527. Podcasting Mistakes Creators Never Forget

0:05 Marc Ronick: Good morning, Today is Thursday, may 28 2026 and today we're exploring podcasting lessons creators rarely forget, the moments that went sideways, the decisions they rethink, and the changes that only happened after experience stepped in. So, if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, top right-hand side of the screen, and share it however podcast, YouTube, etc. please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. seconds, we got things rolling.

0:46 Thanks for being here. The podcasting morning show is powered by Ironick Media, helping podcasters launch, polish, and grow great shows, and by Content creators, accountant, helping creators build real business behind their morning show. Thank you so much for being here. I am your host, Mark Ronick, and D.R. Fay, and BC Babbles.

1:35 Also on stage with us, Dan Schultz from, well, I say from yesterday's show, because he well, and a community member little bit. I'll tell you a little bit more about that later in the show. First, before we dig into all the things here today, because yes, I've already told you about this idea of discussing our hard lessons that we've learned over time. Also, we're going to get into wins from the week toward the end of the show, all of that. Oh, we have our spotlight podcast to play today, but all first we're going to skip the line and go right to one particular win and one particular person on stage. Ralph, good morning to you.

2:17 Good morning, everybody. Share that win. Ralph Estep Jr.: So last night Christopher Eastep into the So I am a very proud grandpa. This morning it was a C-section, so that always presents a little bit of scariness or scary times. But what I'm told is everybody is great. We did a little face time with the little guy last night. hair, which is hilarious, my son, have dark hair, but he's But I just want to thank everybody for all the kind thoughts, and which is because this has been a moment in my, in my world I never expected, man. And the emotions that I've been on the last 24 hours have been absolutely amazing, and I just hope I'm a good grandpa to my little fella.

3:05 be. DR: What will be your grandpa name? Ralph Estep Jr.: Pop up, DR: pop up, and.. and what's your wife's? Ralph Estep Jr.: My, you know on that. So, she.. she had a long list. I didn't realize there was such a list of these names, but I had no concept of this, but mine was easy, because my I shared on the show before, my closest human relationship was my pop up, and that's what I hope to be for Mike, for my grandson Carson. Marc Ronick: That's so cool, and said 24 hours, I'm thinking about her, Ralph, it's more like checked into the hospital Tuesday night at 10pm so yeah, and she had some pretty, you know, some issues with the pregnancy, so they wanted to make sure she was in a good place, and the doctors did When they finally.. it was interesting, I was playing softball last night when they made the decision at 8o'clock and two teams of grown church league softball men hit the knees and all prayed for her, and about 15 minutes later the baby was born, so they decide the hospital it's time to go.

4:03 They don't mess around, they just go. So, again, I just want to say, thank you to everybody for your support, your prayers, and all that have been felt by me, and I truly appreciate Marc Ronick: it. You are welcome, and yeah, we're all very excited for you, Ralph. with us, much appreciated. Okay, so what I want to do now is, yeah, you know what, it's time for today's podcasting morning show Spotlight, where we feature a podcaster from our community and give you a quick taste of their show. So today's spotlight comes from Zach Dwak, host of Dwac in De Morning. Zach didn't give us a long description for this one, in fact his note simply said the ad should speak for itself, and by the way, side note, please don't do that, you give me extra work, but that's okay, because we'll just go ahead then for this one and do exactly that, so as you. Listen, pay attention to how quickly this promo establishes the show's personality.

5:05 I think you're going to hear the tone, the comedy style, the rhythm, and the kind of listener that Zach is trying to attract. So, with that, here is D Wack in De Morning. Spotlight Audio: Hey everybody, I'm Zach Dwak, and welcome to Do Wack in the Morning, the podcast that hits your ears like coffee with a restraining order. Every show we're serving up stupid news, weird history, celebrity birthdays, ridiculous holidays, savage horoscopes - I call horrible scopes - and whatever nonsense crawled out of the internet wearing pants. This part morning radio, part comedy show. R and why am I laughing at this before breakfast? So, whether you're driving to work, pretending to work, hiding from your family, or just need something funny to make your day in the morning is here for you. New shows drop Monday and Friday, so follow, subscribe, tell a friend, unless your friend has no sense of humor parole, Officer Dwac in the morning, comedy, chaos, and caffeine for your ears.

