468. The Most Underrated Skill Every Podcaster Needs

0:05 Good morning podcasting Morning Chats. Today is Friday, March 6th, 2026 and today we're asking the crew what's the most underrated skill every podcaster should have and why. We'll get into which abilities actually make the biggest difference behind the mic. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand, side of the screen and share it. However Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast, YouTube, LinkedIn, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster and give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:20 Good morning again, podcasting, Morning Chat. Thanks so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronick, and currently on stage with me we have producer Ashley Ralphie, Step, BC Babbles, Sid Meadows, Dr. Fay, Nick Naulback and Tide AKA Nikki. Sometimes they say Nikki AKA Tide and then sometimes I go the other way. Either way, welcome Nikki to the stage as well. And a good morning to our first set of audience members, Dave Coach, AKA Craig and Anne joining us this morning. Good to have you back, Coach, it's been a minute since you've been here. So thank you for rejoining the team up. And also we've got Leaping Bear in the audience as well. Good morning to everyone.

2:09 Today, we are going to talk about those underrated skills. I'll share what inspired that in a moment. First, I just quickly want to tell you about the beginning of next week. Next week we'll kick things off with Jonathan Howard hosting another obsession worthy podcast that's Monday the 9th. And the podcast we're digging into is Swindled's episode of The Formula. So the podcast Swindle True Crime podcast and you can listen to that ahead of time if you'd like by going to podcastingmorningchat.com/theformula. That's the name of the episode. Again, podcasting morning chat.com/the formula that will take you to the episode page where you can find whatever player you prefer to listen and catch that before Monday.

3:01 If not, no worries, we'll make sure that you've that you are in the know on Monday. We'll play clips and we're, the whole idea is we're breaking down these really popular shows to understand what makes them tick. Why are they so obsession worthy by so many? So we'll get into that. And also on Tuesday we teased this yesterday, I think it was D Rs suggestion we're going to do some mock pre interviews. So yesterday we talked a lot about the pre interview and it was D Rs suggestion that maybe we should demonstrate how these kinds of interviews go, you know, based on our own individual experiences. Some of us will play the role of interviewer, some will be the interviewee and we'll switch it around a little bit just to give some people a taste because we believe that we don't have any scientific study, but we do believe that a lot of podcasters, maybe most podcasters avoid the pre interview. Yet we think it's most of us think here it's a very valuable piece of the puzzle.

4:05 And I know that Jonathan Howard, he commented. I put out a couple clips from yesterday's episode. He commented how he still hates the pre interview. So not all of us think it's a valuable piece, but I think it I'll tell you this, it it really can't hurt your podcast. I know some people think it can, but we talked about that yesterday so I won't go too far down that rabbit hole again. Right now I'll save it for Tuesday's mock pre interviews. But BC you you wanted to say something, go ahead. I was going to say one thing I mentioned yesterday in the chat when we were discussing. That is if you can't if someone was talking about how sometimes your wanted guests are just too crazy busy to even nail down for the actual interview.

4:50 So I said if that's the case, you can always send them a prep sheet that lays out your show, how it should flow, and if and when there'll be a time for your guests to plug who they are. Absolutely. Prep sheets so important and we will I have a prep sheet that I can share. I think I've shared it in the past a while back here on the podcasting morning chat. So maybe I will make sure to have that ready to share with you on Tuesday's episode. Thank you for that BC. Also a follow up question from yesterday's episode from Sally. I know that's not her real name but I'm choosing to use a fake name to protect her and her guests since we talked so much about it yesterday.

5:33 Don't want to insult anybody personally but the question was if we appear on other podcasts as guests. OK, so put your guest hat on for a second. In Sally's opinion, one of the main objectives for a lot of us is to promote a product or service that we're selling, a book, a podcast, a course, etcetera. She says. I can appreciate that. We don't want to overdo those passive mentions. That's what we described yesterday as this particular guest she was dealing with kept saying things like, well, in my book, such and such, I talk about that, you know, when she starts to answer a question. So that's what we mean by passive mentions. And then Sally goes on to say, but that's a better strategy than outright doing a full on promotion when answering an interview question, isn't it?

6:22 Is there a balance here? So I thought that was fair because I do admit, like, I think I have coached that approach before. I've told clients, I've told people on this show, yeah, if you can kind of slip it in here and there, there's nothing wrong with that. And I think the key the, the last part of the question here, is there a balance? I think that's just it. I think you need a balance here. If you're doing it with every question or even most questions, you're constantly saying, oh, in my book or on my podcast, we talk a lot about that. If you do that, every question, it loses its validity, it loses its its weight. So I think what's important is, yes, do that, but you only have to work that in a couple of times throughout the episode. Let's say it's an hour episode 2, three times I think is completely acceptable and encouraged because, yeah, we want people to know that you have a book where we don't. We know that it's not necessarily the most valuable place to wait until the end to promote something, because the reality is, is most people don't listen to every minute of every second of a podcast.

7:33 So by towards the end, they may have checked out. So yeah, to slip that in here and there, as long as you're doing it tastefully and with balance, I think that's a good move. Ralph, you wanted to say something. I actually am going to take that to the next level and say that honestly, Mark, if you're doing a good job as the interviewee, the audience should want to know more about you. I don't think you need to be as aggressive in that because I know when I've been on interviews and people have interviewed me, a lot of times, you, you, you know, the hosts will say, hey, how do they get more information? This is great stuff. That's what you want. That's the desire. If you feel like you're selling yourself the whole time, I think that's an awkward situation. If you're providing value, then that value is going to start to kick up or the audience is going to say, oh, I got to find out about Mark.

