► Tell us about you and your podcast
I was born and raised in Oklahoma. I have always had a passion for talking to people. I am married to Annie and we enjoy spending time with our family, friends, and our dog Sunny.
I studied Communication at the University of Central Oklahoma and Wake Forest University. I have worked for different companies in front-facing roles that required me to talk a lot. Overall, I find myself fascinated by questions, stories, and the nuance of humanity.
I love people - talking with them and sharing a laugh is when I am happiest. This podcast is a creative outlet for me to fuel that passion.
My goal isn’t to garner the most views or have the most controversial guests. Rather, it’s to show that conversation matters and people are interesting. Life is much better when we’re talking with people and every person has innate value.
My listeners are split fairly even between men and women, with the majority of my listeners being between 18-40. It's a goal of mine to create a show that people of any generation can relate with, so I hope to do that as I progress.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
I decided to create a podcast because I learned that I had content that mattered. I presented some research I was studying during my undergrad/grad years and it was always well received. People seemed to really relate with this idea of connecting with others and building close relationships.
I had started to listen to a lot of podcasts as I was in college and I would love the conversations that were uplifting and relatable. I decided that I could create something like that to encourage others, but it wasn't till much later that I created the podcast.
I was traveling for a corporate job a lot. It was becoming too much for me, so I left my job and I told myself I was going to find something new. It was around this time that I began researching equipment, learning audio production and software, and recording a podcast. The whole process took about three months before I published my first episode.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
I release an episode once per week. On average, it takes up to eight hours to produce an episode, from recording to seeing it live on Apple Podcasts. A big part of this is because I do several listen throughs on car, headphones, and phone speaker.
I am currently working a part time job and I own a consulting LLC. That being said, I am flexible for recording and producing.
I spend about $30/month for everything in the podcast. The capital costs of buying equipment were much more than that, but now it's just recurring subscriptions for websites/hosts.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
I am open to sponsorships, but I do not want my podcasts to be interrupted by ads. This may change in the future, but at the moment I would like to focus on the quality of my content.
On average, my podcast episodes are getting about 250 downloads in the first week.
Podcasting benefits me in several ways. I've been able to connect with other local podcasters to learn about what they do. I've been able to connect with interesting people to be guests and I've also learned a ton when it comes to technical skills. So, podcasting has helped my life, friendships, and career.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
I use the PodTrak P4 as my recorder and SHURE SM-58s as my microphones. I edit my audio with Audacity and then I plug each track into Auphonic to master it.
After recording each episode, my first run through is to trim things I want out, cut things the guest wants out, and then take out excessive disfluencies. Then I will plug it into Auphonic and listen to the mastered version on phone speakers, headphones, and car speakers. I have found this helps a lot!
I interview my guests in person.
► How do you market your show?
My listeners find my show on social media (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) as well as podcast streaming platforms. I have a website that is easy and discoverable on Google.
For me the most useful marketing channels has been using Instagram and being active on stories. I have also created a Reddit account and that is nice because I am helping other podcasters out and in-turn they can check out the podcast.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
My first tip would be to be gentle with yourself and be ambitious. Those two things are needed for any creative pursuit. If you're considering podcasting, more than likely you have something to contribute with the world! Do it, but do it well.
Make Noise is a great book, Reddit is so useful (r/podcasting), and YouTube has everything in it!
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
My links are below:
website; https://talktopeoplepodcast.com
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talktopeoplepodcast
twitter: https://twitter.com/TalktoPeoplePod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaiHIZ7AIERZnOFVe6fQOLw
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/okchrismiller/