6:06 You can find it now at Zach dwak.com that's the a c k d a w a c k.com Apple Spotify, Pod Bean Pod Chaser, Amazon using iHeart, YouTube, and all that jazz. Thank you for checking it out. Marc Ronick: That was Dwight in De Morning from Zach Dwack. What stood out to me in this promo, it's exactly it. We know what lane it's in, right? It's fast, it's chaotic, it's got some humor, and very clearly built around a radio morning show energy. That's what got my attention as a fan of morning radio. Zach describes it as well, he does well. He describes it, he didn't to us, but I looked into it. He describes this show as comedy, chaos, and caffeine, as you heard, for ears with stupid news, weird histories, celebrity birthdays, ridiculous holidays, and what he calls horrible scopes, so from a podcasting standpoint, I think A good promo, it doesn't have to show, right? It needs to give people a feel for the experience. This one does that, I think, pretty quickly. You get the energy and the attitude you get that sense of humor and you know pretty fast whether this is going to be your kind of show, so if it is your kind of show, go check him out, Dwack in the mornings at Zach dwak.com and if

7:36 they wanted to chime in, they overall I think Zach, well done. You're clearly a radio pro that's gone podcasting, at least So, yeah, thank you for that submission. And if you'd like your podcast featured on the Podcasting Morning Show, submit a 62nd clip about your show to Podcasting Morning show.com/spotlight I'm not going to give you the whole spiel, because I think you get a good sense of how we do it, what we do by listening to that segment. So, thank you again to Zach. And looking forward to doing these more on Fridays. Jingle: Now, let's go. wrong button again. Now my screen froze up.

8:23 My friend, oh man, left it off. It reset. Let it spin. I pushed the wrong button Marc Ronick: Oh well, yeah. think, eight pages on the lot of my pages are filled, so play, I gotta go find it on and so yeah, I just hit the page, and then hit the wrong There you go. All right, and what I think I meant to hit was, all right, now we can officially do this. So look, every podcaster has a story, right?

9:04 A time maybe that the guest didn't show up, or maybe just completely sucked. A time the audio or the video failed. A time you launch something and maybe just got crickets, right? Maybe you've said yes too much, and it's got you into a corner that you felt like you couldn't get out of, or something maybe felt off to you, but you ignored that, I think, yesterday. As far as following your intuition, sometimes, and more than the courses, more than and the advice threads ever could, so today we're going to ask the room lots of different here, What's one podcasting way, and by the way, Good over. The West Coast joining us today, Sid, the resident traveler of this community.

10:05 Think he travels more than all of us. Sid Meadows: For now, it'll be a But good morning, everybody. And yes, I am in. We're in McMinnville, Oregon. We're doing wine tours starting today. Marc Ronick: Very nice. I love it. I'm going to be there in a couple weeks when I do the one of two that I'll be doing I'm really looking forward to that. Sid Meadows: Is it here in Yeah, Portland. Is it in this? Oh, Portland. Okay, yeah, that's where we flew into. Marc Ronick: Yep. DR: See, I don't associate Marc Ronick: No, me neither. Sid Meadows: So, the Willamette, Noir, you drink wine, it's a light red wine, that's mostly that, a few whites, but we did stop one at one winery yesterday, but we've never been here, so this is an exciting thing for new adventure, there are three, three other couples with us, so there's eight of us, and we're just exploring this part of the country. We've never been here, so it's fun, Marc Ronick: awesome. Enjoy that, Sid.

11:05 And thank you for being here bright and early this morning. I know it's a lot earlier there than it is here, and I see a lot of people want to chime in, so I will share mine somewhere in between everyone else's shares. Here, I was going to go first, but since a lot of people have chimed in, let's do it. So, let's go to BC. You know what, I'm gonna go to Let's go alphabetically this morning. And a quick hello to Jonathan Howard, who's just joined us on stage as well. BC, go for it. What's a hard lesson you learned BC Babbles: Thank you. And good morning. I learned the hard way that if your recording sessions tend to be in person and longer than 20 minutes, do not use GoPros as the video recording, or maybe just don't use GoPros at all, because they run hot and they ruined my SD cards, so no more shall I use a GoPro for visual recording.

11:59 Marc Ronick: So, and do you have Did they run hot? Were they plugged in or just using a battery? BC Babbles: Just using battery, they had their own little cases with ventilation on them. Despite all that, they ran hot after like 35 minutes, and if some of them have like a little internal thing where it shuts down itself just to try to save itself, but nope, mine didn't do Marc Ronick: Wow. So, and you said this was an in-person, BC Babbles: yeah, because I used to do my show entirely in person, and so I would use GoPros for my shot and my guest shot, and yeah, I started switching over to webcams after that. Marc Ronick: Yeah, I was gonna ask, what was the.. what's the device of choice if you're not using the GoPros? Anything in particular?

12:40 Do you BC Babbles: remember the brand I got as a great E Meads 4k camera, which is the one I'm on right now. Love it, low concert energy, it's great, Marc Ronick: awesome. All right, yeah, that gear stuff, I'm sure it will be a common theme here with hard lessons learned. I think that, yeah, it's easy to podcasting space, to say the least. Dr. I saw you throw up your hand a couple times. Did you want to share? DR: Mine came very, very early in my producing career, after I got through with editing and sweetening the sound and everything. I loaded it up on Lipson, and I thought, okay, that's it.

13:24 Okay, on to the next one, and it was horrible. And what I should have done is I the Lipson player before I hit it, was a quick fix, and it took say, "Oh God, this sounds terrible. I'm like, "Oh my god, that's not what Marc Ronick: you want to hear DR: from a client exactly, especially your very first one. Yeah, you're kind of.. you're so So, yeah, that.. that was a good lesson for me. Marc Ronick: Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that one. And by the way, thank you, BC, for sharing as well. Yeah, let me share mine now.