8:23 I got to go find out about Ironic Media because he can help me with my podcast. That just happens organically. So to balance what Sally's saying, I think there is a balance, but it's kind of like if you were trying to sell something, you start off with, you know, Mark, you really should buy this. Mark, you really should buy this. You know, Mark, you should really buy this. Sell them on the value 1st and then it sells itself in the back end of that. Thank you, Ralph. All right, BC since I said before I'd give you the final word, I will now do that, although I'll probably want to wrap this part of the conversation up. So technically I'll have it, but go for it. Hopping off of what Ralph just said, I would say for any interviewee who has some kind of publication out there, I would say unless when you get to the city or get to the call, and unless your interviewer has a physical copy of it and will start the conversation by introducing that publication. Take that as a notice that your job during this interview is to establish your thought leadership sands relating to the publication.

9:27 They will likely bring it up themselves, but let's see how well you establish your ability to be masterful in your sector without having to refer to something you want to sell. Yes, agreed. And as I put it in my LinkedIn post yesterday, that was summing up all the things we discussed, I said, yeah, by the end of the episode, the audience should have organically developed in appreciation for the guest. If you've done your job as a host, the plug at the end actually lands again. I might consider doing that plug a little earlier than the very end. But you, you can hear where I'm coming from. If every answer is a commercial, people are going to check out and you might finish the recording with almost nothing usable. The idea here, as a guest, you want to make sure you're giving tons of value to create enough curiosity where those audience members that community wants to reach out to you as a guest. I've been punching.

10:24 Oh no, no, go ahead. I've been punching my pepper in for a long time. Sorry, Dr. OK, so this is the perfect excuse to have a lead magnet because whatever your lead magnet is, it should have your branding all over it. It should have your contact information all over it. If it's a list of myths versus truths, if it's a any kind of anything, it should have your branding all over it. And this is something, you know, it could be tangible if they print it out, say, or if it's always on their desktop, something like that. But this is a perfect opportunity for a lead magnet. Thank you, Dr. Appreciate that.

11:08 Yeah, I know Ralph talked about that. He likes to do that sort of thing as a guest when he goes on other podcasts. Yeah. Great suggestion. Thank you. OK, let's dive in because we've got our question of the day here and we still want to leave a little bit of time for wins from this past week. This is inspired twofold. I saw this post, this very question posted on threads, and please forgive me, I can't remember who posted it. I saw it and now I can't remember who posted it. But that question was raised and it also reminded me there was an article that we didn't get into this week that is appropriate for this question. The article is by backstage.com, and it's the seven essential skills every content creator needs to master. Basically, in this article, they're talking about success as a modern creator and what it means, which in their opinion, it means blending creativity with well, yeah, I'll keep going.

12:10 Blending creativity with practical skills, from knowing your audience to planning, to production and even business skills. Today's full stack creatives quote UN quote refine multiple abilities over time to grow, engage and stand out online. They get into some of these may be considered practical skills, but some of these I'll say maybe more obvious skills that they believe a content creator really should possess in order to find success or maybe find success little more quickly, right? They things like you have to have sharp writing and strategic editing skills, right?

12:51 You have to know how to trim the fluff, keep viewers or listeners hooked. Basic technical skills like framing, good lighting, quality audio. You want to make your work feel professional even with simple gear. So these are the types of skills that they were digging into. And I yeah, I think you can make a case for any of those as being really important. We'll get into some of those skills too, but I want to start with that question I LED with in our intro today. What is the most underrated skill every podcaster should have and why? This is the area where I think new podcasters will really benefit if they're listening right now. Because I think, again, we get a little bit blinded by the typical stuff and we sometimes then neglect some of the really important stuff that isn't necessarily sexy or hyped up enough, right?

13:51 So I see BC you want to chime in first, go for it. Now, this one may seem super obvious, but I think it might be so obvious that it's forgotten. And that is a solid vocal technique. And I said that because we've talked about it before in the show. We've mentioned and even Ralph's mentioned how he's working with the speaking coach as well and how that's helping him in podcasting on his side. And I said that because I think a lot of times, and let me clarify, I do not mean a vocal technique to where you sound quote UN quote like a podcaster. I mean the vocal technique that gives you a lot of bang for your buck, where you place your voice in a position where you can create and maintain a sound that's natural, gives you a lot of good flow. You're not having to over exert over project, over articulate. It's comfortable, it's natural, and it lets you talk for a long time.

14:47 We podcasters can sometimes have multi hour episodes and we have to be able to keep going. Obviously you want to have a bottle of water to help you out, keep it lubricated, but if you don't have a good technique to start off with, you're not going to last very long. So I would say that for me is probably going to be underrated. People don't realize that. I like that one. Thank you. BCI Think that's Yeah. Knowing how to use your voice is important. And I know I've said this recently how I used to kind of get made fun of about my voice from fellow radio hosts that I worked with for a while. And the thing I didn't say last week when we talked about this was one of those guys actually was not the quote UN quote bully, for lack of a better word.

