Carl Richards - "From Radio Days to Podcast Riches: The Stutterer Who Found His Voice"

Carl Richards, CEO of Podcast Solutions, shares the transformative power of podcasting for business owners and content creators looking to expand their influence and connect with audiences.

• From stuttering child to broadcast professional spanning 25 years in radio
• Canada's diverse culture and landscapes across its provinces
• Podcasting as modern-day radio with greater flexibility and reach
• Virtual speaking opportunities expanding alongside traditional stages
• The five myths holding people back from starting podcasts: money, content, competition, technology, and time
• Content curation vs creation - repurposing existing knowledge rather than starting from scratch
• Finding your podcasting sweet spot: 20-30 minute episodes work best for most audiences

Ready to explore how podcasting can elevate your business? Visit PodcastSolutionsMadeSimple.com to book a free 30-minute podcast strategy session with Carl's team.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meeting Carl Richards
• 1:55 Growing Up with a Stutter
• 4:50 Life in Canada: Myths and Realities
• 10:23 25 Years in Broadcasting
• 17:54 Why Business Owners Need Podcasts
• 23:47 Five Myths Holding Back Podcasters
• 33:22 Final Thoughts and Future Dreams

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:36

Welcome back to one-on-one with Mr U Of course, I am your host, mr U in studio with today three-time best-selling author, tedx speaker, podcast host and the CEO of Podcast Solutions. He does a lot of stuff. He does a whole lot of stuff. Carl Richards is in the house with us today. Carl, how are you, man? Good to have you here.

Speaker 2: 0:55

I'm stoked. Thank you, mr Yu. I'm glad to be here. I'm thrilled. I mean, I'm talking to Mr Yu, I'm adding this to my claims to fame. Right, great people I talk to. Oh, I talk to Mr you. I mean that's you know.

Speaker 1: 1:09

I don't know how much that is in podcast currency, but I hope it's worth more than a nickel.

Speaker 2: 1:14

So we'll see. It's worth at least two nickels, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:20

I hope so at least. But good to have you here, man. Our pre-interview conversation was fantastic. I definitely want to get into that stuff in the short time that we have today, but as customary I always ask all of my guests coming in describe your childhood, your upbringing. What was life like for young Carl? Usually it's an easy answer. For some folks it's kind of triggering to go into some places. We're ready for it either way, so take it away, carl. What's your childhood like, man?

Speaker 2: 1:49

I'll tell you, I was born in the 70s and back in the 70s everyone's mother dressed them funny.

Speaker 2: 1:53

So I was that kid, but I'm also the kid who stuttered so not only did my mother dress me funny, but I couldn't get the words out without stuttering. So there I am, looking like I'm stuttering. So anyways, yeah, growing up was okay, as I said, except for the stutter. The stutter was tough, man Like it was. Just, you know, I couldn't wrap two words together. My parents tried their best to, you know, fix it. They would say things like stop and start again.

Speaker 2: 2:25

Um, outside of the stuttering, my childhood was was pretty cool. My um, I'm the middle child, so I'm the. I suffer from middle child syndrome. I tell people I suffer, but it's not really suffering. Um, but no, I, uh, I grew up with a dad who worked in a steel mill. My mom for the first several years of my life, my brother's life, she was a stay-at-home mom, Went back to work when we were all in high school. But, yeah, growing up was pretty cool. Eventually, as far as the stuttering goes, entered speech therapy and I didn't grow out of it. You never really grow out of it, but I learned how to manage it and as I went to high school now I was an awkward teenager, but at least I didn't stutter.

Speaker 1: 3:09

Yeah, I can't accumulate. I think I was considered more of a stammerer, if you will, I'm a person, but I was a little bit different there. So, yeah, you have to. It's something to manage. You can't just have your finger on it and it just disappears. You've got to deal with that whole reason why it even happens. I get tongue-twisted from time to time, but I don't live in my head about it. I just keep on moving and just have fun and enjoy this thing. Man, that's all I can really do, man.

Speaker 2: 3:38

That's the thing you keep going. There are a number of people who they've stuttered their whole lives and they've managed to get under wraps and accept that and they'll join an organization like Toastmasters to help them manage it better and things like that. And yeah, it's just, it's part of who you are Right, so it's in your DNA, likely forever. I still stammer and stutter every now and again when I'm situations like this. It's just, it's natural, right.

