Last night, as I was obsessing over my podcasting stats with my wife (just a bit), she asked the usual question.

“Are you having fun?”

Of course, I answered yes, otherwise I wouldn’t continue creating podcasts.

“Then why are you so worried about your stats? It isn’t like it’s a business.”

This is a common dichotomy I hear often when discussing podcasting and other ventures that are more hobby than work. People seem incapable of finding a middle ground, If something is a “hobby” then you shouldn’t worry about it all. The entire process should be fun, fun, fun. If, on the other hand, something is work, you shouldn’t have any fun at all. At best, this is an outdated concept. At worse, it is damaging to you and those around you.

There is one major reason why you might stress a bit over something that others would classify as a pure hobby. No matter what I do, I want to do my best AND I want it to have as large an effect as possible. I want the maximum number of people to listen to my podcast and read my columns. I want to share my knowledge and help make the world a (slightly) better place.

Therefore, when my stats are down I do stress a bit. Is there a technical problem preventing people from accessing my podcast? Is my content lacking? Did I offend someone — although some writers consider that if you aren’t offending someone, you aren’t doing your job. What are the stats trying to tell me? What can I learn from this?

Additionally, podcasting stats are simply one way of “keeping score.” When you play pickup basketball, you keep score. When you play fantasy baseball, you keep score. You want to know how you measure up against those around you. While you should always seek to develop a good sense of self-worth, it is simply human nature to compare yourself and your work — and your hobby — against others.

Finally, work should be fun, too. I like to believe that if I ever develop podcasting into a full-time job, I would still have fun doing it. Otherwise, why bother? This is true of any job. If you aren’t having fun in your job, you aren’t doing your best work. You are merely slogging through each day simply so you can get your paycheck at the end of the week and retire at the end of the job. How dreary is that?

So, I’m hoping this proves it’s OK to be concerned with your “hobby.” You should care about the work you do, whether you are being paid for it directly or indirectly.

One of the first things a freelancer learns is to always have projects in the wings. You can never be working on too many projects because projects often take a long time to come to fruition. You might be actively working on 1-5 projects today, but you should have 10 or 20 more in some stage of preparation. Often this means that you are “selling” the projects. This doesn’t mean you are actively creating content, designs or software, only that you are slowly, but surely moving them forward, one incremental step at a time.

What you are trying to create, with this mass of projects, is a solid and regular workflow where one project ends just as another is ready to go into production. It doesn’t always work that way, though. You can sometimes have a number of projects start at the same time. That said, I always find having too many active projects far preferable to having too few.

Podcast productions can take a long time to develop, as the content creators need to be brought up to speed on the creative and technical possibilities. You are adding an entire new facet to their work world and you simply cannot do that overnight. Something as simple as agreeing on the artwork for the MP3 files or the description of the podcast can take weeks. Those new to podcasting think everything is written in stone, much like in older media, instead of the fluid and adaptive way it truly is. Still, it all takes time, education and leadership from you to bring a new show to production…and beyond.

How many projects do you have in the pipeline right now? Are any of them ready to “go live?” Are you ready for them? Are you waiting for something to happen? If so, do all you can to find the next project, and the next, and the next, long before you actually need them.

Douglas E. Welch
cip@welchwrite.com 

Every day I meet a lot of different people, from a lot of different industries, but due to the fact that my wife is a television writer and I live in Los Angeles, I am especially surrounded by entertainment-minded people.

Whenever I start talking podcasting with these folks, they inevitably turn to discussions of finding a network, pitching a show and having someone pay them to make the show. While that might have worked in the old world, although none too well, in today’s environment, you don’t pitch a show and wait for someone else to say they like it…you produce it.

That’s right, everyone is now, or at least should be, a producer of their own content. We have spent years being directed by agents, managers, directors and producers, currying their favor in the slim hope that they might cast us in their latest show, hire us to write their script or produce our heartfelt project. That world is quickly dying.

The limiting factor of distribution has finally been broken. This should be obvious when videos on YouTube are being watched by hundreds of thousands of people and podcasts have listenerships of tens of thousands. For the first time ever, you are able to produce your show and deliver it to the screens of millions of people, not just in America, but around the world. You don’t have to have your project approved by a TV network, radio conglomerate or movie studio. You gather your money, your equipment and your utmost creativity and make it happen.

Sure, if your creation garners enough attention, the big media might come calling, but this shouldn’t be your end goal. Increasingly, as Internet distribution models continue to open up and money start to flow into these new media options, you might find you can make more money without the network and studios of today. Even better, you will retain more control over your content and retain more of the income derived from it. There is no need to pay the middleman anymore, unless they are truly providing a service.

So, now is the time for everyone to start thinking like a producer. What would you “love” to create? Who would like to hear it, see it, read it? How can you reach out to them? How much will it cost?

These days, the costs involved in spreading your message are rapidly approaching zero. Days, months and years spent gathering financial backing are much less of an issue in new media than traditional media. Using today’s technology, you can produce high-quality audio and video productions for a fraction of what the equipment alone would have cost your only 5 years ago.

My message? You need to get the producer mentality and start creating your own content. Now, I realize that not everyone wants to become a producer. That’s fine, but you, at the very least, will need to partner up with someone who does have the producer mentality. Waiting on agents, managers and the traditional gatekeepers is no longer required and certainly not in your best interest.

What’s your next production?

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