14:08 So I'm in the middle of learning a hard lesson. For the past five years, I've been all in on social media, and I've put a lot of blood, sweat, and tiers into learning how it works, how to use it to build authority, brand awareness, and my ultimately my business, and I've learned a lot of really valuable lessons about marketing, reaching my audience and engagement, but the hard lesson I'm learning this year is that I've allowed social media to become a much bigger piece of the puzzle than it should have been, and when I say the puzzle, what I really mean is my business.

14:51 I think I let social media consume me, I depended on it to be my path to success for way too long. Long, and it's, it's taken a toll on me, because I become obsessed with my content going viral, and honestly, I don't really mean viral. I think these days just getting some solid engagement would be nice, and somewhere along the lines, it also created a bit of an addiction for me as a consumer of social media, and quote unquote, my stuff publicly of the mess. I don't think that oftentimes serves anybody well, but in this case, I think sharing it is part of my process toward breaking up with social media, it helps me build more awareness around the problem, and saying it publicly helps hold me accountable.

15:49 And I'm not saying I'm walking away from social media, I still believe it's an important tool in the podcasting game, but I am saying I'm working on a strategy to break the cycle and reset my relationship with it and find healthier ways to use it to my advantage. So, yeah, like I said, I don't love doing this publicly when I feel like I'm still in the middle of it. I just feel like that doesn't serve people well. I'd rather kind of be on the other side of it, so that I can really give you all my lessons, but like I said earlier, I think having this awareness and accountability is really going to help serve me in this process and figure out really how I want to handle it moving forward. All right, I see a lot of people to you first. Janae, good morning, my friend.

16:39 What did you want to add? Did you have something you want to add to what I'm sharing? Junaid: Good morning. Good morning. Happy Friday, Ralph. Congratulations on your Branson Carson. Marc Ronick: Yeah, Junaid: Mark. Yes, so I wanted to respond to what you're sharing, and this is the perfect thing that people are looking for, actually on social media. If you think about it, they want to see the struggle, they want to feel like you are the same person as them, or they can relate to you on a level in that struggle bus, right. So this is exactly it, because if you think about it, where did Pat Flynn share about him getting fired from his architecture job, he shared on a blog, he shared on his podcast. Yep, later on, right.

17:27 Of course, he was over it, but when you're actually going through the thing, I mean, we were all invested with Ralph past two days, all the things that he's going through with his, with his darling, everything. People get invested because they're like, oh my god, this person is human, just like me. I want to know what happened. You're leaving an open hook for them, Janet. Out, Marc Ronick: yeah. Thank you, Junaid. Yeah, it's a really good point, and Jessica's agreeing with you in her own way here in the chat. She says sharing publicly takes the power away and really helps the community support and success. I do agree with a lot of that. I really do. You've heard me say similar things.

18:07 I think it can be more through it, as opposed to I'm not saying that one is always more impactful than the other, but I'm just saying that sometimes when you're in it, you don't have your clarity yet, you don't really, you can't really provide solutions yet, but like you're saying, Janae, yes, there are times where maybe the solution isn't what connects you with your audience, instead it's it's the struggle, so I get that too, and I appreciate what you're saying, and Jessica, what you're saying there in the chat. I feel like I saw a few other people maybe wanting to chime in second, make sure, Ralph Estep Jr.: Mark, I just wanted to jump in there and say something. So one of the things that I deal with a lot of people who have addictions, I know it sounds funny, as an accountant, I deal with people with addictions, but I do, I do a lot of people with money addictions, And the thing I will tell you, Mark, is the first part of the struggle is to name it. Yeah, and you've, you've named it, and you're not alone in this, dude.

19:17 This is a, this is what I feel is an epidemic, actually. Marc Ronick: Yeah, Ralph Estep Jr.: this social media is an epidemic thing, and there are so many people that their emotions ride on this roller coaster. Did anybody like my post? Did anybody see my post? And it just takes away the humanity, dude. So, I respect you a ton. It's funny, I was on a call yesterday, and there was a bunch of people talking about how they've completely given up on social media, and they've never felt better in their lives. I'm not telling you to do that, because I use social media as well, but, dude, it does like suck you in. Oh, yeah, when you, when you're ready to pivot. I do have a story, though, about So, just let me know when that. Marc Ronick: Yeah.

19:59 Thank you, Rob. Off, yeah, and it's, you know, I think the way that the quote unquote addiction developed for me was with the obsession of, I'll just phrase it as winning social media, right, to become one of those people that gets lots of followers, lots of engagement, etc. but I think for me, my addiction is about it started as studying what's working on social media, and I think I became obsessed with that whole process of studying, right, because I would, I would watch and see, like, what is it about this video that so many people are attracted to, commenting all over the place, and then I next one, and watch the next ones that are bad, and I'll didn't work with this one, So it was good intentions, but I think then it started feeding the dopamine hits, it was giving me a lot of dopamine, and as somebody with ADHD, we struggle with dopamine manufacturing in these heads of ours, so we get those quick fixes from social media. So it was a snowball effect that breaking up with it, and I don't.