Speaker 1: 4:05

So yeah, well, I don't want you to be uh overwhelmed over here. This is a casual, cool, calm conversation, so I want you to enjoy yourself here. Man, yeah, when we talk about a little bit, I got some uh family that that moved there from the virgin Islands to Florida, to Canada, to the Ontario area. But tell me why you love being in Canada. I know there's a lot going on in the news and there's always something going on with Canada that we hear about here in the US, but why do you love being in Canada?

Speaker 2: 4:38

I've known no other country, as far as you know, as calling it home. But what I like about Canadaada is we are, we're just a friendly bunch of people like. I've had the opportunity to travel to other countries and I'm not saying other countries don't, there aren't friendly people there, but some countries you go to and their level of friendliness is different or the way in which they react to things are, uh are certainly very different. It's true, um, as a can, we have the opportunity to visit Cuba, and Cuba Cuban people are really, really friendly. But I'd still say Canadians are super, super friendly. We don't lock our doors. We don't have to. We live in a small community so we don't have to do that. Yeah, when I tell people I don't lock my doors, I don't even know where my house keys are. People go what, what about security? I'm like security. I mean I have a dog, that's my, that's my security. But but even that, like that's it. But that's the kind of the other thing that I really like about canada.

Speaker 2: 5:31

I've had a chance to visit six provinces six of our, anyways. What I like about it is it's just, it's all. Every province of canada has its own unique flair. So if you're going to the east coast, for example, it's very much, uh, a lot of celtic music and things like that. You get into, get into quebec quebec is very old world because of french.

Speaker 2: 5:58

You come into ontario it's a little bit more your metropolitan cities like you'd see in New York and other cities like that Still a lot of beautiful countryside. You go to northwestern Ontario, rather, that's where you start to see things change and more boreal forest. You get to the prairies it's more flatland, there's a lot of wheat and farming that happens out there. And then you get to the Rocky, the Rocky mountains and the West coast and you're in a completely different. You're in a completely different part of the part of the country with a lot of, you know, places where people go and snowboard and ski in the winter and the climate and the because it's on the Pacific ocean, that end, because of that, the, the, the climate is very different. It's more like a, like a london, england type climate where you'll have january, where it's raining and nine degrees. So that's that's what I like about it, and every unique, every city seems to have its unique culture almost as well. So it's it's a pretty unique place in that sense wow, that is unique.

Speaker 1: 7:03

I'd love for you to kind of help me out and kind of bust one or two myths about canada. Do you hear things about canada? I mean, I got family up there so I hear little things too. But for the most part we get a lot of our cues from print, from media television et cetera. But one or two missed. First call about Canada.

Speaker 2: 7:29

Oh my goodness, it doesn't snow all year round. Okay, there are people who have arrived from places like Florida no disrespect Floridians, but it doesn't snow all year round here. So if you arrive to Canada in July and you cross the border and you have skis, you might be driving quite a ways until you find snow hills to go skiing on Water skis. Yes, what other myths about Canada.

Speaker 1: 8:00

I feel like there's more than just one or two, but maybe you don't see.

Speaker 2: 8:04

Because it's such a vast. That's another thing. It's a very vast country, so, will and again, this happens, I think, in every country that we've been in and visited, people will say, oh, you're from Canada, and they'll say, where in Canada? Oh, I'm in Ontario. Okay, well, do you know? So-and-so in British Columbia, vancouver. And I'll say, oh, no, every now and again I'll get a little cute, though, and I'll say, yes, we actually had lunch in Halifax last week, which is, if you understand the vastness of that, that would be like a, you know, a six hour flight just to go and have lunch with someone in a completely different, in three completely different, different provinces. So, um, the vastness of the country, I think, is one, um.

Speaker 2: 8:47

The other thing, I think, is that a lot of people still think that we live in snow huts. People think that you cross the border, there's snow all the time, we're living in igloos. Uh, no, we, I live in a house. It's got air conditioning, because this time of year, no way. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, we've had a heat wave. As of the recording of this conversation, it's about, I'd say, on the Fahrenheit side, about 90, 95. So that's pretty warm.

Speaker 1: 9:19

The whole country is feeling this, brother.

Speaker 2: 9:21

Right.

Speaker 1: 9:21

We're probably 90, something right now as we speak, probably about 97% or more, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:26

So there's a few myths busted as far as Canada goes.

