Mike's 2021 walk, from France to Muxia, Sp...

Episode Summary: A quick life and business update after a long gap between episodes — moving out of a beloved beach cottage, losing a full-time job the same week, and walking 650 miles across the Camino de Santiago.

What You'll Learn

• Why Mike moved studios and left his full-time job at Simplecast/SiriusXM in the same week
• The lesson from Eckhart Tolle he leaned on during a rough stretch of 2021-2022
• How a 7-week leave of abse...

Episode Summary: A simple, practical 60-item checklist for creating positive change, read from the book What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter — all about rewiring your brain with positive thoughts and self-talk.

What You'll Learn

• A 60-item checklist for creating positive change, from the book What to Say When You Talk to Yourself
• The core idea: what you feed your mind is what you become
• A tip for listening...

Episode Summary: On the 4th anniversary of Mike Murphy Unplugged, a walk down memory lane revisiting the Top 10 takeaways from year one — and an honest look at how each one holds up three years later.

What You'll Learn

• Revisiting the Top 10 lessons from year one of podcasting, three years later
• Why "podcasting is a big commitment" held true from 2016 all the way to 2019
• Why "done is better than perfect" is advice Mike says he...

Episode Summary: A breakdown of how to move a podcast from one hosting company to another without losing subscribers — covering podcast hosts, directories, RSS feeds, and 301 redirects.

What You'll Learn

• What a podcast host actually does: audio storage, RSS feed generation, and directory syndication
• What a podcast directory is and why you only submit your RSS feed once
• What an RSS feed is and why it's the single source of tru...

Episode Summary: A behind-the-scenes look at a simple, practical financial freedom plan — the two books that inspired it, the "pay yourself first" method, and the specific tools used to put it on autopilot.

What You'll Learn

• The motivation behind building a simple, practical financial plan at 50
• Key lessons from I Will Teach You To Be Rich and The Latte Factor
• The "pay yourself first" method and how to calculate it from your ...

Episode Summary: A holiday update episode looking back at putting Mike Murphy Unplugged on hiatus, landing a new role at Simplecast, and looking ahead to 2019 goals across YouTube, writing, and Murphy Concierge.

What You'll Learn

• Why Mike put the podcast on hiatus and how 2018's minimalism push made that decision easier
• How the podcast hiatus opened the door to a new role at Simplecast
• 2019 goals: doubling down on YouTube, writing ...

Episode Summary: Marking the 3rd anniversary of Mike Murphy Unplugged with an update on change, development, and creating the life you want — including news of a new role with podcast hosting company Simplecast.

What You'll Learn

• Why Mike started Mike Murphy Unplugged and what podcasting was really for him
• The value of showing up daily even when it feels like nobody's listening
• How a personal loss and a year of decluttering s...

Episode Summary: A mid-year check-in on content strategy and work-life balance ahead of a 2-week vacation to Nantucket — planning the second half of 2018 and reflecting on the value of taking a real break.

What You'll Learn

• A mid-year review framework for evaluating your life and business roadmap
• Why podcasting didn't make the 2018 priority list, but stayed important anyway
• The 2018 mantra: Simplicity, Fundamentals, Storytell...

Episode Summary: An announcement episode: after months of decluttering physical and digital life, Mike Murphy Unplugged goes on hiatus after Episode 150 — and why letting go isn't the same as giving up.

What You'll Learn

• The announcement: Mike Murphy Unplugged was going on hiatus after Episode 150
• How months of aggressive decluttering, physical and digital, led to this decision
• What "one man band" really means to Mike: freedo...

Episode Summary: A deep dive into IGTV (Instagram TV) shortly after its June 2018 launch — what it was, how it worked, and why Mike planned to use it for Mike Murphy Co. Note: IGTV was discontinued by Instagram in 2022; this episode is preserved as a historical snapshot, not current guidance.

What You'll Learn

• What IGTV was and how it worked when it launched in 2018
• The vertical-video specs and rules IGTV required at the tim...

Episode Summary: After losing a friend, an episode about what really matters in life and business — priorities, urgency, a self-audit, and the recipe for success as a content creator.

What You'll Learn

• How losing a friend reframed what actually matters in life and business
• A self-audit framework for how you'll be remembered
• Why the podcast episodes and videos that get the most personal feedback are the ones sharing a real sto...

Episode Summary: A behind-the-scenes look at self-publishing a first eBook on Amazon — the tools used, the step-by-step process, and an honest read on how it went.

What You'll Learn

• The main tools used to self-publish an eBook: Scrivener, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Vellum
• How Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) works and how eBook vs. paperback royalties compare
• The full step-by-step process from topic to published book
• The honest t...

Episode Summary: A motivational episode and a bit of a reality check on what it actually takes to make it as a content creator — the honest time, effort, and patience behind every finished piece of content, and a challenge to stop looking for shortcuts that don't exist.

What You'll Learn

• Why content creation is no longer optional for brands and businesses that want to stay relevant
• The real time cost behind a 15-minute podca...

Episode Summary: A chapter from Mike's eBook How To Podcast on Wordpress.com, sharing 14 reasons to consider WordPress.com as a combined podcast and website host. Note: plan names and pricing reflect 2018 and have since changed.

What You'll Learn

• 14 reasons WordPress.com made sense as an all-in-one podcast and website host in 2018
• The three WordPress.com plan tiers at the time and what each unlocked
• How WordPress.com handled reliab...

Episode Summary: What a podcast media host actually is, how the whole system works behind the scenes, what to look for when choosing one, and the two different hosting setups Mike ran in 2018.

What You'll Learn

• What a podcast media host actually is and how it differs from a website host
• How podcast media hosting works end to end, from upload to listener download
• The 3 factors to weigh when choosing a media host: longevity, flexibil...