15:30 And I'm just having fun with using that word. But one of the guys I definitely consider as one of my mentors in podcasting, and what he always told me is it's not about how your voice sounds, it's how you use it. And I think that is something that I have held onto, I've taken and really embraced ever since then. And I think it served me really well 'cause I get now compliments all the time about my voice and how I use it. Even though right now it's a little scratchy here all of a sudden I'm noticing. But let's keep things moving. I'm going to go to Ashley and then I'm going to check in with Ralph. Go ahead, Ashley. Hey, good morning. It's interesting, my answer would be the same if you asked me what's one of the most understated skills for musicians, because my answer for both scenarios would be active listening.

16:21 I feel like that's one of the most things that are missed. You know, it's the silences in between, you know, the statements that we're making that matter too. And I feel like a lot of people, you know, they speak more so that that so that they can just get to the next question. For example, if they're in an interview, they miss opportunities. You know, their guests might have handed them a chunk of gold and they go right over it because they just want to get to that next question. So I think by using active listening they could really improve their interview skill. I like that. Thank you, Ashley. I think that is absolutely an important one. Sure, maybe talked about a little bit here and there, but in my opinion, probably not enough in most podcasting circles.

17:06 Yeah, the ability to listen and I think I'll, I'll pile on to that. I'll add on to that a step further would be conversation, awareness, knowing when to go deep on a moment and when it's time to move things along so they say something. You know, I'm sure we've all had those moments where we're talking with a guest or a friend or whomever, right? Doesn't have to be in in a podcast situation, but there's a moment where we're listening to somebody telling us a story, telling us maybe what they do, whatever it is. But there's a moment that they say something that makes us pause in our minds, right? Like, oh, wait, what was that that they just said?

17:47 Right. And that's the moment for me that triggers me to say to follow up, to ask a follow up question. I want to know more about that thing you just said because I think that if you're having that moment, if you have that moment of curiosity, I think there are, I think it's you can be confident that your audience is having those same moments. And if they're not, they're appreciating that you had that moment and that you're bringing out a more, a deeper moment into the conversation. So yeah, I'm with you, Ashley, listening and paying attention to those moments to follow up. Thank you for that one. Ashley Ralph, how about you? I think the Super skill that would make or break you is the ability to develop relationships. And I think that is probably one of the biggest ones that I see that people struggle with because in the end, you can get data from the Internet, you can get from AI, but what brings people back to your content is relationships. So I think the number one skill that you've got to try to figure out how to do is how to build effective relationships with your audience.

18:53 Because you could have a terrible speaking voice and still build relationships. You could have terrible audio, You could do all the things that are terrible, but people will come back for the relationship with the host. That is the, in my view, that's the make or break thing that really makes a show stand out because people will come back for the relationship. Oh, I got to hear what Marcus says next. I got to hear what Rob says or BC or Dr. or anybody else who participates here. It's all about the relationships. And I think if we forget about that, I think we miss a big piece of the puzzle. Thank you, Ralph. Appreciate that. And Ralph, I've got to admit I'm distracted because I keep looking at you here on video and wanting you to be wearing that cowboy hat.

19:35 It worked for you yesterday. I'm telling you, I I love that cowboy hat, but it messes up my hair and I got to see clients today so I didn't want to have the whole full on cowboy hat. But here's what I will promise every Thursday I will come with the ranch hat on the cowboy hat so that everybody can TuneIn on Thursdays and see Ralph and his cowboy. But I thought it looked pretty good. Man, I, I got to be honest, I look. Good. I grabbed a clip of you yesterday and that's available on Instagram and Facebook right now. I'll put it on some other platforms today. But yeah, whenever I see that, I'm like, you know what? That that hat works for Ralph. Thank you, Mark. You're welcome. You're welcome. And I mean that strictly platonically, of course. OK, so let's go to Sid.

20:17 I know Sid had something as well. Go for it, Sid. Yeah, Mark, before you go to me, go to Ty. She's raised her hand just several times to get in. So go to her. And then I'll. I'll chime in after. Go for it. So gentlemanly said, thank you so. Much I appreciate you. Yeah, I was just going to say that asking great questions is one of the biggest things that I'm personally working on because when people talk, their words resonate with me on a very intuitive level. And so I've caught myself listening to recordings of my past podcast and I'm like. Oh, I should have distilled that a little bit more. And what I'll do is I'll take the transcript of the podcast and put it in a ChatGPT, and I'll say, hey, how can I make this better? Because there were certain moments and I want to know if you can identify those same moments and to see if we're aligned.

21:08 And it does, it will identify those same moments where I could have done a better job distilling it into some sort of actionable insight or some level of emotional insight that I could have helped that speaker get to and for the listeners to be able to receive. And so I kind of have learned or trained myself on how to, to do that by first trying to figure out what those moments are myself. Then I'll go to ChatGPT and confirm, and a lot of times it does confirm it, but there are also times where it picks out little moments that I didn't even realize myself that I could have. Doesn't mean I needed to, but I could have distilled that a little bit better or a little more, and I think that's really helpful.

21:53 The other piece is being a trustworthy host. The pre interview, I know all of that is it's a big deal for some people, it's not a big deal for others. But for me, I want to make sure that my podcast is very credible and that I know what I'm talking about and that the interviewee feels very comfortable in my presence. As an example, I filmed a partial podcast yesterday because the Internet went out. There was a lady, she's very statuesque, very stoic, and that was admitted by her. I mean, I knew that about her just from seeing her, but she also knew that about herself. She knew she was very stoic.