Speaker 1: 9:30

You know I love this. I love this. A lot of our listeners are in either one of four categories Broadcasters, trying to be full-time at that or at least part-time, trying to turn it into a business. They want to go into broadcasting or they have some kind of media interest, or just content creators and stuff. So we're going to be speaking to them a lot today because we have some keen insights on podcasts and business ownership and why it's important in your system to start a podcast. We're going to talk about all of those things. I want to spend a little bit more time talking about what you do up in Canada, so that we'll kind of jump into this stuff. Now there's a place called Thousand Islands. Is that near Ontario?

Speaker 2: 10:13

That's right. Yes, right at the border. We border with upstate New York, so we're about a six-hour drive from New York City. Where we are, they call it the Thousand Islands. There's actually 1,800 islands, 1,806 islands or something like that in the Thousand Islands. I think they got to 1,000 and said let's just call it the Thousand Islands, that sounds easier. But, they're all beautiful islands.

Speaker 1: 10:39

Yes, can you live on the islands?

Speaker 2: 10:45

so some of them you can, and some of them are large, like some of them. There are, uh, communities living on them. So one of the islands in the thousand islands is called wolf island, and it is its own. It's like a town on an island. There's about five, maybe two or three thousand people. Maybe I'm being a little bit over over generous with that number island. There's about maybe two or three thousand people. Maybe I'm being a little bit over over generous with that number, but there's there's at least a thousand people.

Speaker 2: 11:11

I would say that live on wolf island and you have to take a ferry to get there, and it runs all year round, even in the winter. They have systems that allow you to do that. There are other islands, though, that are owned by private citizens. Like you know, you could own an island in the Thousand Islands, and you know you might use that as your summer getaway, your summer destination. You might have a boat that you take to and from your cottage or from your summer home. So there are a number of people who do have islands or do have summer cottages.

Speaker 1: 11:43

Some of them have been passed down from generation to generation I see, I see my family had not mentioned this place at all. They're in london, they haven't. They haven't mentioned at all. Okay, I'll get with them later, all right. So I want to talk a little bit about your broadcasting career and what you've experienced it and get people to transition into podcasting business ownership piece.

Speaker 1: 12:05

But you spent you spent more than 25 years behind the microphone. I mean talking about radio, I think, stages, something you also were involved with. At the end of the day, you were influencing audiences around the world. Yeah, yeah, it was really awesome Kind of talk to me about, because when I hear stuff like that, you say, oh, how was it? Like I don't want to answer a dumb question like how was it? I want to go a little bit deeper than that. What kind of tangible takeaways do you see from that time? After 25 years of being in front of the mic, I have to believe that it's not like 25 years at a corporate job. You kind of just die slow in the cubicle and see what's like that, but behind the microphone it. I'm hoping it's not a cubicle, but what do you? How did you grow in those 25 years? What did you gain from that? How did it change you? Is that a better question to ask? Sure, yeah it's?

Speaker 2: 13:01

it's a good question to ask, and let me tell you too that the industry, the broadcast industry, has evolved a lot. I mean, when I got into radio, every little small community had a full service radio station with, you know, morning hosts, middays, afternoons, weekends, evenings. You had a full slate of staff. Now, of course, with automation and what we call voice tracking, the ability to record shows, a lot of it is done simulcasting coast to coast, so you have fewer people, which means the industry itself is shrinking. But honestly, it really paved the way for me for what I do today because, firstly, it was in my, it was in my blood to want to be in broadcasting. I fell in love with radio when I was probably about I don't know, eight or nine years old. I listened to the radio. I listened to our local AM station. They would do a big 500 countdown every year and I was that kid that would sit there with his tape recorder waiting to record his favorite song. That was, that was me.

Speaker 1: 14:02

You're taking me back in time, man, You're taking me back in time. Oh my goodness, it's a good thing. I'm like wow, it's kind of overwhelming.

Speaker 2: 14:08

Yeah, yeah, but that's what you know. That's really what I wanted to do. I actually wanted to be an actor, but I said, well, for every actor that makes it, I get into radio, because there's a lot of people who start in radio, who end up being in film or television. You know, you look at guys like Ryan Seacrest, alex Trebek who's passed away now, of course, even going back further, a guy by the name of Lorne Green who was on Bonanza. Well, he came from the CBCc, the canadian broadcast company, and he was known as the voice of doom because he would announce all of the um daily. He would. He would announce all of the in the second world war. He would announce everything that's going on. You know, there's been bombings here, there's been this, this attack here. He was doing all of that.

