TRANSCRIPTIE 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.879
We interrupt this programme for a special announcement.
00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.679
Oh man, that's rubbish.
00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:27.120
That's rubbish.
00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:35.840
I've been sitting here for about a half hour, kind of ruminating on what to say on this very, very special day.
00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:40.880
It's been one year on October 16th of 2024.
00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.320
I launched this podcast.
00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:44.159
I was extremely nervous.
00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:54.320
I felt like there was a feeling that there's some saying, you know, that no one would start anything if they knew how hard it would end up being.
00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:00.000
And at the other way people start is that there's sort of a built-in delusion.
00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:05.599
Like when I began, I really thought this podcast could like be popular.
00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.599
I thought it could, I thought, and I thought I really thought I could get really good at stand-up in a year.
00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:33.280
And these are, you know, delusions that are helpful in a way, because if I knew how hard, how few people would listen, and what kind of grind it would be, and how not that great at stand-up I am, I would never start.
00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:43.680
And so I'm I think if I listen back, I and I listen back to the first episode, and it's you know, it's really cringy to me.
00:01:43.840 --> 00:02:00.400
And I think there's some saying most people will say, like, if you're creating stuff, if you're not cringing at what you wrote or what you said, or what you created a year ago, you're you're not growing fast enough.
00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:08.960
You know, it's a sign of growth that that you you don't like, you know, what you thought was good back then, you don't like now.
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:27.599
I I think one of my big mistakes was that I thought I had to kind of be special or do something that I thought was you know really pushing it or be really weird in order to get attention.
00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:38.879
And and I think ultimately, you know, only I guess about 600 people have listened to that first episode, and that's our biggest episode.
00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:40.159
That you know, the why.
00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:55.919
I think people come to this podcast that if they find it, they go to the why, and it's gotten 660 downloads total in a year, and that's our number one episode, which is might shock you if you thought this was a big podcast.
00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.960
It's not, it's so small.
00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:07.680
The numbers, you know, there's downloads, and then there's people who really actively listen, like to more than 40% of the episodes.
00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:16.960
And I think the people who listen to more than 40% of an episode, that number is less than a hundred people per episode.
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:22.080
And so if that is you, boy, am I grateful for you.
00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.759
Because it when I was launching it, it really felt like it could go to zero.
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:39.919
You hear all these things about podcasts, and I'm not exaggerating that there's millions, and that about the average person who's an avid podcast listener really only has time or listens to three.
00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:47.919
So podcasting is really the hardest game in town because it's incredibly time consuming for the listener.
00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:53.680
Yes, you can listen anywhere, but if you think about it, how many podcasts do you listen to?
00:03:53.840 --> 00:04:11.280
You might be a super user and you might listen to five or ten regularly, but ultimately this may be the only one you listen to, or you'll listen to occasionally you'll listen to an episode that really gets you know tickles your fancy.
00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.719
But the truth is, I have been doing this for a year.
00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:23.439
At one point, I was posting on Instagram, and certainly in the beginning, and I found it to be so unenjoyable.
00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:53.519
And and I guess if I was a different kind of person, I would I would just keep grinding the publicity, I would make find a way to get it on YouTube, which is what all the podcasts are doing now, and and I would just grind and I would make clips and I would just blast it, blast it, blast it, and I would ask really famous friends to I would beg them to come on, and I would do all the things you're supposed to do to grow a podcast.
00:04:53.839 --> 00:05:06.720
What ended up happening is I just around maybe the third of the way through, I said, I I don't know if I'll last six months if that's what I do, because I'm not that that's not enjoyable.
00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:17.680
And so the the the the deepest advice from the people uh who I respect, this guy Steve Bartlett, I don't listen to his podcast.
00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:24.000
I think he's got a top five business podcast called uh my uh it's called The Diary of a CEO.
00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:40.879
And his advice is um the the conditions to out persist, if you're not gonna love doing it for 10 years without the need for commercial incentive, there's a significant possibility you're not gonna hang in there long enough to fail, learn, improve, grow.
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:56.879
He attaches his graph for how long he podcasts before people showed up, and in the he says, for context, we added more new subscriber in the last 90 days, two million, than we had in the first 900 days.
00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:07.920
So he he had no one listening for years, and now he's got this giant podcasting business with 13 million subscribers on YouTube.
00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:17.439
But if you look at the graph, he's basically at zero for the first seven years, just kind of shocking and inspiring.