21:15 My intention is not to go to just quit it altogether. My intention is to just get off of it more, be on it less, right? But, like, I don't need to be the one posting my content anymore, and that's the first step to, I think, really breaking the addiction, because I got to open the app to post it, and I know there are scheduling apps that I could use I'm looking to break up with it and find maybe somebody else to do it for me, so I don't even want to bother with scheduling apps. I just want to be off the app as See what's going on in this crazy world. So, anyway, okay, that's Thank you for listening, and thank you for the encouragement. Sid, did you want to respond to that, because I saw you flash your emoji there, and I wanted to just make sure.

22:05 or are you just saying you have something to share of your own? Sid Meadows: Yeah. No, I mean, I kind of do want to respond to it. Okay, as you were talking, the thing that came to my mind was what we're doing when I'm saying we, because we're all doing it. What we're doing when we're posting on social media is, we're seeking validation. Marc Ronick: Oh, yeah, Sid Meadows: we're seeking is good, that what we're doing what we're doing, so we can do And I think that's the wrong place to seek validation, but it's there, right? And we all have it, and everybody's using it, and you see people talking about it, and Mark, everybody's seeking validation that this is good, and that I'm doing a good job, right, and but I think that starts internally rather than externally, Marc Ronick: I mean, that that's it, Sid, you just said it, you beat me to it, think the problem is, is that a lot of us are seeking out external validation, and I have this has been a journey that I've been on for a couple years now, really recognizing how much I depend on that, and the truth of the matter is, we've got to all come to the point where our own validation is enough, that's what I'm working on, is being happy with my own decisions, and being okay if sometimes they may not be the best decisions, but within. I agree with you, Sid, and it's a hard struggle. That's it's a hard thing to just

23:36 be able to accept yourself and not need everyone else to tell you, "Hey, great job, here's a pat on the back for you. Hey, great content you made, right? Yes, sometimes we.. it's important for us to know that it's our contents hitting with our audience, right? But yeah, I'll just leave it right there. Sid Meadows: But Mark, I think when it really comes. Marc Ronick: Oh yeah, Sid Meadows: right? Like when you quit pushing so hard for the validation, it actually comes, and you know, I shared, I guess, yesterday in our moderator chat, I got a random message from some lady that I do not know. Marc Ronick: Yeah, Sid Meadows: and it was actually, I mean, it got me emotional. I'm like, holy cow, this person's in my ecosystem, I'm connected to her, I don't know her, and she's had some really nice things to say about my content, how my content is helping her, you know.

24:24 I wasn't seeking her, I wasn't, I mean, I just showed up. Marc Ronick: Yeah, Sid Meadows: and that's what I mean. I think we quit seeking it is when it really shows up. And I messaged her back and said this made my day. Like, thank you so much for sharing with me the impact that my podcast has had on you, and, and I really appreciate, and I dropped a link in there, and said, if I can ever help you, here's the link to my calendar, put some time on my calendar, and I'll be whatever I can do to help you. For me, that's my way to get back to her, right? Just like thanking her for helping, for you know, engaging with my client, and for still getting that message, and so I don't know that she'll ever. Put time on my calendar, but to me that was me giving a gift back to her, because she gave me a really big gift yesterday when she sent me that message, you know, unsolicited. So, yeah, I think when we quit, quit seeking it, it starts to show up more.

25:13 Marc Ronick: Thank you, Sid. point. It's when we stop looking, yeah, that's where all of a sudden it starts arriving, and it feels great. I'm with you there, Gabe. I see you sharing in the chat. You are welcome to share on stage as well. I gave you an invitation, so I'll give you a minute to see if you want to come up on stage and share, and if not, then I'll probably just read it. But yeah, and I also see in the chat here, Jessica says ADHD is a different wiring of the brain. She's responding to what I was talking about with the low dopamine. She says we can reframe obsession with deep, deep focus and redirect when we become self-aware. Agreed. Yes. Okay. So, with that, I'm going to go to, let's see, it's 830 So, here's what we'll do, Ralph. I'm going to come to you to share about Money Monday coming up next week, and then please share your hard lesson learned.

26:08 Ralph Estep Jr.: Absolutely, so this Money Monday on the show, we're tackling a hidden problem costing creators real money, and that is your software stack. I think too many creators are paying for tools they forget don't need, and subscriptions barely track. The result of that is profit leaks, money chaos, and the feeling that you're making decent money, but still somehow feel broke all the time. So, on Monday, I'm going to break down how to fix it with a simple system, how to audit your subscriptions, clean up the monthly money review. So, this is about moving from creator chaos to clarity, so you can protect your margins. Marc Ronick: What was that, Dr? DR: I said, 'Get out of my head, This is about moving from can protect those money margins, actually keep more of what you So, make sure you join us on Monday for the Money Monday of saving money on your software stack.

