7 Things I’ve Learned from Podcasting

I published my first podcast episode in March of 2018. It was a rocky beginning, but it followed months of dreaming, thinking, and deliberation. I was finally taking action, and it was an exciting start.

I’ve published new episodes every week since. In some ways it’s been more of a challenging experience than I would have ever imagined. But I’m learning, improving my craft, and enjoying the process.

Why start a podcast based on interviews with educators?

One reason I began the podcast was to address what I saw as a hole in the education podcast space. There are many education podcasts currently available, but few that I found personally stimulating. I just wasn’t finding many real stories of real educators working in the trenches, partnering with their students, sharing the ecstasy of victories and learning from the agony of defeats. These stories were hard to find, and they weren’t being told in compelling ways.

I was also interested to find out what other educators are reading, listening to, connecting with, and depending on in their classrooms. What voices and resources are inspiring great practice? I continue to believe that I can bring these stories and testimonials to the education world in a way that will invigorate educators and lead to improved learning outcomes.

K-12 education is at an incredible place right now. Within the last decade, professional learning and networking has absolutely exploded, thanks largely to social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Today’s teachers, administrators, and influencers now have incredible opportunities to plug into rich, real-time pipelines of best practices, ideas, and exemplars from schools across North America and around the world. I’m energized by the idea that I might be able to play a useful role in building these networks of learning.

Another reason that I began the podcast was the powerful motivation I took from entrepreneurship thought leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk, John Lee Dumas, and Pat Flynn. Months of listening to these three voices in particular (and several other great podcasts) convinced me of two foundational ideas.

• It is still possible to create content of value and significance. It’s easy to feel that in the the din of noise and distraction we hear and see online, there’s no opportunity or reason to add your voice. But the truth is that we all have content to offer, content that can add value to the marketplace of ideas.
• Audio is about to get a lot, lot bigger. Although podcasts have been around for about 15 years, they’ve only started to go mainstream in the last five or so. In addition, the confluence of smart home devices (Google Home, Amazon Echo), rapid improvements in voice-to-text smartphone technology (Siri, Bixby, Cortana), and a societal shift toward on-demand infotainment (Netflix, YouTube) are all pointing to exponential growth in podcasting and audio publications in the very near future. It’s a good time to get in.

What I knew at the start

I didn’t know much about podcasting in the beginning. My primary resource was the hundreds of hours I’d spent listening to podcasts over the last ten years. I knew what I liked, what worked well, and what didn’t. I also watched a few how-to tutorials on YouTube to get a sense of what went into good interviewing and podcasting.

I had recently heard of a new app called Anchor. Anchor is a free podcasting platform that allows you to record and publish audio content in a matter of minutes. Unbelievably, Anchor also distributes your content across most podcast distribution platforms, including iTunes — all for free. Anchor looked like a good place to begin my audio publishing career.

One thing I didn’t have was a lot of expensive equipment. I had an iPhone 8 with earbuds, a Surface Pro computer with Adobe Audition, and a low-end microphone called a Blue Snowball. That was it.

I could have waited around before launching to gain more proficiency and acquire more knowledge and better resources. But I was keenly aware that many creators never actually create because they get caught in overthinking the process. Paralysis by analysis. And so I decided to just do this thing and learn as I went.

7 things I’ve learned from podcasting

1. Embrace failures. Right from my very first episode, I’ve experienced more technical problems and glitches than I would have thought possible. At times, the Anchor app has crashed mid-interview, requiring me to reconnect with guests and ask them to repeat their last comments. Another phone-to-phone recording service has rendered in poor quality, and a laptop-to-laptop recording service has delivered inconsistent results as well. Every crash and recording glitch is discouraging and tempts me to pack it all in. But instead of quitting, I’ve learned to double down and stay the course.
2. Always learn the craft. When I began this journey, I didn’t know the first thing about Adobe Audition — audio software I’d long owned but never used. The controls seemed overwhelming, and I wasn’t even sure how to import my audio — let alone edit it. But little by little, I’m learning and improving. By trial, error, and YouTube tutorials, I’m gaining confidence and expertise every time I edit an episode. Although the challenges don’t always feel good in the moment, it’s gratifying to look back and see how far I’ve come.
3. Forgive yourself quickly. I’ve learned that after virtually every single interview, I’m going to have regrets. Why did I say that? Why didn’t I ask the guest this question? Why did I laugh so awkwardly? And on and on it goes. It’s important to recognize that regret and self-doubt can paralyze if we allow them to. I have to force myself to try to take something from my mistakes, shake them off, and move forward.
4. Twitter is incredibly powerful. Professionals of any sort stand to benefit enormously from plugging into a vibrant professional learning network, and to that end, Twitter is king. In my first eleven months on Twitter as @TeachersOnFire, I connected with over 1,100 educators across the United States, Canada, Asia, and elsewhere. Many of my interviews have come from those connections. And I’m just getting started.
5. Be content with incremental growth. Even though I get more listens and subscriptions to my podcast each week, growth is slow. I’ve learned not to expect the hockey stick curve and exponential growth rates that I experienced with my very first posts on Medium. And that’s okay. As long as growth continues, that means my ceiling is still an unknown quantity. And that’s motivation enough.
6. People are generous. I’ve been amazed by the willingness of other education professionals to partner with me to prepare for and give a great interview. My requests are almost never declined — all it takes is an honest, humble, and respectful ask. Part of that might be a credit to the network-ability of the education community, but I suspect it’s also a function of human nature. You’ve just got to put yourself out there and ask.
7. Real people and real stories make the best content. At the outset of the podcast, I had to choose between formats: monologue, interview, or a mix of both. It turns out that the interview format takes more work pre and post-production than one might think, but the content is exceptional. Guests offer a rich variety of experiences, perspectives, and suggestions — far more than I could possibly conjure up on my own. Best of all, every interview stimulates my own thinking and takes my learning in new directions. I’m directly benefiting from the process.

Podcasting hasn’t been all fun. Between contacting potential interviewees, scheduling and conducting interviews, editing audio, writing show notes, publishing, and promoting, each episode adds at least six hours a week for this little passion project — no small sacrifice.

But podcasting has been a fantastically positive journey. Every new episode and guest represents new things learned and a new relationship formed. I’m offering value to the education community and improving my own practice. Last but not least, I’m putting myself in uncomfortable spaces that force me to grow as a person.

And that’s reason enough to continue.