00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:41.759
So I guess what I'm saying on my year anniversary here is every uh when you go to bed at night and
Load full transcript
you're about to launch a podcast, you dream of it becoming big, you dream of becoming life-changing, you dream of you know, it increasing in popularity, word of mouth spreading because what you're saying is so interesting to people that they can't help but spread the word.
00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.639
Uh, that is not the case with this.
00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:46.800
I know there are people who really like this.
00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:57.360
I think a lot of them are my friends who've known me, and I it's so sweet who has sort of shown up and consistently listened, and it means the world to me.
00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:09.680
Um I know I did a couple, I did a guest spot on a popular podcast like we're here to help, and that was Jake Johnson from New Girls Podcast.
00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.639
It's great if you want to listen to it, really funny.
00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:32.720
And there was like a two-week bump where people from that podcast checked me out, and then and then they they went away, and so it's humbling, it's it can be really discouraging, but I think what I've learned in this process is how to really give less fucks.
00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:43.040
I think probably the the thing that's changed the most in the last year is getting comfortable just expressing thoughts.
00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.120
There were some episodes where I was really nervous about sharing stuff.
00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:57.360
I wish I had the kind of brain that could tell you what those episodes were, but it was just stuff that was felt vulnerable or it felt like, yeesh, I'm saying too much.
00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:09.360
And anytime I would wake up and have this pang of dork tingles, I would inevitably get a f a text from a friend who was just who had enjoyed it, and it kind of relieved my anxiety.
00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:17.199
But it also made me realize that no one cares about you.
00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:26.800
And I and I mean this not in some sort of dark way, but no one really if they care, they're caring for a little bit, and then they're on with their life.
00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:35.360
And, you know, as certain things go on in life, and and I start to watch, you know, the older generation pass on.
00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:54.000
I mentioned my dad and and just parents in their 80s getting older, and you sort of see what happens to their friends, and you kind of see what will happen when they're on their last breaths, who's gonna be around, and what will happen after.
00:08:54.240 --> 00:09:05.600
There's really just a handful of people that are truly, truly affected when you sort of make it to the finish line for for a long period of time, and that's your family.
00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.039
Your friends are super bummed and they'll miss you.
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.159
Uh, but everyone's gets on with their life.
00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:33.519
And I think what I'm realizing is it just feels it feels like life needs to be about what you are meant to do, what
you enjoy, what what feels right, and and doing things that you fear so that you you kind of realize that you didn't have anything to really fear.
00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:44.720
I mean, there were episodes where, you know, maybe the boarding school episode where I was like, oh my god, like I'm not gonna be allowed back on campus, and that's so not the case.
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:49.679
It's probably a condition of not a lot of people listening and it not spreading out.
00:09:49.759 --> 00:10:06.799
Although that episode, my boarding school episode was one of the higher episodes, um uh numbers-wise, but you know, the key to building a podcast is to get basically people with a lot of followers who are famous to come on and interview you.
00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:15.120
I mean, to interview them, and their followers want to hear them and they want to check you out, and you grow over time slowly but surely.
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:23.440
The the game is so saturated, there's five million and counting, probably thousands coming online every day.
00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:41.600
And this isn't to say that if I stuck this out for another, you know, ten years and and got you know really good guests and it morphed into something, and I and I started doing YouTube and just playing the game a little bit more, that it couldn't turn into something.
00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:47.279
And I very well may do that, but I think what I really want to say to you is I'm done.
00:10:47.600 --> 00:11:10.000
Not in the sense that I'll never be back, and I will certainly announce that uh I've done my what I committed to, which is sort of really giving it my all and doing a a real stand-up set, you know, a sort of finished, polished product, come what may, I'm still gonna do that.
00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:16.480
But as far as the rhythm, the weekly rhythm, I I don't want to commit to that anymore.
00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:29.279
So you may find if you are a loyal listener, you may find that next Thursday nothing's coming up, and maybe an episode will pop up on a fucking Monday.
00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:34.720
Because I don't want to be beholden anymore to this weekly thing.
00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:43.679
It's been great that I've done it and I've showed up on days that I don't uh feel like it at all.
00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:51.840
Uh sit down at 10 o'clock with no nothing to say, and then over time something comes out.
00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:57.679
But I was sort of I'm forcing it, and I something has been lost.
00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:01.919
So I'm gonna retool, I'm gonna rethink.
00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.720
I think I'll keep podcasting.
00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:09.600
It's it's too easy, really, and enjoyable.