22:35 She's not the type of person to show her emotions. She was Asian and she had said to me that she didn't go up in a warm and fuzzy culture where you don't show your emotions. And I said, that's fine. I said whatever you feel comfortable with and talking about, we will. Well, anyway, what happened is when she came on my podcast the couple days ago, she was talking about something and she cried. She absolutely cried. Her voice started cracking. And I think that it's kind of just a natural ability that I have in that regard to kind of earn people's trust in that way, but that. To me is a very underrated skill. When I see it in somebody else who's a host and I'm listening to their podcast and they can really pull out those emotions and get people to open up and say things that they normally don't say because they're maybe highly guarded or they're highly conscious.

23:24 Of what their image is online but when they're around you something synergistic happens to me that's a really underrated skill. Yeah, thank you, Nikki. I appreciate that. And yeah, from the first share that you had as far as knowing how to ask good questions or the right questions, really appreciate your approach to how you're trying to improve that for yourself. The idea of using AI in that regard, I think is a brilliant way and a smart way to use AI in your content creation, right? Because what you're doing is you're just looking at, here's the body of work I've done now tell me how I can make it better. And just like everything else, I think sometimes we have to take it a little bit with a grain of salt. And I don't think that ChatGPT is able to really give expert advice on that at times, but I think in other times it can. I just think that you got to pick and choose what it says that what and what works well for you. I think it is a a great idea and one that I actually don't do enough of.

24:31 So I appreciate that tip. I think I'm going to try doing that more often. Thank you. Dr. Did you want to add something? I think another underutilized or subtle trait that podcasters should have is the ability to go on and off the script that you may have written for you. This is where improv classes are so important. And Mark, you can speak to this like if you hear something that the guest says that is actually a, a thread to some story, grab it. Oh, you went to Spain? How was that?

25:12 Why were you there? What did you see, you know, And then maybe go back to the script, but there's a story in there somewhere and be able to go on and off that script that you may have written for yourself. I love that DRI think that's great. And yeah, that's where the beauty of editing comes in, because maybe they don't have a good nugget or they haven't pulled a good story out of that trip to Italy or wherever you said. I think it's really important to do that. And then, yeah, you can always edit it out if it doesn't go anywhere, right? Yeah, thank you, Dr. Appreciate that. BC what do you got? Now this one might kind of flow into more of like solid planning skills, which I think is also a very important skill for sure. But especially in cases where you are interviewing or you've got you've got someone guesting on the show. Punctual courtesy is one that I have seen personally not always revered the way that it should be. And this is on both sides of it.

26:12 This is not just for the host, it's also for interviewees. So interviewees, please listen up. So I know I do a lot of virtual interviews these days on Riverside, but my preferred podcasting is in person. I love being in the studio, love being in a place with a vibe, letting that kind of, you know, coax the conversation out of us. And while I have my own mishaps, for sure, I didn't plan my driving time ride or I didn't make sure that I had certain things. Oops, scuse me, sorry, phone out of the way to make sure that they didn't impede at the moment. Also had guests who we've had this plan for weeks. They were free that day. There was nothing actually impeding.

26:53 I've had guests be over an hour late to the studio for a recording session and for interviewees and for and for new podcasters who won't want to go into a studio. Keep in mind if you're going into a studio that you don't own, you're renting it. That's money out of your pocket that you're putting in to try to provide a space to cultivate a conversation. So on the flip side, interviewees and guests do not be late because that is money out of that podcasters pocket. They're not going to get back. So punctual courtesy, I think is a really big 1. Be mindful of everyone's time and you guys put all the work into making sure your schedule's aligned for a reason.

27:35 Don't let all that effort fall through the cracks. Thank you BC great one. Yes, I think punctual courtesy is a great skill to have an important one to have for sure. I did not forget Sid. I got to go to Sid. So thank you for being a gentleman and and handing it off to Nikki. But now it is your turn, Sid, go for it. I would say that one of the most what what was the word on the on on something skill. What was the word underrelated? Underrelated. Sorry. Yeah, to write it's constantly more coffee is relatability. To your audience specifically, being able to relate to your audience, put yourself in their shoes, to feel what they're feeling, to have empathy for them and to be relatable to them and to produce content to them that they understand that they know that where you're where that you understand where they're coming from and that you're talking with them and not at them.

28:32 I think there's a big difference there. How do you try to make sure you're doing that, Sid, on your podcast? And for me specifically, I try to make sure that I understand what their pain points are and what their problems are. And because my podcast is so niche, because I live inside this industry every day, I know the challenges that people are facing. I understand the challenges that sellers are facing. And this goes directly to knowing your ideal customer, your audience, right? Knowing your listener and knowing what they're going and being able to relate to them and to have conversations with my guests. The whole purpose here for me is that we want to help people grow and help people grow their business. And we need to be able to relate to the issues and the challenges that they're having and share ideas with them that will help them. Yeah.

29:16 And I think that it's important also to call out, you know, somebody who may be hosting their show may not be as plugged into their the industry or the area that they're talking about as much as it is. Right. So can you still do that? And the answer is yes. It's just a matter of really studying and getting to know your target audience that that's what it takes. So if you're not in the day-to-day, say like Sid is, I think it is important that you at least put yourself into the day-to-day in some regard. Join different online communities. Go network in real life with communities that are within your area, your niche, so that you can learn and understand their struggles so that you can be more relatable. It's an important area for sure if you want to create a real connection with your audience.

