Don't Let Tech Scare You: Podcasting Is Easier Than You Think!

Today, I see this all the time.

We're going to talk about the one thing that's stopping you, not just from podcasting, but from doing things you should be doing.

Welcome to your podcast consultant.

Small lessons with big value.

With more than a decade of experience and millions of downloads, this hall of fame podcaster is a featured speaker, author and mentor to thousands.

Now he wants to work with you.

He's your podcast consultant, Dave Jackson.

All right, I turned 60 years old this week and so I kind of know a little bit about what I speak, but consequently, I'm not sure why.

Maybe because I use old references that only people above 40 get.

But many of my clients are, nah, 35 and up.

That doesn't mean I don't get 20 year olds as well, but a lot of times it's people in their 50s.

And I'm not throwing shade here.

I'm not making fun.

I just want to point out that often the main thing that is stopping you from starting a podcast isn't the technology.

Is it the how am I going to interview people that aren't in the same room?

Nope, it's not that.

It's your brain.

And I'm going to give you an example.

Today I was working with a client and they were having some problems with their computer.

So we hopped on Zoom, we shared some screens, and I said, okay, you want to make sure that when you're recording an interview, you've closed everything except the software you're using to record the interview.

So in this case that was Chrome, because it was a web based thing.

And they said, yep, that's what I'm doing.

And I go, okay.

And I look up and I go, wait, hold on.

How many tabs do you have open?

Because the computer was having a hard time, in some cases juggling what was going on.

And Chrome is a memory hog.

Chrome with 40 tabs open is a giant memory hog.

And was probably the reason that they were having issues.

And I said, okay, 40 tabs again, no, no judging here.

I go, why do you have 40 tabs open?

And they said, well, you know, again, I always get this.

Me and technology are not friends, etc.

That's always kind of an excuse.

And they go, and I don't really know how to bookmark or save things.

Now, there's a really good chance that you, dear listener, probably know that creating a bookmark isn't hard.

It's maybe two clicks, maybe three, tops.

And there are tools like notejoy and all sorts of other tools you can use to save Your thoughts.

But this person had never learned that, and they had convinced themselves it was very hard.

I could never do it.

Technology is just not something I'm good at.

It's.

I'm awful, I'm horrible.

I can't do it.

And I just.

Again, no judging.

I just said, hey, like, you know, it's really not that hard.

I know it seems hard because tying your shoes seemed impossible when I was five.

Driving a car seemed rather challenging when I was 15 or 16.

Everything is hard until it's not.

And the reason I want to bring this up is often, can we paint with a wide brush here?

You know, just for a second.

People that didn't grow up with computers are typically, you know, I'll use my brother.

My brother's 67.

He didn't grow up with computers.

But because his brother's somewhat of a nerd and a geek, I've shown him what to do, and he's got it.

So it's not that you're stupid, it's that you're uneducated and you've learned how to.

Over the years, we go way back.

Send a fax machine, how to use a vcr, how to use a cell phone, all this technology that we are still using.

And the other thing is, I think sometimes maybe you did try something, but that was 10 years ago.

And maybe 10 years ago, it was, wow, hard.

Right now, there's a movement in podcasting called Podcasting 2.0, and one of the things they did was they made it where you could stream very small amounts of Bitcoin to the podcaster.

But the problem was, it's not easy.

And I told them, I said, that is not ready for prime time.

Like, yes, all the nerds and the crypto geeks can do that.

But, like, no, but 10 years from now, I bet that's way easy, if not five, if not three.

And so if you tried something and you're like, man, I just can't get this number one, you didn't get it the first time, but did you go back again?

I'll give you another example.

I was in college, and I was taking a course from a teacher who wrote the textbook.

So he was very knowledgeable but absolutely horrible at explaining it in a way to people who didn't write the book.

The other thing was, then, this is why I always talk about editing out ums if you have a lot of them.

He had, unfortunately, a very thick stutter to where his favorite word was subtract.

And again, I'm not poking fun but it was distracting.

Okay, so what did I do?

I found a different source to learn the material, because if I didn't pass that class, I wasn't going to get my degree.

And so I took another pass at it.

I took another attempt.

And maybe you'll find a different way to learn what you need to learn.

Because in this world, if you're not learning, you're going backwards.

It's not that you're going to be stopping where you are.

No, no, you're going backwards.

And is that kind of a pain in the butt?

Yeah, a little bit.

That we just got to keep up if we don't want to just end up stuck and not being able to commute.

Earlier this summer, I lost my wallet and I drove.

There was an event going on that I paid money for.

I.

I drove there, and I'm like, you know what?

I know people at this event.

I'll go in and I'll park.

I'll borrow some money from somebody, and I'll figure this out when I get home.

Well, guess what?

Without a credit card, you cannot park in downtown Cleveland.

There's no way to get into a parking deck without a credit card.

And all mine were gone.

So if you don't keep up, you're going to end up not being able to participate.

And the point I'm trying to make here is, if you tried to podcast in the past and it was hard, maybe try again.

And if you've never tried to podcast, believe me when I say it's not as hard as you think it is.

It's not easy, but it's not hard.

But let me give you an example.

Have you ever been in the car and your jam comes on the radio and you turn it up and you're rocking out, and then the phone rings.

You turn down the radio so you can hear the phone.

Well, guess what?

You know how to mix audio.

And have you ever, I don't know, attached a picture to a email?

All right, well, if you can upload that photo to an email, then you can upload an MP3 file to your media host.

It's just.

I'm not saying it's like you're just going to pick it up and do it.

I'm just saying it's not as hard as you think it is.

And if you keep telling yourself, I can't do that, you're just roping yourself in and missing some great opportunities.

When I was growing up, I didn't like Brussels sprouts.

Why?

Because, I don't know, they kind of smelled funky.

Well, guess What?

Fast forward 40 years, I'll eat Brussels sprouts all day long.

Turns out whoever I got them from the first time didn't cook them right.

You go back and you double check your convictions.

You know, you're convinced that this is such and such.

Well, is it?

Maybe it was back then, maybe it's not now.

And it makes me somewhat sad because often the people that don't have the technical skills and they have convinced themselves they never will are the people that have the experience, the time and the budget to create an amazing podcast.

I'm hoping that's not you.

And if it is you, I am right here willing to help you.

I will hold your hand and show you this is not as hard as you think it is.

I'm Dave Jackson.

I help podcasters.

It's what I do.

And I can't wait to see what we're going to do together.