Dave Jackson at the School of Podcasting - why a podcast is an excellent way to promote your small business

Today I'm talking with Dave Jackson at the School of Podcasting. You can follow on Facebook as well.

“The School of Podcasting” Is a podcast that helps you discover the power of podcasting. It helps you avoid the common mistakes that podcasters make.  From planning, producing, and promoting your podcast along with all the tools and techniques. If you're looking to start a podcast or a veteran podcaster, you can catch some great insights with this free podcast."

Muck Boots 

Calendars.Com

If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee 

https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes

00:00

You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Dave Jackson from the School of Podcasting in Akron,  Good afternoon, Dave. How are you? Mary, I'm doing great. Happy to be here. Good. I'm so glad you could come talk to me.  And I'm going to preface this whole thing by saying that it probably seems odd that I invited  basically a podcast coach  to

00:29

visit with me on a tiny homestead, but some of my guests have asked, you know, have asked me about how to get started because they've expressed interest in wanting to start a podcast of their own. And so it does tie in also because podcasting is a craft and I talk to crafters and  it's an art. It takes practice and it takes creativity. So it's an art and a craft.  So having said all that.

00:56

Why, Dave, is a podcast a great way to promote a small business? Well, there's a few reasons. Number one, I always say when you start off, like time everything you do. And that way you can say, oh, wow, this took, you know, 10 hours to do a one hour podcast. And then you can go, do I have 10 hours a week to do a podcast? And if not, either make it shorter, or you're not doing a weekly show you're doing every other week or whatever it is.

01:24

So when you can come up with a schedule that you do on a regular basis, you become part of their routine. Like I listen to a show every Friday night. They drop it somewhere around two in the afternoon. And by six o'clock, I know it's going to be there. And I'm off to, this is how I party. I go to Walmart and I do grocery shopping. So, you know, that's how I'm rocking out on a Friday night. But I'm also listening to Adam Curry and Dave Jones on Podcasting 2.0. So you become part of their routine. And I've had people say,

01:52

because I publish every Monday morning and they're like, Dave, you're with me on the way, you know, you're with me on the way to the feed store. Or  one guy said, I shower with you every Monday. And I go, that sounds a little weird, but okay. So that's one. So you're seen as reliable. And then when you give them content that they can use, they're like, oh, I,  I like her. She's really helpful. He's great or whatever it is. And then if you can make  a point with a story about whatever you're in your life, then they kind of get to know you.

02:22

So now you've got the whole no like and trust factor going. And so when you say, oh, I've got this new soap or I've got these new fragrances or whatever it is you're selling, they're like, oh, I'm going to check that out because  you kind of start this law of reciprocity, which just basically means I've scratched your back with my podcast. Now you scratch my back by buying my stuff. But it is one of those things. know  one time when I was married, I had a 16 year old.

02:50

who was dying to get his driver's license. And I found out within 20 feet of that kid, hey, can we go driving? Hey, can we go driving? And so I always say,  in that example, I said, when you start a podcast, you need the passion of a 16 year old wanting to get their license. And so I had people email me, they're like, oh, I have one of those too. She almost killed me last week, you know, that kind of thing. So it's just a way for your potential customers to get to know you.  And then

03:17

sometimes behind the scenes stuff, you're like, Hey, we're trying this, this new product, we're not sure if it's going to work.  I know the there's a software company called Evernote, and they had a podcast where you had the CEO, the main marketing person,  and I think the community manager all doing this podcast together. And how often can you send in a question and have it answered by the CEO of a company?  And it was interesting because they had a segment like

03:47

tell me how you're using  their product. And people would leave a voicemail  and without knowing it,  it got to turn it into a commercial. Cause they're like, oh, I tried this new thing and I didn't realize I could do this. And then the note would do this and there it was on my phone and this is amazing. So it's built in testimonials in some cases.  And I know  for me, I've had people that have just emailed me and said, wow, that really helped me do blank.

04:14

Or, hey, will you talk about this? So sometimes you get an idea of like, oh, I didn't realize that my audience wanted this. So it's just an open communication with you and your potential customers and you're building trust and reliability along the way.  Okay. I agree with everything you said and I have a couple other things to add because I've been doing this for almost two years. And what I have found is that  number one, you are in control of the information that goes out about your business.