27:06 Marc Ronick: Thank you, Ralph. read this out loud? Well, actually, you know what, Jonathan, what's going on with Jonathan Howard: Couldn't figure out. Turns out the dog had my ear pod Jonathan Howard: that'll do it. Marc Ronick: Yeah, you probably almost lost it in your butter, at least for a little while, until yeah, it's time to get rid of that and other food that your Jonathan Howard: Luckily, went that Marc Ronick: far. Yeah, good, good, good to have you here, Jonathan. All right, Ralph. So, do you want to share a hard lesson learned? Ralph Estep Jr.: Absolutely. So, the thing I learned, and this was a tough one, I started working with Pod Match, and there was a time when I just could get. Well, I got to the point where I wasn't really vetting the people shows I was going on, and I wasn't looking at their stuff.

27:57 So, this one, this one lady, I'll never forget this dude, I showed up for the, for the video meeting, or whatever you want to call it, Zoom, and she's like in a public park or something, and the audio was horrible. I mean, there's birds chirping, people screaming, and I was like, I actually said to her at the beginning of this interview, I said, "You know what, I'm not sure this is a good fit for me, because I'm bringing professionalism to this, and if the host can't even bring it, I was like, so lesson learned for me before I go on to anybody's show. Now I watch their show, I listen to their show, I do a background check on them. I know it sounds like I'm being legalistic here, but you've got to do that, and that was a lesson for me, because this person, as a host, did not have their stuff together, and my brand would suffer if I allowed myself to be on that show, so that was my, that was my hard lesson learned. Mark, Marc Ronick: yeah, whether it's pod match or however you're finding your guests, I think it is important, or if you're going to be a guest, either way, I think it's important to do a little bit of research around that person and that show, because, yeah, I mean, yours was isn't really in the big picture the worst I've heard as far as bringing on guests or being a guest and being in an unusual situation, there are a lot of horror stories out there, and usually that comes down to not doing a little bit of your homework first, so yeah, and BC, did you want to chime in, BC, I think you are unmuted if you're chatting. Oh, he was coughing, he's choking on something. Sorry, I couldn't see you

29:27 because my, my screen was, have you, has you really small on screen? So I didn't see Dan: that. What was it, Jonathan's earbud that you were choking on? BC Babbles: Yeah, the other one. I'm Marc Ronick: sorry. Back, BC Babbles: yes, yeah. So I'm just gonna say that brings us back to when I mentioned my that one guest I had where we had two hours of session reserved and they were over an hour late. Podcast etiquette, people, it's a real, real thing. If you don't know what that is, look it up, there's there's a give and take to Marc Ronick: it. Absolutely, I'm with you there. BC, thank you, and sorry for coming to you. Right, when you're in the middle of a choke, yeah. Does.. let's see. I know Sid wants to share.

30:08 I think Dr. wants to share as We have a little bit of time before we jump into wins from the week, so let's go to you, Sid. What's a hard lesson you learned in podcasting? Sid Meadows: There are two that stick out to me. One of them is about my entrepreneur journey. When I started in 2017 I learned the hard way that when people ghost you or say no to you, it's really not about you, it's about product might uncover in their business. And it was a really hard lesson for me to learn, because I always would think it was about me, and what do I need to do differently, and how do I need What should we do differently in the quote and the research, blah blah blah, that sticks with me on a daily, and that was almost 10 years ago now. The podcasting lesson that is in my brain every day is, you can't do it all, you can't do it alone, you can't do it all, and I learned that, you know, when I almost quit podcasting the first time, and because I couldn't figure out how to edit, and I couldn't do this, and couldn't do that, and that's when I realized, like, I cannot do this all, and if this is something I want to take seriously and be really good at, I have to surround myself with people that can help me, whether it's a community like this, where I can learn, attending conferences, where I can learn more, or hiring people and investing in myself by hiring a team. Then I just need to lean into understanding that I cannot do it all to be the best podcaster I can be. I have to have the right people around me. Marc Ronick: Thank you for that,

31:38 first person you brought on to help you with your podcast, whatever that was, you can tell us who that was, as far as what they were doing for you. But was it a hard decision to make at first, because I know a lot of podcasters tend to shy away or feel like, no, I can't bring in anybody, for whatever their reasons are. But was that a hard process for you to go through? Sid Meadows: So her name is Kayla, and she's still with me today. She started editing my podcast at episode 35 and on Monday we'll post at 189 She's been with me for every one of them, and I've learned a lot from her. And you know, was it hard? Yeah, it's hard, because it's a, you know, decent amount of money that I have to put out, you know, every week, every month to get the product done, but again, it was the decision was not more, wasn't necessarily improve myself in this craft, and did I want to continue with this, and if the answer to that question was yes, I had to hire her, and it is by far the best decision I've ever made in my podcasting journey was hiring Kayla Wells, and I found her on LinkedIn. I didn't have this community, I didn't know that podcast editors really existed, and I just went into LinkedIn and typed in podcast editor, and she popped up, and she lives about 20 minutes from me, and 150 some odd episodes. I've never met her in person, but I know all about her. I know her boys, her family, I

33:10 know what she does. She has a full-time job too, and you know, I just.. we just have a great relationship. And I would not do my podcast without her at all. That's that is a non-negotiable for me. The only way that I would ever hire another editor is if she gave it up, like I am loyal to her because of how she helped me and how she believed in me and how she showed me how to be a better podcaster. So, was it hard? Yeah, it was hard. First thing you think about is the money to have the money to do this right. And then, but when you really start to think about that, when you hire someone to do something in your business, what does it free you up to do, and what does it free you up to focus on that's going to move your business forward?