Speaker 2: 15:01

So I thought you know what I could do that and, anyways, I never did get into acting other than community theater and stuff like that, which I also enjoyed. But I think the biggest thing that I learned in being in broadcasting was the ability to style shift, but also the ability to be versatile. When you work in radio, you never know what format you're going to work in. You might start working at a rock station or a pop station that you love, and then you might, through no fault of your own, be shown the door because they're making corporate restructuring, as they like to call it. So you never know what your next job is going to be. So one of the things that I never thought that I would see myself doing was most of my career I've predominantly worked at country stations.

Speaker 1: 15:51

Believe it or not Now.

Speaker 2: 15:53

Country music has evolved a lot. Do you have country music in Canada? Oh yeah, oh yeah. So they refer to Alberta, but Calgary, calgary, alberta as Nashville North.

Speaker 1: 16:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:11

So country music, yeah, and of course now country music is very poppy, so it's very hot right now, pretty much right across the board. But I never thought that I'd be working at a country station Not just one, but three of them, or was it four of them? Anyways, I've worked at, let's say, three or four of them in my career. Never thought I'd be doing that. I never thought that because when I got into radio I was wanting to be on air. So I never thought I'd be in management. I never thought I'd be in programming, I never thought I'd be a music director. I had all of those opportunities.

Speaker 2: 16:44

So I got to learn the business of radio. And the other thing that I got to do that I was never really a fan of, but I did it anyways is I was in the news department almost every station I worked at and I hated it. But then I started to realize when I left the radio world wait a minute. This being in the news department has really taught me how to communicate and truncate my ideas and focus on telling a story, because when you're delivering the news, essentially you're telling a story right. So I think those are some, some key takeaways as I learned about the business of radio which has been very beneficial in my in my business. But then I've also learned to storytell and truncate information and give just the right amount of information to get a point across or share some insights. So those are some of the key takeaways. It's amazing the parallel between broadcasting and podcasting.

Speaker 1: 17:40

I don't know if we're going to get to that one, but there is a parallel for sure. That's my next question, so I'm really ready for that yeah, sure, absolutely so.

Speaker 2: 17:49

Uh, I refer to podcasting and I know a lot of people do as it's, it's it's radio, it's modern day radio. You know what radio used to be? Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, what radio used to be, where there was a lot of different programming. You'd listen to your local radio station and they would have everything from it's the shopping hour, or they'd have the it's the it's the morning talk show right after the nine o'clock news. Yeah, you'd have that, yeah, all of those things that as, and you'd have little vignettes and segments that would pop up along the way as well.

Speaker 2: 18:20

There's a guy I don't know if you know him or not, uh, he's. His name is paul harvey. He's since passed on as well, and paul harvey was the guy that you'd always hear I always heard him anyways, after, uh, the noon, the noon news, and he was doing, he would do his little introduction, his preamble, but what the story is going to tell, and then there would be that commercial, because you're waiting to hear who he's talking about. And that person went on to be mr you, and now you know the rest of the story. Well, that was. People ate that up.

Speaker 2: 18:49

Um, you had some. You had some legends also that were in radio, like you know, wolfman jack and people like that. You had some real, really big names, and podcasting has seen some of the, the transference of that domination of there's a there's big names in the podcasting space. But what it's also done is allowed people like you and I who don't have massive audiences, say like a Ryan Seacrest or an Oprah Winfrey or people like that, be in a place where we can build our own networks, build our own audiences as we wish, structure our content that's not in a cookie cutter format like radio was and deliver it to our audience, and they'll love us because they love our content. So there's there's a parallel, though, between the, the quality that that goes out to.

Speaker 1: 19:38

So, but definitely yeah that's a whole nother story that's a whole other story altogether yeah, well, we have, like I said before, we have a lot of podcasters and content creators. People who are have a desire to be in some kind of broadcast media. Maybe they want to be on the next espn fox sports, I don't know, but I know a lot of them have aspirations to do some things. Take podcasts and to another level why do you think it's a benefit to have a podcast and somebody who maybe is thinking about going into business? Why do they need that or why should they need it?