04:45

And  you are the one who's excited about your business and the infectiousness of that is so  great to come out of your own voice for people to hear. And I feel like that's really important too. Yeah. The actress Aisha Tyler,  she was on Friends. She was the voice, one of the voices in the Archer TV show.  She's producing now, but she did a podcast and she did the whole thing. Like she recorded it. She edited Naudacity.

05:13

She published it and she was speaking at podcast movement. And she said, you know, the one thing I really love about my podcast. And we're all like, what? And she's like, it's mine. She goes, it's a hundred percent mine. She goes, if I want to make it longer, I can't. If I want to make it shorter, she goes, and people go, well, you have your house. And she goes, do you really? She goes, cause unless it's paid for, it's still owned by the bank. And she goes, and if you're married, it's yours and your spouse's. She's like, this is mine. It is a hundred percent mine. And she goes, there's very little you can say in life that this is mine.

05:43

And so she just loved it and you are in total control. And that's why I always tell people they, they kind of get stuck or they get worried about changing things. Like, your podcast is a recipe. It's not a statue. So if you want to make it shorter or you want to do gas, you don't want to do gas, whatever it's your show. can do whatever you want.  Absolutely. And considering that I spent  good God, 20 years living in a little small house, raising four kids  and

06:09

trying to keep my husband fed and in clean clothes for work the next day.  Having something that's  mine as a woman is  amazing.  It just, you're right.  It's mostly women. Women don't have a lot that's just  theirs. We share almost everything with someone.  And so having something that is just  mine,  wanted to feel bad about feeling selfish about it, but I don't because...

06:37

It makes me a better person and what I do helps other people. So there's nothing selfish in that. Absolutely.  Okay.  So I want to ask you a question that maybe no one's asked you yet, cause you're always talking about how you don't get very many new questions. I'm going to try.  Who do you think in the world of people whose voices have been recorded, who do you think has a really good voice? I have a reason for asking when you're done.

07:05

Boy, that's a great question. I mean, there's,  I think his name was Vince Fontaine.  He was the in a world, you know, that guy. Yes. So everybody jumps to that. Who else do I think has a great voice? When I think of talking,  Howard Stern has a really deep radio guy, but that's kind of one of the reasons why podcasting took off  is when it first started back when I started in 2005.

07:32

People weren't talking like this, everybody. All right, let's do it. Traffic and weather, like we talked normal. So that's one of the things. Those are two people that jump out. I'm trying to think if I listen to anybody else, there's a friend of mine that does the real Brian show that just, always comes across, you know, it's butter for your ears kind of thing. But those are a few off the top of my head. Okay. Well, I think that people think of James Earl Jones. I think that they think of, oh,

08:00

I had his name this morning because I was thinking about this. Morgan Freeman. People like Morgan Freeman. was going to get to him. But  is it Tommy Lee Jones that played in... He was in The Fugitive. And  Men in Black. Yeah. Love his voice. And Helen Mirren, the actress.  She has the most beautiful voice to my ears.  And the reason that I ask is that you don't have to sound like those people to have a podcast.

08:28

No, I remember Dr. Dave from Shrinkwrap Radio. was at an event and he was in the line behind me. We started talking and Dr. Dave sounds a little bit, there's  a basketball coach named Doc Rivers, but they gotta sound like this.  And Dr. Dave from Shrinkwrap Radio, goes, who's gonna listen to me? I sound like this. And I go, dude, the beautiful thing is that's your natural voice. That kills me to do that. But  I was like, I go, you sound like that naturally. And I go, and nobody sounds like you.

08:59

You know, Todd Cochran from  Geek News Central. This is Todd Cochran. goes, look, I don't have a radio voice. This is the way I sound and this is what I'm going to do. So welcome to Geek News Central. I'm glad you're here. This is Todd Cochran. And he said, look, that's how I sound. so the, know right now, authentic is a word that everybody's throwing out, but that's because there's a lot of fake stuff out there. And when it's authentic, it really resonates. And so, yeah, you don't have to sound. I know people say, oh, you have a radio voice. And I go, it's just what.