30:09 Yes, Ralph, did you want to add on? Yeah, that goes right to what I was talking about a few minutes ago with Building Relationship, my daily finance podcast. Every single day I answer a question from a listener. I want to understand where that listeners coming from. What's the struggle they're facing today? What is the fear they have? You know, are grocery costs too high? Are they trying to figure out how to stop the battle? Husband and wife over finances. So I've I have grown my audience and I've grown my influence by understanding where they come from. And Mark, one of the superpowers of that is you IA lot of people have been where they are. And so when I talk on my show about, hey, I know what it's like to struggle. I know what it's like to to be battling with your spouse about money discussions. And I know what it's like to have kids asking for everything and you can't afford to do it.

30:58 I think one of the superpowers that we, and this is especially good for new podcasters, lean into what you know, lean into the experiences that you've had. Lean into the hurt, lean into the pain because guess what? Your audience is feeling those same things. You want to connect with your audience, be honest with them. Like, listen, I've been doing accounting work for 30 years. The times that I get the most comments from listeners is when I say, you know, I screwed that up. I've made that same mistake. I've bought the car I shouldn't have bought. I've charged up the credit cards to where I couldn't breathe. I've done all those things and it's not fake. That is the truth. That's relatable. And I think that that's the piece we miss, that's it's all about the relationship. But share your scars.

31:42 You know, Mark, you've been honest about your scars on the show. Things that you've struggled with, things that I've struggled with. That is what makes a show successful, and that's what builds the relationships. Yeah. And it's funny because a lot of us avoid sharing our own personal struggles on our shows, right? And sometimes it's because we're just embarrassed. Sometimes it's that we think we have a certain persona we have to uphold on the show. But the IT is true in my experience, when you're sharing those vulnerabilities, when you're sharing those weak moments, that seems to connect me a lot more with my audience. I hear from our community so much more when I share those things, and it's encouraging it.

32:29 It helps me recognize that, yeah, people want real life human beings on the other end of the mic or of their headphones, if you will. So important. So, yeah. Thank you, Ralph. Thank you. Because people want to be encouraged and that's the thing we need to understand. There's so much garbage out there, negative emotion, negative feelings, terrible news. You want to make a connection When somebody encourage them, show them hope. We all have the ability to do that. We all have the ability to find something positive in a jacked up negative world. And if we can do that, if we can live right there. I, I always liken it to this. My show everyday is I want to put my arm around somebody and tell them it's going to be OK.

33:10 And if you can do that with your content, I'm telling you that will be the that will be the deal maker for you. I really believe that with all my heart. Absolutely, yeah. And of course, I think it's always smarter to be when you're sharing those vulnerabilities. Sure, sometimes when you're in the thick of it, you may want to feel, you want to get it off your chest. And I think there are times where that's appropriate. But I do think it's more effective once you're, if you're sharing that vulnerability, you've already come out the other side so that you can speak from experience, you can speak from a healed place, right? Because these people are listening to you and they are connecting with you. I think it's going to land better for them if they can hear that. Yes, I've been through this and here's where I am now. I, I think that's critical because what you don't want to do is put out their laundry that you're still cleaning because then you're not going to give them hope. You're not going to give them.

34:08 Now you can say, listen, I'm struggling with this and here's how I'm battling this. Here's how I'm dealing with that. I, I don't think you have to have the whole thing solved, Mark, I might take you to task a little bit on that, but at least have a pattern of here's the help I got. Here's the way I'm working it out because I think there's, I think there's a lot of value in the journey too. I think there's a great deal of value in the journey. But I think you're right. You don't want to just come on the mic and say I'm really struggling with something. Can somebody out there help me? That's not a good plan. But to, to, to enter into the journey. They talked about my weight loss on my show a lot. I'm nine pounds away from being £200 from when I started. That's a journey. Have I accomplished it yet? No, but people can relate with that. But they and they see a pattern.

34:49 He's OK. Well, here's what Ralph did. Here's what worked for Ralph. But I'm working on it, so I just wanted to champion that mark. I think that's a brilliant point. Yeah, sharing things like that that really have maybe nothing to do with the the podcast you're talking about, right. That doesn't have to do with your audience. It's still, again, there are probably plenty of people listening to your show based on the statistics of this country that are overweight and that would like to be where you are now, Ralph. So you sharing that helps give them permission. It helps motivate them to maybe want to take that step toward a weight loss journey, Right, Or a weight release journey, As I shared last time, I tried to avoid that word weight loss, that term, because if you lost it, it means you might be able to find it again. So just release it and let it go, right? Yeah.

35:35 But thank you, Ralph. I appreciate that point. Does anyone else want to share an underrated skill? And by the way, we have somebody on the YouTube or at least watching on one of the video platforms. Sabrina's asking if she can ask a question about podcasting and the answer is an emphatic yes. You are Absolutely. At any time, whatever platform you're watching or listening, feel free to ask. Yeah, put it in the chat. Or if you're on Clubhouse, come up on stage and we will pause and answer any questions about your podcast journey. If we can be of assistance at all, we would love to help. And Mark, Sabrina can also go to our website and leave us a comment or a question there, and we'd be happy to talk about it on the show. That's right.