33:51 And I would, what, what takes would take me six hours to do, Right, not my.. and I know my strength. This is not my strength, and it never will be my strength. It's not anything I want to learn how to do. And so, yeah, it was the best decision I ever made, but it was a hard one to make, for sure. Marc Ronick: Yeah, thanks for And also, I find sometimes editing, as far as hiring somebody, farming it out, it's also hard to let go of for a lot of podcasters, because we have our own styles and our own preferences, and we fear that this editor we're going to bring in isn't going to do it as well as we do, or isn't going to do it the same way as we do, and so we're afraid to let go of that control, and what I always tell people is, most editors, they want to do it the way you want to do it.

34:41 Sure, they have their own style and preferences, and they might suggest those to you. I think a good editor will do that too. But ultimately, the idea is to really work with that person as a partner, share with them what you like and what you don't like ahead of time before they start editing, and then you got to all. So be a little patient about the process too, and I'm sharing this with you from my own personal experience. It was hard for me to let go the way I edit podcasts, and to let go of that, it felt like I would be taking a step for a minute, but the whole and you got to treat that person to do the same for you. And if they're not listening to you, you've found the wrong editor.

35:28 So, by the way, do want to remind you, if you are looking for somebody, go to Ironic media.com or reach out to me, and we can talk about whether or not it's a good fit for us. But I would love to at least have an opportunity to talk to you about producing your podcast, and you never know, Dr. is on my team, she might be the one actually editing your podcast. So, yeah, check out Ironic media.com or email me at Mark at Ironic media.com and that's I R O N I C K media.com So, anyway, yeah, great, great example, Sid. Thank you for that, and I'm gonna keep it moving here. Dan, you said you.. I saw something in the chat, I think, from you that said you had a lesson you wanted to share.

36:13 Dan: Yeah, so back in 2012 my started this thing called the It was a typical travel show about travel tips going to Hawaii, and this is a lesson I wish I would have figured this out. I figured it out now, and I'll tell you about it. So, when we started, we looked at the competition, we Podcast, we looked, and we saw thought, I mean, I love can show it can. It's proof of concept that, okay, there's a bunch of shows are doing this. There's, they're probably doing it because there's a demand. People like the topic, and the other reason I like competition is because I looked at it and went, okay, this is a road map.

36:57 because this is the competition. I can easily listen to what everyone's doing, and I can just We never won the race. It was always middling. Jennifer had a baby. My kidney died. I had to get a new kidney, you know, a kidney transplant. Stop doing it. Fast forward to now, where it's on our roadmap in 2026 later in the year to relaunch the Hawaii Travel Podcast, but now when I looked at the competition, everyone's still doing the same thing, and I'm looking at it going, okay, to win, I need to not be in this entirely different race that nobody else was running into that niche, and I think every podcaster can do this.

37:45 So, what did that mean? Well, like I said back in 2012 it was a very typical show. Everyone's answering the same type of information, because that's what it is. Just like you answer the same type of information when it comes to podcasting, everyone kind of has the same information, because there are common questions that you want to answer, so then it dawned on me, like, okay, well, How do I win this race? Well, the new show is going to be the same information, because it's common information, but instead of just doing what everyone else does, what if this new show took place in the final 30 minutes of an imaginary flight as it descends into a Hawaiian airport, so now the premise has changed. We come on, do our little spiel. Welcome to the Hawaii Travel Podcast. You know, blah blah blah.

38:34 All of a sudden, you know, and we say, and today we're going to talk about, and all of a sudden you hear a ding, and the pilot announcement doing his typical before we land, I want to tell everyone that I want to find the best tropical drink in Maui when I get down on the ground, because this light sucked, whatever, then it cuts instantly to me and Jennifer sitting in airplane seats is not going to be a video show, don't have the budget, but it's going to cut to me and Jennifer sitting in airplane seats with ambient airplane noise, and we're just going to pretend we're sitting there in an airline answering questions, talking about our trip.

39:16 When we do interviews, we'll get the guests to play along, and we'll be like, hey, is that Sue from Jermaine's Luau up in row 4b Go, go grab her, see if she can fit between us. Let's interview her quick. The entire thing will be take part on a plane, all right. character, the pilot, all this But the thing is, it's all about differentiating, right? It's if you can present the information in a way that is like truly unique, then all of a sudden when people are talking about your show, it's not just, hey, this is the show where blah Not to like copy friends, but it's that it's like their naming convention when people It's like, what would you rather talking about your show? It goose is the algorithm because there's interaction with the feed, that's kind of technical stuff that doesn't really matter, but it's a word of mouth accelerator. You don't have to do it like I just said, like completely reformatting everything, but when I look at podcast morning show, there are a billion shows about podcasting, and like I said, we all basically talk about the same things, because there's only so much you can talk about about podcasting, about traveling to Hawaii, but why is this show uniquely different?