09:25

The good Lord gave me, I didn't do anything to, you this is the way I sound. You can take my mom and dad, but other than that,  it's, it's really more the content than how you sound. mean, if as long as it's not distracting and what's even  more interesting about that,  um, there's a guy named Michael Hyatt that did a show with Michelle Kashokton. was great. And Michelle, unfortunately kept battling cancer and eventually had, I guess, cancer in her tongue and they, and they cut half of it out.

09:55

So when Michelle came back and I'm not making fun, but she had that S's saying, so where it sounds like this. And I thought, I'm never going to be able to listen to a podcast like this. And it was just a weird thing where after about two minutes, your brain just ignored it.  And I was like, well, good on you. Cause I could see where a lot of people like, I'm not going to do that. sound, my S's are kind of different now. I'm like, they're different, but I can, you know, I'm not hanging up on you. You know, it's not something where I'm like, oh, my ears, can't take it.

10:23

You know, we all, mean, people from the South sound different than people in the North and people from Africa. all have different accents and all. It's not a big deal. And, uh, I'm a big fan of all sorts of accents. It's so much fun. mean, one of the things I love the most about doing my podcast is I talk to people everywhere. I talked to two or three people in Canada last month. I've talked to people in Australia, in England and Australia. I always try to make sure that I hear their voice before I confirm I'm going to chat with them.

10:53

because if their accent is too heavy, it is really, really difficult to understand. And so I kind of vet those because I'm like, if I can't understand them, sure as hell people aren't going to be able to understand them any better than I can.  Um, so yeah, you don't have to be a certain kind of voice. You just have to have fairly clear diction. And sometimes you don't even have to have that. And you have to have heart and you have to be genuine, I think. And so.

11:22

I guess my next question is how easy is it to start a podcast? I know how easy it is because I had no idea what I was doing when I started two years ago and I figured it out. But go ahead and tell me how easy it is.  it's it's you have a lot of the skills  and and  one other last thing on your voice, you're going to hate it because when you talk, you listen through your ears and your skull. So your skull,  the technical term is bone conduction. But when you hear your

11:49

voice through just speakers and not your skull, it's going to sound less bassy. And so you'd like, not bad. It's just different. But in terms of easy, you buy a microphone, you have to figure out what you want to talk about. And people like, I don't know anything about audio. And I'm like, okay. Um, do you, have you ever used Microsoft word? And they're like, yeah. And I go, so if you have a sentence and you don't want it anymore, what do you do? And they're like, well, I highlight it and delete it. go, well, guess what? In audacity, if you

12:18

see something you said and you don't want it,  you highlight it and you delete it. I go, if you're in the car and your jam comes on, so you crank up the radio and then the phone rings, what do you do? Well, you turn down the radio if you're in a state that you can answer the phone and you answer the phone. And I go, congratulations, you know how to mix audio. Cause you had to turn down the radio enough to where it wasn't, you know, if you're letting it play in the background, cause it is your jam, you know, so you can turn that down. If you've ever

12:46

attached a photo to an email, then you can upload an MP3 file to your media host. So I'm not saying that there is no learning curve. I'm just saying it's not half as hard as you think it is. really isn't.  Yep, exactly.  Is it,  again, I know the answer.  Is it expensive to start a podcast? I always say it's about the price of an Xbox.  The microphone,

13:12

that I recommend a lot is this is a Samsung Q2U that goes for around 70 to 80 bucks. And then you throw in, and it always depends on what you're doing. If you are, have more than one person in the same room with you, I recommend a piece of equipment called the Zoom Pod Track P4. That's around 160 bucks. So I usually say it's, it's about the price of an Xbox to start. And then the beauty of it is the longer you do your show,

13:41

you know, now it's like, oh, I spent $300 the first year, I spent, you know, you know, $20 a month the next year, and that was it. So over time, it starts to, you know, not so much depreciate, but you know, the the artwork I designed, I don't know, probably five years ago, you know, and at the time it was I hired a real graphic artist, and I paid him, I think, two or $300. And that was a chunk of change.

14:09

But that was five years ago. So now it's down to $60 a year for that artwork. So it's, like anything else. I mean, when you start up a business, you've got to put money out for, you know, a display case maybe or whatever it is. There's always money to start. And then from there, hopefully you bring in some results so that it pays for itself. Okay. Well, I only spent about, I bet I only spent about $50 total when I started mine.