36:21 Podcasting morning chat.com. Just go to the contact section. You can connect with us there and leave us your question. We would love to get that. We will. We do, I think a pretty good job of answering a lot of these mailbag questions, so bring it anytime you'd like. OK, Does anyone else have anything else? We do want to leave a little time for wins from the week, but I do have a follow up question. Do you think it's more important to be creative or be technically good at editing? Cause editing is a skill. I think that a lot of especially newer podcasters who are maybe on a tight budget don't want don't have the money yet or don't want to spend the money yet on somebody else editing the podcast for them.

37:05 So what do you think? Is it more important to be creative or be technically good at editing? Dr. wants to take this one. Go ahead, Dr. Hands down creative, creative, hands down technical. You can learn that creativity that is something that is inside of you, that is something that sometimes it just cannot be taught. It has to be. It has a it involves A curiosity, it involves a bunch of different things that I don't. I really don't think it can be taught. It's something within you. Thank you. I think that it can be maybe it's hard, harder to teach.

37:46 I think it can definitely be learned, right? Because look, I started podcasting over 20 years ago. I had, you know, other than learning some things in college, I had no real skills around creatively editing or technically for that matter. I mean, I had a little bit, but at the time in when I was in college, the tools changed a lot from when I was in college to when I started podcasting. And look, I think that the years of experience really helped with that. I think it's like a rubber band, if you can stretch a rubber band, but the rubber band has to be inside of you first, even if it goes unnoticed by you. Well, I I'm not that creative of a person you might be.

38:29 You just need that curiosity to find out to dig a little bit. Absolutely. And Matt wants to chime in. Good morning, Matt Bliss. Go for it. I only disagree partly Dr., if only because my experience of either the technical or the creative side side in podcasting particularly has always been like frog hopping from one to the other and improving it as time goes on. I think about it less like an elastic band and more like hypertrophy and building a muscle, where certain things get easier the stronger you get at other things. I started very hard in the technical side, but having the strong technical meant that I could flex some creative muscles more easily. I didn't have enough technical to realize what creative vision I had.

39:23 I had to look at a bit more technical again and upgrade that a little bit. Like you can't deadlift A barbell if your hamstrings are weak. So you do a 12 week cycle of hamstring improvement and all of a sudden it's a whole lot easier to pull that barbell off the ground. My response to Mark's question would be yes, like you need a little bit of both, but I think it comes in waves and the more you learn about one thing, the more you're opened up to the other. I do think creativity, whether it could be taught or learned, it can definitely be practiced. And everyone's technical and everyone's creative is different.

40:04 So I think it's easy to, it's easy to think when you say technical, like I can get into Premiere and do all these fancy little transitional things and code stuff. Sometimes the technical is being as experienced with the script to be able to realize your creative vision as you need to be. It's a thin line, I think, but everyone's experience is different. Totally fair. Dr. is that you that just came off? Mike, you want to share something? Yeah, Matt wins the word of the day with Hypertrophian. Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah. We need a little bell Ding. There you go. We've got lots of people joining us now on stage. I'm going to 1st go to BC because he's had his hand up for a moment.

40:47 Then we'll check in with Janae and Yvonne who joined us from the audience. Go ahead BC. Yes, I agree with both Matt and Dr. there. And I like a point that Matt made there toward the end that I want to expand on where you said everyone's creativity is different. And I want to hone in on that for a second because I think for a lot of us creatives, there is this phenomena that sometimes occurs when we are in the process of creating something. And before our stuff is done, we we may see someone else post something on the platforms and it's something similar. But the concept is very friend. And often times we creators will see that and think, wow, that's not what I was thinking. But this person already said that sent that stuff out. I must not know what's what right now. And that causes us to start second guessing our creativity. I want to say and going off again of off Matt's point. That's not necessarily true.

41:45 I think that's part of our what's it called the syndrome? What's it called? Someone help me out imposter. There we go. Thank you. The imposter syndrome that hits US creative sometimes. And if you ever think that because you've seen someone else do something and you think that's the thing, and because you didn't think about it first, that you don't know what The thing is, that's not true. Just because it went out first does not mean that what you're working on isn't going to be better or of equal value. So I would say I'll let your creativity come at its own pace. And to Matt's point, let your creativity be his own thing. Don't fall to that imposter syndrome trick of oh just because someone else put something similar that conceptually looks different out first convince you that what you have cooking isn't going to be good. Great point, and I hope that makes sense because DRDR looks like she's trying to follow back there. I may have delivered that in a very roundabout way, but it makes sense in my head.

42:45 Well, Matt Bliss wanted. Am I buffering? Am I? Buffering. No, you're not buffering. Anyway, Matt Bliss wants to follow up on that. And then we got to check in with Janae and Yvonne, and then we got to move into another area of the show. So go for it, Matt. What you said there ties in a bit with what I wanted to answer with the previous question. And I think an underrated skill for podcasters is making time for play and for exploration. In the common parlance, you'd probably call it professional development, but setting aside 20% of your time for you to just sit there and go, I saw that thing. It made me feel like I'm not doing the things that I'm doing particularly well. What is it about that thing that made me feel bad, and how do I get to that?

43:29 I think so many podcasters missed that opportunity. And I mean, people might disagree, but I don't think you can be an impostor when you're a learner. So if you're spending a bit of that time and making that space, that's an underrated skill. I agree. And I feel like it's good to go to Yvonne here because I feel like you're speaking a little bit of Yvonne's language. Go ahead, Yvonne, you knew. I was like, Oh my. God. That's it, That's it. And I agree with what Dr. said. I agree with what Matthew has said, what BC has said. Here's the thing you I do disagree with one thing in that saying that you can't be taught creativity. But I will say that what Dr.

