Free range ideas from beyond the box.

When I was in the fourth grade, I stole a book from the library for the first time. Vintage, even then, and sized for easy consumption, it was a book all about the life of the renaissance thinker, Galileo.

At the time, and throughout the educational experience, I had been feeling the pressure to choose a path into adulthood. The ever-present "what do you want to be when you grow up?" discussion felt more like a loss of opportunities than anything else. I was fascinated in everything, and wanted to explore it all.

Seeing a man not only allowed, but praised for doing precisely that, finding success in a variety of fields, felt like a moment of clarity I had never yet experienced. From that moment forward, the idea of a "Renaissance Man" became my guiding light through the years to come.
Our time is not, however, the same as his. Though I have continued to pursue my own threads of thought decades beyond that moment, finding a forum for their exposure has proven daunting. As a life-long autodidact, and non-conformist, traditional academia has been a poor fit. With ideas and designs in such a broad range, the modern expert-culture rebels. How then could I share my many thoughts with the world?

The answer, I hope at least, lies in the creation of the NOBODY'S PRODIGY Podcast.

Left to my own devices by academics, I cannot claim to have had a great teacher, or even a prestigious school to lend my work clout, hence I am the prodigy of no one. Yet, I have a fervent belief in the inherent potential of the human animal to manifest brilliance. Because of this, I call myself the Sapient Simian. It is this Sapience, or ability to be clever, or wise, that gives me - a simple ape (Simian) the ability to do what I do.

The podcast is therefore, a dressed up forum for me to share the thoughts and ideas I have found no other place willing to embrace. Wildly unpredictable, it is a testament to my own varied interests and random thoughts, yet each episode strives to be both topical and substantive.
 

There is a need to share that arises within a mind once an idea reaches a certain level of maturity. After you expend your own powers to analyze and develop a thought, you will spin around it time and again until it can be released or reanalized. Under the best circumstances, an idea that seems particularly brilliant can become consuming from a passionate desire to share it with others for everyone's benefit. The peculiar impotent frustration that builds when one is left unable to give voice to their thoughts then, is one I have felt all too often.

In an effort to release this tension, I have long been given to in-depth conversations. All of my favorite people over the years have shared this unique joy, and have participated at the drop of a hat. But, time and life imposes itself, and opportunities become more rare to spend hours chasing rabbits.

It was probably during a dinner conversation with my mother that the thought of podcasts as an alternative arose. Her willingness to listen to my latest thoughts has always been a blessing, and the idea of sharing the thoughts as a recording made a kind of sense. While not as satisfying as an engaging discussion between friends, I knew I had a head full of developed concepts to fill episodes in the meantime.
Having been a musician for decades, I already had the recording equipment, it just became a matter of deciding on a format, a logo, and the challenge of organizing my thought into topics and consumable chunks. While working out the details, I went ahead and began recording episodes.

The naming and logo creation process took a long time, and I eventually ended up hand-drawing the design on my own. I luckily have an extensive backlog of art supplies, and the end results were acceptable. They did require careful lighting, photography, and heavy editing afterward to achieve the right look, but after months of back-and-fourth with other designers, simply having something to post was a blessing.

Having set myself an ultimatum, I launched in Jan. '22.
 

At first, the podcast process was made comparatively less disruptive by the events of the pandemic. When my workplace, a restaurant, closed, I was put on unemployment. This gave me time and means to pursue several projects that had been languishing while I worked full-time and lived paycheck to paycheck.

Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease subsequently that has made things more complicated. Luckily, despite my recurring bouts of illness, podcasting has proven to fit well within the gaps between complications. Moreover, the peculiar satisfaction of sharing ideas so often held in relative obscurity for so many years has proven to be a real pleasure.

Luckily, my broadly ranging activities over the years have left me with enough supplies to accomplish the basics of creating episodes, though I would be lying if I said I ran on anything but a bare minimum budget. Posting once a week, and recording episodes in single-shot runs makes it easier, but the editing process is a challenge on my equipment, and I can struggle to sculpt the right outlines.

Most of all, I want the topics to vary from week to week, so a lot of time is spent arranging the order to prevent developing a rut.

Luckily, having recorded episodes while struggling to organize details before launch left me with a few weeks of padding to relieve the pressure.

As of now, it remains a labor without any tangible benefits, monetary or otherwise, and I fund the process out-of-pocket.
 