14:39

Yeah. And I probably have spent,  I would guess $400 in two years. Yeah. I mean, if you're doing a solo show, you know, you buy that microphone, there's your 50, 60 bucks. Um, you can use free media hosts. Not my favorite thing. Cause free is a horrible business model and they tend to go out of business, but there are places like red circle that have a free option. I'm really not a fan of Spotify, but I love them as an app.

15:06

And I love them as a music service, but as a podcast service, I wish they'd kind of go back in their lane. But Red Circle is a media host. My favorite media host is Captivate and that's 19 bucks a month. If I go month to month, and I think it's 17, if I go,  if I buy a year's worth of hosting. But if you're doing a solo show, that's it. You could use Canva, which is free to make your artwork.  And you, most media hosts have a website  built in, which is okay. It'll get you going.

15:35

I'm assuming you already have a website for  your business so you can just embed the podcast into that. And yeah, so you can easily get going for a hundred bucks or less.  Yep.  And that's why I love it because I needed a project two years ago and I didn't want to spend tons of money and I didn't want to spend tons of brain  space and time.  And I was like,  I'm going to start a podcast. And my husband looked at me like I was nuts because he's like, don't even like your voice. And I said,

16:04

No, but it's a challenge and I need a challenge right now. And he said,  Oh yeah, you always do better when you're focused on a project. And I was like, yes, yes, I do.  Maggie is barking in the background.  That's my, uh, my mascot. And since it's a tiny homestead podcast, we don't, we don't get bothered by Maggie Barking.  We're used to dogs barking.  Yeah. And, and roosters crowing.

16:29

and birds singing and frogs chirping and it's all good. just, it's so,  it bothers me more than I think it bothers my listeners.  She's such a good watchdog, Dave. I love her so much. That's what you mean. I talk about her all the time. It's sickening.  Um, okay. So what else was it going to ask you? Like I said, I was very nervous about chatting with you because you are a podcast coach. And so

16:58

Now I'm all flustered. have a friend of mine. She's known as grammar girl  and there's nothing more nerve wracking than sending email to grammar girl the whole time. You're like, wait, do I use a comma here or a semi colon? So I know how you feel.  Yeah, it's really weird. I haven't been this jittery about a podcast recording in,  Oh my God, a year and a half.  Um, so she's going to keep barking. Somebody's probably at our farm stand buying,

17:24

tomatoes right now probably that's probably why she's barking her head off. A full disclosure Dave is my coach. actually finally invested in myself so I could learn some things I didn't know because one of the things I've discovered over the last two years is that sometimes you can do it yourself and as a homesteader we do a lot of do it yourself but sometimes it really helps to have a fresh set of ears or eyes on what you're doing and gives you an honest opinion back. Yeah absolutely.

17:54

Instead of just mom.  Well, yeah, I, uh, I just hired a coach. do  occasionally off and on. I'll, bring somebody in just because  I mean, I'll give you an example. I had a  member of the school of podcasting email me and she said, Dave, you know, I love you, but, I'm like, oh, that's, that's not good when there's a, but after that,  and, uh, she's like, you have a typo  in your show. And I'm like, well, which one I have like for podcasts. And she's like, no, no,  in the school of podcasting. And I'm like,

18:23

wait, but what episode? She's like, no, no, it's in the show. And I'm like, no, there's no way. And so I went in to look at it and there it was school of podcasting planned launch, grow and monetize.  And I'd forgotten an E and I was like, I can't believe I never saw that. And I was like, well, congratulations, Kim, you're, you're now in every, you know, presentation I do about that. So yeah, you don't know what you don't know. And a lot of times you're too close to,  to see it. So it's always good to have a

18:52

another set of eyes to look at to check things out. Yeah, and we're all our worst enemies and we're too close to the things that we love to do. And so you put those two things together and there's always going to be something you miss. mean,  I've made a cake before and forgotten to put the sugar in and I cook all the time. Yeah, that would be different. So it happens and  it's ridiculous. And you're like, how was I that dumb that I didn't put the sugar in the cake? Not so.