44:15 said about staying curious, that is important and what Matt just said about the play, because we're born creative. It's in us. We we learned how to walk and talk because we were playful little babies and our parents were playing with us. And every little skill we learned came from play. So if we can lean into that, we can tap into that creativity that's already in US, and we need to make time for it and give it the importance that it deserves. Absolutely, Yvonne, thank you.

44:56 I'm glad you were here for that to to add on to it. Yeah, perfect way to put it. I want to go to Janae next. Janae, good morning. What did you want to add to this part of the conversation? My favorite topic, technology and creativity, because the one thing that Matt mentioned or I think Ashley mentioned, is that we have to turn off our own Naze thing to ourselves. And that's something that we do before anybody else tells us you can't do it. We tell us we can't do it. This happened to me and I was like, wow, that was such a great learning. Experience And I was like, why did I stop?

45:37 Because I felt. Like imposter, somebody's already doing what I want to do. I can't do it anymore. The idea that I came up with 2013, it was the same idea that Instacart. Has right. And I was like, Oh my God, I spent three months talking through this entire program on how we're going to talk to grocery store owners and whatnot. And then Instacart raises $44 million. I was like, Oh my God, it's over. I cannot do this because somebody's already doing it. That was the wrong approach because we all have ideas. That's why they call them ideas. Dime a dozen. The question is, can you execute on those ideas?

46:18 Or are you going to shoot yourself down? So. Creativity and technology are literally. Requires us to grow out of our current situation, Black Einstein said. You can't solve a problem in the state that you created it in. Thank you. Great quote. Thank you, Janae. I think that's a great way to wrap it up. So thank you for wrapping up with that quote one more time. Will you say that quote again? You can't solve a problem in the state that you created in. Thank you, Janae, and all right, So thank you. Appreciate it. Great conversation. I think that these are all important areas to focus on if you're entering the game or even in the game of podcasting, don't have to necessarily enter it, right?

47:02 There are all areas. I think there are plenty of areas I should say that we could all improve upon. So maybe one of those things stuck with you and maybe that's an area you want to craft. I encourage you to do that and I encourage you to keep coming back here and learning more about how you can do that because we talk about all of these things here on the Podcasting morning chat. Let's dive in to our final segment of the week. So let's celebrate anything going on in your world that is worth celebrating to you. Doesn't matter if you think it's a tiny win, you think it's a huge win.

47:45 A win is a win and we want to celebrate that with you. It is important to stop and smell the roses. So first I'm going to see if, oh, thank you, Tim for coming up as well. I'd like to go with our audience first. So if you are in the audience and want to be Cher, come up on stage and we will share there Yvonne. I've had some great things coming up this week and some really nice invitations to opportunities and thrilled with the last two podcast episodes that went out kind of his companion pieces talking about how humor can help us get through the hard times and got to talk to one of my favorite documentary film makers in the process and just things are good, man.

48:37 I like hearing that. I know that you had shared at some point with us maybe a week or two ago, and I know you've shared it on social media that you were feeling the weight of the world lately. So it's good to. Hear Still feeling it. Still feeling it? Yep, it's hard not to. It's. It's hard not. To. I'm choosing to. I can't. My husband walked into the bath and to the kitchen. I mean, this morning and I was just dancing and there was no music playing. And he was like, all right, she's feeling good. And I said, I'm, I'm choosing it, baby. I'm choosing it. I love it, I love it. I'm so happy to have you and your personality as a part of this community. Yvonne, you bring a lot of joy and we appreciate having you here. I'm going to go to Tim next.

49:20 Tim, welcome to the stage. Please share any wins you've got. Hey Mark, thank you so much for the opportunity to do this. My day job, I work for the federal government. We have not gotten paid since February the 13th. We've been on shut down. However, the last check that I received included an award, a monetary award that I won because of my work bringing FDI CS money Smart for Adults program to my agency. Not yesterday, the day before yesterday, one of my contractors gave me a call and he said, Tim, we want to put you in for another award because he didn't know about the first award that I got, but we want to put you in for another reward for your work, bring financial literacy to our agency, Nothing to do with podcasting, but something to do with my life that actually will help out my podcasting. So that's what I got for you this week. That is awesome.

50:20 Congratulations on both. Very cool. And yes, it doesn't matter we they don't always have to be podcasting wins. We will give bonus points if they are. But of course, this is a community and we like to cheer each other on in all areas of our lives. And I applaud you, Tim. I think that is awesome to hear. And I'm going to keep it going because I see we're getting close to time here. Janae, let's check your connection. Yes, it's much better. So my win is I've been working on this book for a couple years, interviewed a ton of podcast hosts and found the problem is not podcasting. The problem is the system that we use for podcasting.

51:01 So the book is finally finished. It's called PRM, and if anybody's interested, I'd love to share the draft or the, you know, the final draft to whoever is interested. So that's my win. For the week. Thank you. Awesome. Yeah, I will take a look at that. As long as you don't need an immediate response, I will sit with that and read that if you'd like me to. Yeah, sounds awesome. Congratulations to Naid. What? Does PRM stand for? What does PRM? PRM stands for? Podcast relationship management. Nice. OK, Thank you. Yeah, thank you. We will. Yeah, I'd love to see that. Janae, thank you for sharing and congratulations to you.

51:42 I'm going to share a win and then I'm going to open the floor to the rest of the team if they want to share a win. So as you guys know, Empowered Podcasting and especially last year was a real struggle for me to put on, especially when it came to finding and closing sponsors. We had a lot of great partnerships with different podcast industry companies, but not a lot of them actually putting money into it and was more bartering arrangements with many of the sponsors. Some of them absolutely were paying sponsors, if you will. And this year it's been a little bit of a struggle again to get people, get our, even our feet in the door with some of these people, some of these companies that we've known for so long, it's been a little frustrating.

52:29 However, we have a an official title sponsor for Empowered Podcasting 3 and that sponsor has been actually a part of this community now for, I don't know, maybe about six months. And it's the content creatorsaccountant.com. It's Ralph E step. He has stepped up as somebody in our community and also somebody who believes in what we're doing with this community. He is the title sponsor for Empowered Podcasting 3 coming out August 21st through the 23rd. empoweredpodcasting.com if you want to get your tickets. So that is a huge win for me, a huge win for this community.

53:13 It definitely solidifies that this event is happening. There is no question about it. I know that last year down to the wire, I was questioning it publicly, at least to this part of the community, but it is no longer a concern because it is a huge help and it creates tons of momentum. So, Ralph, thank you. I celebrate this win with you and couldn't be more pleased. Thank you, Ralph. You're very welcome, Mark, and it is an honor of privilege to be a member of this community and even bigger to be the title sponsor of Empowered Podcasting 3. Empowered Podcasting 2 was my first podcasting conference and it really helped me immensely. So that's why I want to be the bearer of this Power Podcasting 3 because I really believe in the journey. Thank you Ralph, Awesome does and we really appreciate you. Does anyone else want to share any wins from their week? We finished our first full month of Season 7, which is February and we're tracking a lot of different downloads or and stats and things.

54:23 And one of the stats that I track is monthly total listens or total downloads through Buzz Sprout. And in February we had 884 listens. And we compare that to the. Previous February to 2025 February and that number is up 65.84%. So I'm really proud of that. First month in, we had 880. We're ahead for the quarter because we track it by month and then by quarter. And it's just another measurement, if you will, that we can share with our sponsors. They didn't listen to those 884, weren't all the new episodes with the sponsors, But it's important I think to see our ecosystem growing. And so those are strictly just audio plays through bus routes. So I'm really excited one month in, this is where we're headed and it feels really good.

55:17 Sid, congratulations. That is awesome. If you could maybe point to one thing and I'm sure there are several, what do you think that big difference maker is from the the previous year to this, this one? Great question. Still trying to zone in on that mark, but it is something we're looking at. But I'm going to use this visibility. We're a little more visible than we were this time last year. We also have more episodes than we had this time last year. We're a little more visible on certain different platforms and sharing information and things of that nature. Our e-mail list has grown, so I'm going to tie it to visibility. Love that. Thank you, Sid. Yeah.

55:57 And you know what that reminds me first, let me before I say what reminds me. Congratulations to you, Sid. That is awesome to hear. I know you've been working your butt off on really revamping the show and it's clearly paying off. A win that I another win I want to share. Actually, you know this couple, the loud, quiet Rick and Clancy, they are consulting clients of mine and we actually just wrapped up their consulting container, their package. We've been working together for the past year and for our final, at least final for now consultation that we had earlier this week, they revealed to me that their podcast has literally grown 10 times as far as audience size, 10 times since they started working with me.

56:42 And they did say they owed a lot of that or they felt that I was a big part of the reason for that. So I am celebrating that win with them. It is awesome to hear those kinds of results when I from when I started working with the client to the end of that particular package. So kudos to the loud quiet. Check them out. If you are an empty nester or maybe about to be an empty nester, go check out the loud quiet. That's what they all the things that they talk about. So yeah, All right. Anyone else want to share any wins? Before we wrap up this morning? I'll share a quick one more, but first. Make sure you get them to say that on on the video for you. Yeah.

57:22 That's a good win. I will. Share that I've made it through week 1 of having a four month old puppy with a broken leg. And also I don't know if I mentioned it last week that one of my podcast episodes hit 500 downloads, but if I didn't, it hit 600 downloads this week. So I'm just going to celebrate that. It's keeps going up and I'm going to celebrate that. That's awesome. Congratulations. What episode? And we can link to it as well, so we'll try to get you a few more. It's actually the episode. Oh, God. It's episode 5 where I talk about. I'll get you the link. Yeah, it's more fun storytelling stuff. OK, cool. All right, get us the link. We'll put it in the show notes. Get that to Ashley. Yeah.

58:02 And I've already teased Jonathan Monday's show and I told people they can go check out Swindle and the episode The Formula if they go to podcasting morningchat.com/the formula that'll take them to the episode that we're going to be discussing on Monday. Thank you, Jonathan. All right, well, I think this is it. I think we have wrapped up our week. So remember we are doing that obsession worthy podcast breakdown on Monday and on Tuesday we're going to be doing mock pre interviews. Tuesday, March 10th we will be playing along sharing how each of us, those of us that do pre interviews, how we conduct those and for those maybe that don't, maybe they could be the fill in guest that we are pre interviewing. So more to come on that next week. And of course a full week of shows next week, 7:00 AM Eastern live on all of your favorite platforms until next week. Make it a great day everybody, take care.