40:38 Well, it's because it's the one that has a chat room, it's the one that's live, it's the one where it's a round table, it's the one where blah blah blah, your show is supremely different, and it's different because you're like the quarterback, and then you've got this cast of people who all get to chime in, and it's so easy, if people are in the chat room, you bring them up, and it turns into this insanely awesome interactive thing that is 100% different than any other show. So, when people look at the competition, what do you, which one are you going to pick, the one that's exactly the same as everything else, or the one that you can actually get something different? Like, it's all about the experience. Marc Ronick: Yeah, Dan: one other lesson learned is that that works great if you're starting a show from scratch, room right now listening to up, and I mean, don't half ass Come up with a really unique way to present your show, and you can just do it, like you don't need permission, you can just do it. You can wake up, your listeners can listen to one show, and they can wake up the next day, and the show is all of a sudden different, and it's totally fine to do that, because when you do this right, the show where you are right now should theoretically be the smallest your show is ever going to be.

42:00 So people who like some people that's totally fine, but you'd won't, because the core just the presentation style is Marc Ronick: Yeah, wow. Thank you, Dan. I think that that's a really great point, because sometimes, actually, maybe always the differentiator with your podcast is the way that you package and produce your show, so the idea is to really find a way to make it unique, and like you're saying, that most of us, the information we have, yes, we cases very similar to where you're going to hear it everywhere else. So, finding a way, like you did, I love how you did that. Talk about theater of the mind, that is the ultimate definition.

42:55 I think that it really does go a long way. So, thank you. Dan: Oh, and thanks. And don't, and don't pay attention to like AI best practices, because really, when you just, no one's asking AI the right kind of stuff, it's just like, how do I do this? Well, here's how you do it, how do I do this, here's how you do it. Yeah, if I ask, hey, we want to do a Hawaii travel show, how do we do it? Do what everyone else is doing. Marc Ronick: Yeah, it's not going to tell you to do Dan: Yeah, Marc Ronick: yeah. Thank you, Dan. Appreciate it. Okay, I have time for one more, and really I don't, but I want to make sure I give everybody as many opportunities as I can. Does anyone else want to share a hard lesson learned? DR: I have one. Marc Ronick: Go ahead. DR: Yeah, okay.

43:36 So this is talk about going on a journey with someone. This is something that I am still struggling with, and it's again, I'm going to bring up my first client. You know, when you have been dying to get a client, and you would practically pay someone just to say, I have a client, your boundaries, you compromise your boundaries, and again, this is something that I'm still client. She gave me a shot, and I, you know, I made the most out of that shot, and we're still together today, but I have lowered the bar on on my boundaries, and I don't want to say the phrase "let her get away lesson that I still need to learn.

44:27 Marc Ronick: I think boundaries is one that a lot of us need to continue to learn. I'm with you there. Yeah, it's hard for me to say no to people, especially if it sounds like a cool opportunity. Sometimes I'll just jump on an opportunity before I really stop and ask myself, does this align with me, you know, is this something that's that fits into the grand scheme of all the different things that I'm up to, learn to actually say no, DR: right, and and with subsequent clients I. Do have those boundaries? I do put them in, but it doesn't translate to that first client that I have.

45:08 out. Marc Ronick: Thank you, Dr. Appreciate that. All right, so I think this is a good place to, yeah, let's do it. One of these days I'm gonna organize my soundboard so that I can get through it more smoothly, but yeah, let's do it. Wins from this past week, this is where we share the things that are going on in our worlds over this past week that are worth acknowledging, celebrating, etc. small you think it is. It doesn't matter if you think the person who shared before you has the ultimate win, and you can't compare to theirs. All of that's off the table. All we care about is your win, and if it's getting up or getting up in the morning every day, because it's been a hard week, that's worth celebrating too.

45:56 So, bring it this morning. Let's start with our audience members who are up here already on stage, I'm going to start with you, Dan. Do you want to share, please? If you don't mind, one win from your week. Dan: He just wrapped up season Season 11 starts june 9. We are so pumped, we're getting major press. I just did two promo swaps with two insanely huge media corporations are gonna like start with like almost a quarter of a million free impressions promoting us. It's good to be alive. That's my win. I'm still here. Marc Ronick: Nice, congratulations, Dan. That sounds awesome. Band camp, that's B A N N E D Camp.