19:20

You're a coach and  your rates are incredibly reasonable for what you're teaching, especially the fact that people can get hold of you and ask a question at any point in time. Coaches can charge anywhere from $50 an hour, which is too little, I think, to hundreds and hundreds of dollars an hour. And you don't do it that way. Well, I do. just, if you're smart, you would never

19:48

buy my services that way. If you want to hire me, it's 200 bucks an hour.  I love my backgrounds in teaching. I've been teaching people technology since the fax machine, basically.  it was  just one day I was, you know, I'd go and I'd knock on doors exactly, well, you know, electronic doors, you know, via email. And I'd, you know, I'd answer a bunch of questions for people and then they'd

20:13

Finally, eventually they would hire me for an hour. I'd answer every question they have and I never hear from them again because I solved their problem.  And that's fine. But  I, my favorite thing being a teacher that you want is a willing student. And so I was like, well, I love to coach.  And it dawned on me that my quote high ticket item, right? My one-on-one coaching really wasn't that high ticket. Cause by the time I knocked on that door and answered a few questions and answered a couple more questions. And then they finally, it's like,

20:42

You know what? It's, yeah, it's 200 bucks an hour, but it wasn't an hour. It took me three hours to get them to hire me for one hour. And I was like, well, that's dumb. And I was like, let's raise the price of the school of podcasting a little bit and just offer unlimited coaching. Cause that's what I love to do. And so it's worked out great. People stick around maybe a little longer than they used to.  They typically don't leave anyway, but if you want to, of course you can always do that. There's a 30 day money back guarantee, but I get to coach now right before I was on this interview. just.

21:12

was helping Nancy  do some stuff and captivate that she didn't know was there. And so to me, that puts more gas in my tank than money in the bank. I got money in the bank. I'm not starving by any means, but to me, I've always been a person that just loves to help people. And I remember there's a pretty popular podcaster named Jordan Harbinger,  and we were sitting next to each other at an event and this guy came up  and

21:40

I had a couple of questions and I answered them and he looked at me and goes, wow, he goes, that is just your jam. And I go, what? He goes, you really just love helping people. goes, you totally lit up while you're answering that guy's questions. And I go, that's just, I don't know where that gene came from. I go, but that's what I just love to do.  I love that you love to do it. And I love that you want to help people with it because  you can love to eat chocolate cake. It doesn't mean that's going to help anybody. Right.

22:08

Well, I think part of it was when I was growing up, my dad was a long distance truck driver. So he wasn't, he wasn't missing, but he also wasn't there. He would get home on Thursdays and leave on Sunday. So he was home part of the week. But I remember once I was at a church event and it was a whole thing. If you remember where you would tie your inner legs together and then you would race together. I had a three-legged race. I think that's what they call that. And all the kids were doing this with their dad. Cause I think it was father's day or something, some sort of picnic thing.

22:36

And I just remember sitting on the sidelines going, how come I'm the only guy here without a dad? And, know, I want to have a pity party and go eat worms. And so I just remember that feeling of being on the outside.  so anytime somebody's like, well, I would, I would love to start a podcast, but who would listen to me? Like, I'm just, you know, and I was like, Oh, I know that attitude. Somebody will listen to you. And so, uh, you know, and as I get older now, I have more respect for my dad than I did when I was, you know, 18.

23:05

Cause I'm like,  as I travel around, I'm like, Oh man, I can't believe he did that as a living. But nonetheless, for me, I don't want anybody feeling like they're on the outside. Right. Exactly. And that's what makes you the person that you are. And I appreciate it. And I know that the people that are in the community  at the school of podcasting appreciate it too.  Um,  so  the great thing about podcasting is that it doesn't have to have a certain format.

23:33

You can do a solo episode and talk about whatever you want to talk about. You can do it like I do it with interviews because I don't want to talk about myself. I really do like feeding off the other person's answers.  You could start a podcast reading the encyclopedia, literally the books, the last version that was ever printed out loud into the mic and use that as something that people have put their kids to sleep with.

24:02

You know, you could do anything. And if you hate it, you just don't do it anymore. Yeah. I mean, it's, as long as it's not copyrighted, you're, good to go. And that's why a lot of people now are taking books like Winnie the Pooh,  which is past its, you know, whatever, statute of limitations or whatever they call it for a book. And like that's allowed now to be read. And so people are doing that.  And yeah,  it really is open to do whatever you want. And

24:32

I've started probably in the 20 years I've been doing this, probably over 30 different podcasts. And yet I'm doing four. So that means 26 of them, either A, like I did one show for about 10 years. I did another one for about 12. But I remember I did one for about six episodes. It was called the customer service show because one of my backgrounds when I'm not teaching is in customer service. And I had this idea of, I'll start a customer service show. I'll put myself out as an expert and I'd won awards for my customer service and blah, blah, blah.