Podcasting for me, thus far, has been exclusively a labor of altruism.

I have a deep philosophical aversion to traditional advertising, and do not desire to use my work to manipulate the trust of others. That being said, I cannot subsist on principles alone.

I have created a Patreon page as I believe it to be the most honest form of relationship between arist/creator and consumer.

My ultimate goal is probably to utilize the podcasting forum and audience to facilitate various Other endeavors beyond the podcasting sphere.

I have created stacks of artwork over the years, and would love to send it to a good home. I have the makings of a couple of books floating around, and an interested audience for them would be a blessing. I have a series of designs and plans I would love to develop further and see brought to fruition, and any help along that path would be amazing. I also can confess to simply desiring the ideas and concepts I put forward to be seriously considered.

After so many years feeling alone and overlooked, a bit of meaningful consideration itself would be more than any type of payment, though funding is the key to enabling me to continue my processes.
 

The biggest hurdle for me is focusing on a theme, or topic, for an episode. Choosing something reasonably different than the last episode is a priority, but also finding something I feel I can offer some actual substance about. I have a running list of ideas, about a dozen long, but the process of fleshing out the single phrase into a meaningful outline is a daunting one.

Most importantly, it is not my intention to revisit topics over and over, so any developed outline needs to be more-or-less completely explanatory. This means collecting all of my thoughts on the subject, and then stringing them together into a fairly coherent narrative trail.
Since I post podcasts as a single person speaking, I cannot rely upon a second speaker to ask questions or interject in a way that would allow for abrupt change.

Once that basic structure is lain out, I will write the introductory sentences to allow for a flow into the talk. Beyond that, discussion points are listed s little more than short phrases.

Recording is done through a single Mic into an iPad on Garageband in a single take, for better or worse. In the early days, I avoided editing as much as possible, but have since delved into the aggravating process out of pure disgust at the sound of my stammering voice.
Now, the editing process takes Ages and is often noticeable to my ear afterward. Not wanting to delve into rerecording vocals ad nauseum, I find myself cutting out short words like "and" or "the" from longer phrases in a way that can seem a bit abrupt, yet I feel the adjustment to the Content justifies the less than perfect delivery.

Once finished, and after a usual four or more sessions of work, I upload the content to my Buzzsprout account and set it in line to post according to schedule.
 

Marketing a podcast is a real challenge. Podcasters are a unique and not easily sifted bunch, especially when your budget is essentially non-existent. I have shared the page and the content to essentially everyone I know, as have my friends and family, but finding the right kind of listener remains a challenge.

Buzzsprout makes my podcast available on every service I have seen, but again, it remains a matter of locating the right listeners among the haystacks. Ultimately, I am left to rely upon an organic growth.

Perhaps, with time and some funding, I will be able to try a larger and more professional campaign. For now, I am left scouring the internet for ideas, and trying to whip up what I can.
 

Podcasting is a more difficult medium than it may seem at first. Unlike with youtube, there are never any visual crutches to fall back upon when your content lags. Finding filler material is all but impossible while maintaining interest, and the most important person who Has to maintain their interest is You!

People often think that working in a format with less parts (audio only) would Have to be easier than one with multiple aspects to juggle, but having more than one thing going on gives you the ability to cover for poor performance in one by overdoing the other. Podcasting is a single-track line. It is constantly either going well, or not.

Listeners are also a very different breed than those who consume other media. Fiercely loyal, and willing to stay with a show for years, they are also extremely difficult to catch attention from to begin with. Many people like to point to numbers and statistics comparing podcasting to other forms of content creation, but the consumption is vastly different.

It may be possible to live off of revenues from a video channel for many people, but podcasting is almost always a money Losing process.
 

As I mentioned, I have a Patreon page under "thesapientsimian". On it I share pictures of past projects and artwork. I eventually will organize a location to purchase pieces of my work for interested parties, and will be setting up a merchandise store once enough interest is out there.

In general, I am a fairly private person. I do not do social media to speak of. I don't even own a smartphone! And, the kinds of addictive behavior such platforms engender are unappealing to me.

The best way to keep up with me then is through my Podcast Itself!

I will perhaps endeavor to offer more active engagement through Patreon if those who participate there show an interest, but we shall see.
In the meantime, I look forward to more moments spent sharing my thoughts and ideas in ways we all can benefit from. I shall do my best to be worth your time, and I certainly hope to see you there!

Thank you for taking the time!