00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:17.279
There's just I just don't have the fire to to do it the way it needs to be done to kind of grow.
00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:24.320
And I gotta figure out what what version of this will be like that.
00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:30.639
It's not to say that the people who do it for 10 years don't have their down moments and get their podcast fatigue.
00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:37.200
But I guess if if you're thinking about a podcast and you want to do it, I I encourage you to do it.
00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:48.480
There's there's tons to learn, and there's there's a badassness, I think, in just getting comfortable sharing your ideas with the world.
00:12:48.639 --> 00:13:01.440
And it's I used to be that kind of person who roll my eyes at the next podcast because I have this sort of dick inside me, but it's always connected to the fact that I wanted to do it and wasn't doing it.
00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.879
And I knew I was letting myself down by not doing it.
00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:30.879
And so when I look back, I I am I'm really proud that I that I overcame a tremendous amount of resistance, not only to start it, but to also continue it as it was clear that this wasn't taking off, that I didn't have some hit on my hands, and that even and even more so that you know people were dropping off.
00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:43.120
It's like you you you put out an episode that you really like, and it just doesn't get as many views, and and I wasn't really looking at the views all that much.
00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:48.960
A lot of times I was scared to, because it would it would be like a pit in your stomach.
00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:58.559
And so I just want to do this on my own terms, and I want to figure out a way to be more to make a better product.
00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:19.759
The easy I've been doing it the easiest way, which is basically to procrastinate until Wednesday night and then just diarrhea into a microphone, and then see what listen back and see what I think is worth keeping or could be entertaining for you, and what could be funny for a stand-up special.
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.679
And again, your feedback has been so helpful.
00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:28.720
Um, it's mostly friends, and I I just appreciate it so much.
00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:34.559
But there's just there's it's time to kind of focus my efforts in other areas.
00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.519
I have ideas for a podcast.
00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:50.399
I I think at this point, if you've listened a long time, you know I the thing that I that I find effortless is the world of meditation and Eastern philosophy.
00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:51.759
I can't get enough.
00:14:51.919 --> 00:15:04.480
I have some ideas about how uh of doing a podcast in that world and kind of bringing in a reverent, kind of funny, you know, not so precious vibe to that.
00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:14.960
I it would be really fun to explore and to talk to spiritual people and to just have a light, loose, fun conversation that's also very deep.
00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:21.919
Um, and I really like the idea that I can do an audio journal too.
00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:35.360
I mean, it was always about being funny, but in the effort to be funny, you leave out a lot of the stuff that you're really thinking about, and that would sort of find its way in sometimes.
00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:40.799
But I I am a more serious person, I think, in my heart of hearts.
00:15:40.960 --> 00:16:01.600
You know, I had another podcast idea where I I wanted to just bring random people off the streets and find a way to make their life interesting to an audience, you know, to to sort of with with the idea that if you're ever bored by another human being, that's because you're not asking the right questions, and to just test that.
00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:12.240
Um also the idea of exploring marriage and parenting, uh doing something with my wife, that's crossed my mind a lot.
00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:17.279
So there's a lot of things I'm thinking about, and that's not to say that you can't do all of them.
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:22.080
You know, that's the nature of podcasts, and you can have five, one each day.
00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:25.440
You do need a team for that, and I never got a team together.
00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:31.279
I did this all by myself, so maybe that was the maybe that was stupid.
00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.559
Anyway, yeah, so those are some ideas.
00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:56.720
Look, if you if you've been listening, I think my final my final request would be, you know, what what do you think I could do that would take advantage of whatever strengths you think I have and is a viable, you know, podcast premise or any other creative endeavor.
00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:06.160
You know, a lot of times if I if you just ask people, hey, what do you think I should do, or what do you think what strikes, have you ever had an idea for me?
00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:16.160
It's interesting when people people will step up, man, and they've and they are I I've never been let down, honestly, and you ask people those to help you.
00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:22.160
It's like asking for help is a really powerful uh can be a real powerful moment.
00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:24.160
So I guess that's what I'm doing.
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:39.279
I'm gonna ask you for help one final time, and let me know if there's anything you think I could or should or you want me to do, and um I'll keep it under consideration.
00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.960
Well, that is my confession.
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:47.119
That is my one year uh episode.
00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:48.160
We did it.
00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:57.440
I thank you super really from the bottom of my heart um for sticking around and going on this ride with me.
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:09.039
And I'll use a famous Winston Churchill quote This is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning.