► Tell us about you and your podcast
My name is Jan. Originally from the Netherlands, my mother tongue is Dutch. I migrated to South Africa after my studies, so English is my second language. I wanted to improve my own vocabulary, so I started a podcast called Just Vocabulary. My listeners are scattered all over the world, and they join me on the same journey of improving their English Vocabulary.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
I love listening podcasts and I listen to audio books. I always have my headphone on when walking my dogs, driving around, when cooking food, I think my ears now have the shape of my headphones.
Whilst listening to podcasts and audio books, I found that there are a lot of words in the English Vocabulary that I did not know! So I wanted to share those interesting words, with example sentences for clarification. So far, I have published over 650 episodes and 55 weekly recap episodes (audio flashcards).
My goal is to records 2,500 shows. With online flashcards and quizzes.
My first podcast took an hour to produce! And even longer to prepare. I have now a nice routine going.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
I publish 5 episodes per week, and it takes 20-30 minutes to publish, apart from the preparations.
I have my own business, so I do this just for fun and education. The monthly costs are around $80 per month for hosting (BluBrry) and WordPress website with WP Engine.
I have spend quite a bit on the Mic: Røde podcaster mic, and I fund this all by myself. I don't have any ads, and I don't ask for donations.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
I don't earn any revenues from this. The soft benefits are that I learn a lot, I like to do it, and I get great feedback and cool stories from the listeners.
I don't want any sponsors or ads in my show - making money is not the goal.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
I use garage band, and I prep my show in Mac Pages. I prepare the flashcards with a WordPress app.
► How do you market your show?
Yes, my listeners can find them in all of the usual places. And most of my listeners are from the US, China and Japan. Most of them iTunes - 55% and a growing number via Google Podcasts.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Just start - and you'll improve along the way. Don't prepare the show for perfection. The first shows will not be perfect, but you'll learn along the way. Get busy.