Speaker 2: 20:14

Yeah, I think at every point there are things that savvy business owners know. When you get to a certain point in business, you know that that's when you start to, for example, write a book. Right, you're going to write a book because that's what we've been told to do, especially if you're a solopreneur. You get to a certain level in your business. You write a book, or two, or three, or six or eight Used to be 30 years ago, you would write a book and then you would go on a speaking tour, and you can still do that.

Speaker 2: 20:44

But now it's write a book and go on a podcasting tour, right? So the needle has changed. So things have shifted a little bit. There are still speakers that will go on physical stages, but what I like is that a podcast is a virtual stage. That means if I do something or if I have a message I want to get out there, I can do it from the comfort of my own home or somewhere in my office. If I have office space, I can do it there. I don't have to physically go there. And if I want to get on somebody else's show, I can do the same thing. That's what we're doing today. You're in your space, I'm in mine and we're talking and we're communicating with your audience, which thank you very much, by the way, for allowing me to do this.

Speaker 2: 21:27

It used to be, though, you had to go to a radio studio and you had to tour the world and get the messaging out, and now it just makes it a little bit simpler to do that. But the other thing I like about it is the fact that, with podcasting, it's on demand. Right, you know, you can take it anywhere. It's on demand and it's portable, which means, if you can't listen at, you know, at the recording of this, my time it's 20 after 11, uh eastern. If you can't listen at that time, but you can listen at during your lunch or on your drive home, great listen then. Um, with programming as it used to be, it was called appointment tuning or it's called streaming. You had to listen. That's why you know the. You know waiting for your favorite song to come on to, you know, on a countdown to hit record.

Speaker 1: 22:15

You know it's, it's a trip down memory lane, but people don't we're not doing that anymore.

Speaker 2: 22:20

We we like the convenience of being able to engage in content when we are able to do it, so yeah, the other the other bonus about podcasting is it allows you to niche. So if you have a very niche and again this is business 101. I've had a coach tell me you have to be niche, you have to narrow it down, niche it down If you have a niche or niche, depending on how you're pronouncing it.

Speaker 1: 22:43

Nobody else does apparently.

Speaker 2: 22:46

But if you have, if you have a niche, then then there's a space in the podcasting world for you and your audience is looking for you. It's, it's, and they don't have to go through a sea of content to find you. They just, you know, type in their keywords that is your niche and there you are and there you'll be. It's another way to develop that know, like and trust factor as well. As we have become busier, people and as we have evolved, there are I don't even know what the number now is, mr Yu, it used to be 5,000 or 6,000 messages that are sent to us every day from billboards, magazines.

Speaker 1: 23:25

Oh, and then they've been doubled.

Speaker 2: 23:27

Push notifications, emails, text messages, whatever it is. Cutting through all of that noise means being able to put yourself above the rest, and a podcast allows you to do that and continuously develop that know, like and trust factor. So people will eventually firstly, they'll follow you, They'll take your advice and your insights and you never know just when they might become a client.

Speaker 1: 23:51

Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I want to get into what it's like. Well, you mentioned about a podcast being a speaking opportunity. I want you to kind of flip it out a little bit more. But I want to ask you something else first. As a TEDx speaker, do you foresee, or is it already happening? Because I haven't seen it. That's why I'm asking, so forgive my ignorance Are TEDx speakers actually speaking on virtual stages now instead of the actual stages? Is that happening right now or is that?

Speaker 2: 24:18

something that's going to be happening soon, you think. Oh, it started happening before the pandemic, but I think it's still happening. We saw a lot of virtual summits and virtual conferences pop up during the pandemic. Well, you know what? I attended a virtual summit sorry, a virtual conference last week, and I was able to book three calls from being at that virtual conference, and I was only there for 45 minutes to an hour because I had something else I had to do. And already this week I've been at two other virtual events, one of which was an all day, or pretty much an all day, summit with speakers. I was one of the speakers.

Speaker 2: 24:58

I'm not, you know so. So, yes, there are people who literally, that's all they do, is they speak on virtual stages, they speak on virtual stages, they speak on virtual, in virtual events or on virtual events. Um, are there still stages? Physical stages? Absolutely there are, will there always be. Yes, but I think what we're seeing is more of a hybrid model where we're virtual and physical meet and um. Conference organizers know this too. They're, they're already setting up this, and the technology now is getting better at it. So not only do you have a virtual platform where people can visit, but you have the physical space as well, so both conference goers can enjoy the experience. So, but I think we're seeing a lot of that. But there's still that hunger or that desire to want to connect face-to-face and I don't mean face-to to face, like you and I are doing. This is great, I love this.

