This show is all about true, nonfiction stories written by those that experienced them.

I have a background in traditional storytelling as my main career is media relations, but I’ve always been fascinated with true stories and the experiences people have had throughout their lifetime. It’s not just about learning from what other people have gone through. It’s about taking time to “shake the tree” and get in someone else’s shoes. We all go through things whether that’s happy, sad, scary or any other adjective. Those things help us relate to one another better and that’s what Shakin Trees Podcast cast is for—connecting each of us to strangers on a human level. People who are looking to do that are my kind of listeners.

Podcasting has always been something I’ve wanted to do. I’m an r&b singer as well so I’ve always had the equipment and the setup. I just could never find the right subject matter that was unique to me and something that would keep me motivated in doing it. My love for podcasts though kept the fire hot. I love paranormal and true crime podcasts. I’m sure that can be seen in Shakin Trees and I’ve been listening to podcasts like Morbid, Risk, Crime Junkies, Beyond the Darkness, Let’s Not Meet, and Up and Vanished for years. The way I became a fan of them is just because of the macabre or the adrenaline, it was the true stories that helmed these podcasts. I wanted to recreate that same feeling for others and enter the space, not just because it was cool, but because I wanted to open the door for other Black people to see someone else doing this. I didn’t see myself represented in this space. I’m hoping to change that this year. I started my podcast in September off of the back of that and within a week of conception, I already had an inbox full of stories and I just jumped in head first.

This is a weekly podcast. I took a brief hiatus after starting a new job, finding out my wife was pregnant, and going through the home buying process. It was tough at first to find time, but it just meant moving around scheduling dates to make it work and that’s what I did. From Thursdays to now Sundays and it’s working way better. All in all it takes a lot of effort, but it’s not wasted and getting in a routine is the best thing that you can do. I do everything myself on this podcast so I don’t really have a set budget, but will put money to where I need to like hosting my podcast on an aggregator and marketing.

I have no sponsorships as of now since it’s not my primary focus, but I’m more than willing to take on a few if it makes sense. What I love most about podcasting isn’t the money-making potential, but rather the stories I get to read from, to improving my skills overall, and the learning I get to do in the process. It’s fun and I enjoy it while also growing as a person and a professional.

Every episodes looks like this: I gather stories from my inbox, lightly edit them to how I would read them and fixing grammatical errors, get Audacity set up, record, edit, render it down, shoot it over to Buzzsprout, write the description and show notes, and then publish in my time schedule. It’s fairly straight toward. Being by myself, I only have to go through me which makes the process easier.

I mostly use word of mouth and my socials. I see my biggest share of support from Facebook and then Twitter. When I first started, I got a ton of support from Apple, but it looks like that is moving over to Spotify Podcasts slowly but sure. Apple Podcasts makes up about 60% of my listener base.

My best advice would be to not overthink it. Have a structure in place beforehand and execute on that structure. Read up on Google and watch YouTube. There are so many resources to help you be successful out of the gate.

To learn more about Shakin Trees Podcast visit www.shakintreespodcast.com and you can choose whichever service you want to listen to the show. If you’re looking to submit your first person, nonfiction story, send it over to shakintreesstories@gmail.com and I can promise you I’ll be on the show! You can also find me on all socials @JoshuaDairen.