25:01

And I did about six episodes and it dawned on me customer service was my job, but it wasn't really my passion. And after about six episodes, I just sounded like a grumpy old man. I went into McDonald's today and nobody even said hi, wah, you know, just complaining about everything. And I was like, yeah, okay. And so that's when I learned. Yeah. Sometimes your passion isn't your job. So you don't always have to do a podcast about your job.  I did one show.

25:27

that was gonna be based on audience feedback. It was called the Dates From Hell Show, where you would share your  horrible. And somebody dared me to do it. It was myself and my ex-wife, and we had this conversation. And somebody said, this would be a great podcast. Well, we both had maybe three stories. And after about six episodes, we started finding other people's stories and we're telling them like, hey, here's the phone number, call in your thing. And then it dawned on me that what's that number one fear among humans? Oh, that's right.

25:55

speaking in public and oh by the way while you're here can you throw yourself under the bus because you had this horrible dating experience and so we just didn't get hardly any feedback and that that show just died because there wasn't any content but I was like okay note to self if you're gonna do a crowd  you know basically  a show that's based on crowd feedback  you need a crowd first  so  you kind of there's a great quote I think it's

26:23

Nelson Mandela that said, either win or I learn one of the two.  so, you know, in some of these cases, you're like, oh yeah, that doesn't make any sense. So, and then you don't beat yourself up. You're like, okay, well, let's, let's pivot and try it a different way.  And  the Nelson Mandela quote reminds me of something that I say all the time and that failure is not failure. It's a learning opportunity. Yep. And if you can't learn, why are you here? Right.

26:53

Because otherwise you're just doomed to repeat things over and over and over. You know, why don't we touch the stove a second time? Yeah. We learned. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.  The other thing that's great about using a podcast to promote a small business is that if you're like, we are here, we are a seasonal business. Right now,  we have tomatoes coming in and we're going to be drowning in them next week. They just started ripening up last week. And  I literally do.

27:23

I put out an episode every morning, Monday through Friday at 7 a.m.  And I try to work in what's in season and what's in the farm stand. So lately it's been, oh, we have tomatoes in the farm stand. Oh, we have eggs in the farm stand. And people who are local who listen know and they come and they buy their eggs and their tomatoes from us, which works out great. But if you have a new line of something you're producing, if you have a book coming out, if you're going to be on the local TV station,

27:52

You can say all that on your podcast and it is totally free game. Absolutely. There's a, if you come to Akron, Ohio, where I'm based, there is a  ice cream stand called Stricklands and it's about, I don't know, four blocks from my house.  And they now have a website and you can go and see what, cause they change their flavor every day to something new.  And I would love if they had a podcast that I could subscribe to and they're like, Hey, welcome. It's.

28:20

You know, August 9th, 2025, this week we've got, you know, Oreo cookie on Monday, pineapple on Tuesday, you know, just to keep me informed. Now that audience is never going to be ginormous, but it's not about having a big audience. It's about having the right audience. And so, like you said, your local listeners will subscribe to your show because you're saving them, you know, time. They're like, oh, tomatoes are finally in. I know here in Ohio, there's Dussel's corn.

28:48

And we're all dying. Like, is the corn in yet? Is the corn in yet? Well, if you had a podcast saying, hey, guess what? Corn's in. You know, then I know it's time to drive out to Hartville and get some corn. Yep.  Absolutely. It's, it's,  it's one of the best ways to communicate information  real time, quote unquote, there is right now, because I used to be able to get my news from our cable TV provider, but then they decided that

29:15

We didn't need cable TV anymore. So it's really our internet provider.  And they were like, your network stations are going away. We're not offering that anymore. And I was like, what, really?  Okay. And we didn't even want them to begin with when we moved here five years ago. They were just part of the package.  I know some businesses, especially real estate people will start a hyper local show about just their small community brought to you by them.