Speaker 2: 25:49

There's still that I want to press the flash. I want to shake your hand and say, give me a sweaty bear hug because it's 37 degrees Celsius outside, and say it's great to meet you. You know what I mean? Because I think as people we need that human connection, that in-person contact. But virtual is really. Even now that we're endemic, or even beyond that, we're still seeing a lot, a lot of virtual platforms and virtual stages and, honestly, if for no other other reason, it's less expensive for conference organizers to organize a virtual event than an in-person event. Yeah, but that's, there's a reason right there. You can organize an in-person event and you know, um, get, get a whole bunch of speakers together and not have it cost you a ton of cash to do that.

Speaker 1: 27:27

I totally get that. I'm thinking about breaking. I guess I say breaking in because I've done a little tiny bit before in the past, but breaking into public speaking again. So I'm just trying to do my little research and everything. So that answer helped me out a little bit. So thank you for that. You mentioned five myths that kind of hold people back from starting a podcast I'm supposed to watch and listening and probably pondering it, or they're kind of doing it on a small scale but not very seriously, not very consistently. What are the five myths? Can you name those for our?

Speaker 2: 27:59

listeners, absolutely. The first myth is the money myth not understanding that the value, or thinking that it's too expensive to get started. There is some investment to it and everyone starts at a different place. But understanding the value, I like to look at it as understanding the value of not having a podcast. How much money are you leaving on the table? How many clients who could be looking for you, could be looking for your podcast, are you not connecting with because of that? So we work with clients that they'll make a chunk of money from their podcast because they've gotten a client from their show. So that's the money myth not understanding and not appreciating the value of what the podcast can bring you.

Speaker 2: 28:36

The second myth is the content myth. What am I ever going to talk about on a podcast? Well, you already have content. If you're in business, you've likely sent emails. You likely have courses, you likely have done workshops, seminars, webinars, all of those things. You might even have intellectual property. It's not about content creation. It's about content curation and setting it up so it's palatable for podcasting audience to digest. So you don't want to put it all in one episode. But if you broke it down into bite-sized pieces and delivered, say, 10 to 15 minutes of content every week, now, with guests or solo. Now, all of a sudden, people are starting to develop, as I said earlier, that no like and trust factor.

Speaker 2: 29:15

The third myth is the competition myth. Who's ever going to listen to me? And there are too many podcasts out there already. Well, I always like to flip it and say how many websites are out there. It doesn't stop you from having a business just because there are too many websites out there, right? So? And as far as the number of podcasts go, there's fewer than you think, and there's fewer that are active. The whole premise, though, should be what value are you bringing to the table with your show? Yes, there's competition, but think about what your listeners, or think about what your audience, needs to hear from you, and competition is healthy, by the way.

Speaker 2: 29:53

The fourth myth is the tech myth. It's too complicated, it's too confusing. We throw our hands up in the air and say I can't do this. Yeah, it can be, but I also don't do my own dentistry. I've never performed surgery on myself. You know why? Yeah, thankfully, I also don't fix my own car. Why? Because for me it's too technical. So when you need to figure out something that's technical. What do you do? You go to an expert who knows or can give you some advice, or you know. If you don't know how to do something, when we're younger, we're taught. What do you do? You want to learn how to become a doctor? Great, go to medical school. Right, so you get the insights and all that expertise from them.

Speaker 2: 30:34

And the fifth myth is time. How much time is this going to take? Time is precious. Time is precious.

Speaker 2: 30:44

We've worked on podcast episodes that are two minutes long. Three minutes long. We worked on podcast episodes that are an hour to an hour and a half long. The messaging there is how long does your podcast need to be? How long can your audience engage with you? That's the bigger message. So if it needs to be 20 minutes, make it 20 minutes. There's no podcasting rule that says your show has to be two hours long or an hour long. But the sweet spot is that 20 to 30 minute mark. That's generally what I, what I like to share with people. Um, and as far as the time commitment, we also help people figure that out. And there's um, there's some other ways that you can manage the time piece as well, and and part of that is collaborating with others and what we like to refer to as a podcast co-op. So there's ways that you can collaborate and share ideas which make it easier and more effective use of time than trying to figure it all out on your own.

Speaker 2: 31:38

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 31:40

We're kind of up against time-wise we are.

Speaker 2: 31:44

That's why I was saying it quickly.

