Today I got several emails from people that I didn’t already know thanking me for doing my talk at PME. The subject matter seems to be striking exactly the right nerve and helping people with that middle ground of the podcast life cycle.
It seems like a fun and interesting thing to do, so you start your own show. Theoretically it has unlimited upside potential but after a few or few dozen shows your listenership is not climbing anymore and companies are not knocking each other down to pay you sponsorship money, so now what? My thesis is that by orienting your expectations and goals to your own satisfaction, to your own sustainable level of enthusiasm you can keep the balance you need to keep going. By worrying less about listeners and money, you will do a better job of doing the things that might eventually attract listeners and money. There’s a bit of Zen koan in that advice, but I think it is absolutely true. It’s all about balance. People stop because they feel like the results they want to happen aren’t. By keeping your expectations such that you are satisfied no matter what, that balance remains unshakeable.
I just checked the Gigavox page, and thus far the average rating of that talk is 4.4 stars. That’s way better than any of my Voices in your Head shows ever got rated. Thanks, all. If the talk spoke to your inner podcaster, let me know.
Update: I got the weekly IT Conversations email, and this talk is the highest rated one listed in the mailing. Go, me!