46:38 All right, let's go to Janae. Janae, do you want to share a win with Junaid: us? Good morning. Yes, win for me this week. I'm in Arizona doing a podcast studio build for a client. Marc Ronick: Nice. Junaid: He was a guest on my I mean, he sent you when he saw my stuff on LinkedIn lately. He's like, Janae, we need to talk. I've been doing this podcast for two years, I need to level up, so super excited to be helping him, and it's almost like, you know, you sometimes think the system doesn't work, but it kind of did. Thank you. Marc Ronick: Yeah, Awesome. Please share pictures when you're ready to share pictures in the Empowered Podcasting Facebook group. We'd love to see what you're up to in Arizona, and Tim coming to you, and as I'm asking everyone, let's just pick one win each, so that we can, as many of us as we can, can share.

47:28 So, go for it, Tim. Good morning. Tim: Hey, good morning there. up my work laptop, and I found commissioners. It's a big yearly that I didn't even know I was up for. And basically, the award is for our care team, which brings in dogs to different offices, so fuzzy. deserved the award, but hey, you great. But all I did was do a financial wellness presentation a couple of times after this group, and now they have welcomed me into their stead, and I'm winning an award with them.

48:11 Marc Ronick: Very cool. Awesome. All right, let's keep it going with Renee. Renee, welcome back to the stage. I feel like we haven't talked to you in a minute, so thanks for being here. Please share one win with Sid Meadows: us. Okay, we finalized our podcast cover that you'll be seeing today in an email when the artist puts the final touches on Marc Ronick: it. Nice. All right, congratulations, and Renee is saying that I'll see this because Renee and her business partner hired me to help them put on their podcasts that they've been wanting to do for a while now, so yeah, good, awesome, we've made some progress. I love it, and I can't wait to see it. Renee, please send away and remember to send it to my work email.

48:55 She said Renee sends me emails, it goes, and I know why, because yeah, it's a long story, but they go to my personal emails, and she's not the only one, so yeah, I'm just.. I like to remind everybody of that. All right, with that, let's go to the team, since we do have a few more minutes. I'm asking one win each, so we can all get through these and share with one another and celebrate with one another. Ralph, I'm coming to you first. Ralph Estep Jr.: Okay, so like I this week. I start off my fitness journey, my A 1c was 13, so 13 is really bad. Marc Ronick: A 1c will you Ralph Estep Jr.: tell A 1c is like your sugar basically in your body? Marc Ronick: Okay, yes. Ralph Estep Jr.: And so my goal was to get it below that. Well, I am happy to report that with my blood work this week, I am no longer a diabetic, so I have from 13 to below six, so that was my win for the week, past my Carson grandson. Marc Ronick: Congratulations, Ralph, that is a huge win for sure.

49:51 And I know I don't like to can get rid of something like again. So, congratulations to you. Ralph, and I'm gonna go to UBC. I was waiting for that yawn to finish, Frank. I already got you once, so I was gonna write that one. Yeah, go for it. BC Babbles: So, win this week is clients. One is for podcast concept, the other one is for a November car show they do here in Charlotte. So, getting in on those event circuits, fingers crossed. As a media correspondent, we'll see how things go. Marc Ronick: Congratulations, BC. And now let's keep it going. Always great to get new clients, Let's go to Dr. Dr. Please share a win.

50:35 DR: Okay, so last two weeks ago, transmission fell out, something the shop for two weeks, and my incredible friends. My husband has a friend who has an extra car, so as a result of that, my husband's been riding around in 1024 Lexus, Marc Ronick: no. nice DR: till his truck gets fixed, so it's an appreciation of having good friends. Marc Ronick: Very cool. Enjoy the Lexus for a little while there. Dr. All right, all right.

51:16 And now I have to figure it out, because I have to pick. I'll share my win that I teased before we actually started officially this morning. I had a great call from with Dan Dan emailed me after both a lot of love for the show and the urge to want to share some feedback to help improve I had to take my car in for him, "Let's get on a call while I'm driving and waiting for my car to get finished up. And we had, we probably talked for a good hour, hour and a half, and got to know Dan really well. Got some great feedback from Dan, and he's already shared here this morning, all of the positive things he had to say about it.

52:03 He said those things to me yesterday, and I really appreciate those, and I criticism too. And he gave me some things, which I don't mind sharing with you guys. He was encouraging us to.. I'm going to generalize here, but to add a little more structure to the to the show, as well as maybe give me, put myself a little bit more in the spotlight, showcase myself a little bit more, my expertise a little bit more. All of those great suggestions, I'm going to work on finding a balance of based on what he suggested versus what feels right to me. But they were really solid suggestions and very appreciated. And welcome officially to Dan for being a part of this community.

52:44 He's been listening for a while, and he's followed me for way longer than this part of my career I found out, which is cool to hear. But I am ultimately trying to say thank you for being a part of this community, Dan, and we're looking forward to having you be up here more on stage with us as well, so with that, gang, I think this is a great place to wrap up. Remind you that Money Monday comes this Monday, and we have a full week of shows, including some, at least one guest. We are continuing that trend of adding guests to the show as much as possible. So, come join us next week here at Podcasting Morning show.com/join us, and if we've and you want to help support the show.com/support So, until everybody. Take care.