A podcast about human-wildlife interactions and our relationship with nature.

My name is Tommy and I am an outdoorsman, podcaster, blogger and YouTube creator. I am particularly interested in wildlife and human-wildlife interactions and our relationship with the natural environment. I enjoy reading scientific papers on those subjects as much as being outdoors weathering the elements and getting first-hand experiences. On my podcast, Tommy’s Outdoors, I discuss various, often difficult and unpopular, aspects of the human relationship with nature such as biodiversity loss, wildlife conservation, hunting and fishing, rewilding, and human-wildlife conflict. My guests come from the entire spectrum of people involved in nature and the natural sciences: scientists, members of environmental organizations, conservationists, farmers, writers, and last but not least, hunters and anglers. My listeners are made up of a similar wide range of people who are looking to hear from likeminded folks or learn something new about a particular aspect of nature, conservation or the latest scientific discoveries.
 

My passion for sharing knowledge and experiences dates back to 2006 when I started a blog in which I posted reports from my fishing escapades. Over time it evolved from simple reports of my catches to more educational content. I really enjoyed all the comments (most of them anyway), feedback, and engagement from the angling community. The blog was in the Polish language (yes, I was born and raised in Poland) but when I moved to Ireland I wanted to expand my audience and communicate in English. Since English is not my first language, it was, and still is, much easier for me to speak than to write. And that’s why, instead of creating a new blog or translating the old one, starting a podcast was the obvious choice. I began with a test show in Polish to learn the ropes of podcasting: recording, audio editing, and hosting. That podcast is now defunct; not because of podfade but by design. In 2016 I felt confident enough to launch my current podcast, Tommy’s Outdoors. My releases were irregular at first but from April 2018 I committed to a bi-weekly schedule. I haven’t missed an episode since!
 

I release an episode every second Wednesday, and an occasional blog post or book review in the weeks between podcasts. As well as being on all the usual platforms, Tommy’s Outdoors podcast and blog are also available on my website: tommysoutdoors.com. Since June 2020 every episode has also been recorded and presented in video on my YouTube channel. Finding the time to maintain such content output was challenging at first because I have my day job in the IT industry. But over time I have settled into a rhythm where I start my day at 5 am and work on the podcast for about 3 hours before turning to my regular work. It usually takes 2 to 3 of those morning sessions to produce an episode. Obviously, sometimes I also spend some time working on the podcast during the weekends but I usually try to get outdoors instead. That gives me a much needed break from computer screens and fuels my mind with new ideas for future podcast episodes. All the costs of running Tommy’s Outdoors come out of my pocket and up to this point I haven’t given much thought to turning it into a source of income. It is a true labour of love and I have been more than happy to receive an occasional perk like an invitation to a conference or a book sent to me for review. As the podcast grows, however, the costs have started to accumulate and fellow podcasters are encouraging me to take a closer look at monetization opportunities.
 

The joy of talking with my guests and publishing content has been all I have needed to keep me going. But now I’m considering sponsorship opportunities as long as they let me maintain an independent voice and creative freedom. I’ve also dabbled with ads on the podcast but, for now, my main focus is to grow my audience. When I look at the feedback I get, I see a huge opportunity to reach even more people with my message. Talking with other podcasters gives me the motivation to actively start advertising my podcast and paying attention to the download numbers. My current goal is to reach the magical 1,000 downloads per episode in the first 30 days after publication. Of course, anyone who wants to support my work can buy me a coffee on buymeacoffee.com/tommysoutdoors or, better still, purchase some high-quality merch or books on my website! But as I always say, the best way to support the podcast is to tell your friends about it and leave a 5-star rating on your favourite podcast platform.
 

I used to travel with my podcasting gear to meet my guests. It was good fun and sometimes an adventure. But then, as we all know, the epidemiological situation in the world deteriorated and I was forced to move my conversations entirely online. But that opened up new opportunities. Previously, I only occasionally recorded online but the new situation opened my mind to podcast ideas and to inviting guests from across the world. I don’t have a strong preference for a particular online recording tool but, for me, Zencastr seems to work best. For my editing, both audio and video, I use a suite of Adobe tools. They also come in handy while preparing visuals for my website and marketing materials. Unfortunately, they’re not cheap and the licensing costs make up the bulk of my annual podcast expenses. I always prepare the audio track first and then add video on top of it. Since it’s a multicamera recording, on occasions with 3 or 4 guests, it can take up twice as long to edit the video than the audio. I don’t have any formal training in audio engineering or audio/video editing, so this process in itself is a journey of constant learning and improvement.
 

My main social media platform is Twitter. I also maintain active profiles on Instagram, Facebook, and recently TikTok, where I post short video clips from my podcast. I guess that’s one of the advantages of having an actual video version of the podcast. Speaking of video, a lot of new listeners come from YouTube which is the second biggest search engine in the world. Having videos of me talking with my guests seems to earn my podcast a more favourable treatment from the almighty algorithm than podcasts which publish only audiograms on top of their audio tracks. I also get listeners from my website blog posts which are discovered by people searching the web. In the past, I also ran ads on social media platforms, more as an experiment than anything else, and I can confirm that they don’t render any meaningful results, especially considering the cost.
 

Every podcast is different, targets different audiences, and has different goals. Some podcasters will treat their podcast as a business from day one, some will want it to complement their existing business, and some others, like me, will simply take joy in sharing their conversations with the world. Each approach needs different advice. One thing I can say for sure is that genuine passion and enjoyment of your podcast subject goes a long way. It helps you persevere in times of doubt and gives you joy regardless of the number of hearts and thumbs-ups you get online. The one online resource I recommend is Jeremy Enns’s Scrappy Podcasting newsletter. He’s a good guy who shares a ton of sound advice for podcasters.
 

The best place to start your adventure with Tommy’s Outdoors is on my website tommysoutdoors.com. There you can pick your favourite podcast player. You can also click a link to my profile on the social media platform of your choice or send me an email through the ‘about’ page to communicate with me directly. I will get back to each and everyone of you! As I mentioned earlier you can support my work by buying my merch or selected books from Amazon through the provided links. And finally, since I edit the episodes very early in the morning, I need coffee. So head on to buymeacoffee.com/tommysoutdoors and do your thing!