29:44

Basically, they're their own sponsor and because they want everybody to know that, if you are buying or selling a house, you know, go talk to Jim or whoever. And so they'll do this hyper local show because the only people that would listen are people in that area, which is great. Cause that's who he or she is trying to get ahold of. So yeah, there are lot of different ways you can, can use this. It all doesn't have to be like, hi, I'm, you know, Sheila, the real estate person today. We're to talk about real estate. Well, is that what your target?

30:14

customer would listen to, know, maybe make it more about,  you know, the area. And then the other thing you can do is if you are doing something, maybe you're selling some sort of canned goods that have a shelf life, you can say, oh, the peaches are in the cans. Wait till you see these are delicious. You got to see them. We've got pictures on our website. Well, now you've created a brain gap  and a brain gap is where your brain hates it when somebody goes bump, bump, bump, bump, and you're like,

30:42

please say bump, bump, that's how that ends. And so when you give them something and they're like, oh, it's, know, they're perfectly orange with a little bit of red and the fuzz and whatever it out, you're, you're describing this. You're like, really just got to go to the website to see it. You can see it at whatever your website is. There are going to be people that like, I've got to see the end of this. I got to go see what these look like. So it's another way to drive traffic to your website. It sure is. And in the selfish space that I find myself in a lot with my podcast,  I

31:11

didn't have anyone to talk with about homesteading because I didn't know anybody who was homesteading. And  once I started asking people to come talk to me about what they did at their homestead or what they bake or what they make,  I could geek out with people of like minds and  oh my God, what a gift. Oh, absolutely. When I always say if you do a solo show,

31:36

you grow your influence. And this is where you just talk to your invisible friend across the desk that you're excited to tell them that tomatoes are in or whatever it is. So there's that. And then if you do  interview shows, you grow your influence.  And this is where, like you said, like for me, who else can I geek out about podcasting with? Some of my best friends are quote my competition because they do the same thing I do. But when we get together, we're like, Oh, have you heard about this new microphone or whatever it is?

32:03

And so, yeah, you grow that, that network  and that really comes in handy. Cause I don't know if you've  ever run into a situation where you run out of something and you can call up another farm and go, Hey, we're out of so-and-so. Can I borrow, you know, such and such from you? And, know, it's always great to have that network of friends that you can rely on. And especially if somebody comes to you and says, Hey, do you guys sell this kind of product? And you go,  no, but my friend does, you know, so it's, it's not always.

32:33

What you know, it's, or how's it go? It's not always who you know, but who knows you or something of nature. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Yeah, that's it. And so,  you know, and there are people that when I first started, my very first podcast was for musicians.  And  I just started reaching out to people that I grew up listening to thinking, oh, they're not, they don't even know what a podcast is, let alone they're not going to come on mine.

32:58

And one of them was the drummer for Rod Stewart and he was the drummer for Ozzy Osbourne and all these other people, really famous guy, been doing it forever. And he just put up a website that would teach people how to drum. Well, I had a bunch of drummers in my audience and I reached out and I said, Hey, I do this podcast thing and I see you have this thing. I think my audience might be interested in that. And the next thing I know I'm on the phone with them, recording an interview. So it's amazing. You  would think.

33:25

And they would, if I didn't have a podcast, he'd be like, get out of here, kid. know, Hey, can I talk to you for 20 minutes and pick your brain? He'd be like, get out of here, kid. bother me. But if I say, you want to come on my podcast and get in front of my audience of people that you're trying to get in front of? They're more than likely to do that. So, and if they say no, that isn't always no, it's not now. I have a friend of mine named Pat Flynn and he had the nerve to keep having children. And every time I had asked him to come on the show, he's like, ah, I can't really book anything because

33:54

you my wife's about ready to give birth and I was like, Oh, okay. And eventually he had a product come out. He wasn't giving or his wife wasn't giving birth to anybody and he came on my show. So sometimes if you get a no, it's not a no, it's not now. Yup. My dad's favorite joke about people, about women being pregnant and he would never say it to the people that were  with the impending baby.  He would say, don't they know how that happens?