Speaker 1: 31:45

Okay, I'm going to ask a final question and I also want to send everybody to your link so they can find me a strategy session. I want to ask you a question about one thing you said. Answer it briefly for me Creation versus curation. Flesh it out as fast as you can. You mentioned about. It's not about content creating, it's about content curating. Help me out with that.

Speaker 2: 32:07

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people think they have to go and create a boatload of content. I have to create content, have to create content. You've already created content. So now it's about taking the content you've created and massaging it or curating it or adapting it for a podcast audience. So you can't take a whole workshop or a whole course that you've created say 12 week or 16 week course and put that into one episode, but can you break it down into bite-sized pieces so you can present it to your audience like that. A lot of people think and this is true with people who do lives, facebook lives and stuff like that they feel they have to always be creating content. No, you have content. It's how are you bringing that content out and reminding people that this is what you do and this is what you have? That's content curation.

Speaker 1: 32:57

Gotcha, gotcha. All right, You're offering a 30-minute podcast strategy session. I guess starting a podcast is a good idea to kind of elevate your brand, your business and what have you. And it's PodcastSolutionsMadeSimplecom right.

Speaker 2: 33:15

Yep, Yep PodcastSolutionsMadeSimplecom. You'll see a link to go to the booking page, and it doesn't matter what stage of the game you're at If you're just getting started, just kicking the tires, need information, want to find out more? It's a great way to start. Just kicking the tires, need information, want to find out more? It's a great way to start. And even if you want to just start out by having a conversation with us about guesting on podcasts, we can help you have a conversation about that as well and strategize All right.

Speaker 1: 33:36

Well, that sounds awesome, and so podcast solutions made simplecom Very, very good. All right, I found a question for your call. I'm going to jump in here. It's been fun today. Last question is customary for all of our guests in here, Makes them always think and kind of go deep into the archive. You can see the gears turning trying to answer this question, but it's always a fun question, always insightful. So if you're not doing what you're doing right now, that means we're taking broadcasting and radio off of this table. We're taking stage work off of this table. We're taking your authoring off the table. We're taking your podcast with a CEO of PSMS off the table. What is Carl Richards likely doing, career, vocation-wise, mission-wise? Please say something that's not having to do with logging. Please don't say that.

Speaker 2: 34:23

No, seriously, though, I think I would be traveling. I think I'd be traveling what? Yeah, I think I would be traveling. I think I'd be traveling what? Yeah, I think I would be traveling.

Speaker 1: 34:32

You're traveling with no job.

Speaker 2: 34:35

Well, if I'm not doing that, if I don't need that as a vocation, I think I'd be traveling. I've thought about doing a traveling or travel podcast or travel vlog or something which is just pretty cool. I it took me a while to get into travel. Now that I've gotten into it and I've seen I've seen you know Cuba, costa Rica, Mexico, um parts of Germany as well as you know, uh, um yeah, amsterdam I just want to go see more and I want to be able to talk about it and share with people what it's like and meet some of the people from those communities.

Speaker 1: 35:15

That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 35:16

And also taste and share some of the fine cuisine that corners of the world that we might never see. As long as my stomach can handle it, that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 35:27

I don't have room for another podcast, but I would love to do that.

Speaker 2: 35:30

Yeah, that would be fun. I'd like that. I'd like that.

Speaker 1: 35:33

And insightful Carl. Thanks for jumping in here, man. This was fantastic man. Any closing?

Speaker 2: 35:41

thoughts for our listeners. Man, before we close out of here, man, I would say other than thank you, mr Yu, for having me on. I would say whatever it is you're doing, whatever it is that you're thinking about doing, just take that first step, just start, just take that first step.

Speaker 1: 35:54

Well, if you guys are thinking about starting your own podcast, you're kind of in a place where you're kind of in a bit of a rut. Maybe you're not getting things worked out calendar-wise, scheduling-wise. I know many of you guys are watching that. I know that's true about you. I didn't say your name, but I know it's true. Carl Richards is the man. His information will be in the show notes. And, of course, if you don't mind, carl, jump on to our YouTube channel. If you don't mind where this episode is, drop any links. You have contact info in the comments section of this episode so people can find you kind of easy man. So appreciate this time, brother. This has been insightful, to say the least. Hope it's not the last time we get together, but thanks again for joining us. Carl and Mr U. We're out of here. Have a great day.