34:21

I'm like, please don't ever say that to the people that are expecting because you take all the joy out of their  impending childbirth. don't. It's like, would never. And I'm like, well, you probably shouldn't even be saying it out loud because the minute you say something out loud,  you're probably going to say it at the most inopportune time. Well, and that's the beauty of podcasting. People worry about, oh, I'm going to sound stupid. Well, only if you don't edit out the stupid stuff.

34:47

So I'm not perfect at all when I record. There are times when my mouth decides to leave early and I just, you know, I pause for 10 seconds and then say it again and cut out the bad one and keep the good one. And, you know, so,  and sometimes I'll interview somebody that's, I thought they were going to be a great guest, but they weren't. And I'm like, okay, well, we'll keep the good stuff and leave the bad stuff. So, you know, when you're putting your tomatoes out and some of them have a

35:13

weird black hole in it and you know they're just not really okay you edit those out you put the good ones out it's kind of the same thing. Yep when I when I'm done talking with you my husband went to the farmers market today to sell some of our tomatoes and I said please either buy or trade for cucumbers because all our cucumber plants died this year because it's been so wet and he came home with six cucumbers so I bet you can I bet you know what I'm gonna be eating after I get them talking with you. There you go.

35:43

Yes, I am. I'm so excited. I haven't had a garden fresh cucumber since last year at this time. I'm so excited. Yummy. Yeah, I  we live.  We live the life here. What what you hear on my podcast is our life. And it's so fun.  A friend of ours has a mama cat who is pregnant right now.  And she was my friend was just going to bring us three kittens back a couple of months ago for barn cats.  And

36:12

They didn't socialize the kittens. They haven't been able to catch them. And so she's bringing me the mama cat who is due with babies in a couple of weeks.  And mama cat's gonna have her babies here, which is totally fine. That gets us some more barn cats.  And I said, do you want the mama cat back? And she's like, no, we have three females. You can have one of them.  And the female cat's name is Smokey. I haven't ever seen her before. So we're gonna have a new cat arriving here tomorrow.

36:40

And the reason that I share the story is our dog has experienced three barn cat litters in the last two years.  And there have been no kittens here this year. And this spring, she was looking at the pole barn like, are my friends?  Because every time they come out of the pole barn, that's when she gets introduced to the new babies and she's very much a mama personality. And the kittens love her. So my dog is gonna be really happy in about three weeks.

37:08

Yeah, when there's new kiddies around and these are the stories that I tell and it's our life And when I ask other people about their lives and how they do it I get to hear other stories like that, but they're always  Different and that's what makes it so fun and so special Yeah, and the only people that know what it's like It are people that are doing the same thing you are. I had of a friend Haley Radke does a show

37:37

It's called adoptees on and it's all about being adopted.  And she was telling me once how she goes, well, if you watch the afterschool special, you know,  the, people are looking for their biological parents and they find them and it's this, Oh, I've been looking, you've I've never, I've thought about you every day kind of thing. She goes, that's not always the case. Sometimes they'll spend three, five years tracking down their parents only to be rejected again. And that hurts just to say it.

38:04

And she goes, and the only people that understand what that's like are people that have gone through it. And so the only people know what it's like to be a homesteader are other homesteaders. Cause you can try to explain it to it, but until you're down in the trenches, you know, you just don't know what it's like. And then there is that, I don't know, I guess peace did like, okay, I'm not the only crazy person that's out here chasing chickens around the yard or whatever it is you're doing that some days when you're like, Oh, why am I doing this?

38:33

And you see, I did that. Here's the trick on how to catch a cat that you can't get to or whatever it is you're doing. Uh, it's the same thing with podcasting. Everybody thinks we're, we're weird nerdy geeky people. And then you get together at a conference and you're like, Hey, look, it's a whole bunch of nerdy geeky people. I don't feel so weird right now. So yeah, you, you, you love that connection to people that, that get it. Cause there's only way to get it. And that's because they're doing it too. Yep. Absolutely. All right, Dave, I try to keep these to half an hour. We're like.

39:02

Ten minutes past that by now.  When we're done recording, don't leave because I need your file to upload. You know how this works.  tell me where people can find you. Yeah. You can go over to schoolofpodcasting.com is my main website. If you want to see everything I'm doing, you can go to powerofpodcasting.com. Awesome.  As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  And thanks, Coach. I appreciate you visiting with me. Oh, thanks for having me. This was great. All right. Have a good rest of your weekend.