Artwork for podcast Podcast Pontifications
The Perilous Life Of A Podcast Producer [S3E99]
Episode 9924th March 2021 • Podcast Pontifications • Evo Terra
00:00:00 00:11:50

Share Episode

Transcripts

Evo Terra:

Being a podcast producer is great work if you can get it.

Evo Terra:

But it's still work.

Evo Terra:

Work that somebody else is paying you to do.

Evo Terra:

How can you prepare for when - not if - that relationship comes to an end?

Evo Terra:

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

Evo Terra:

Write these two rules down, podcasters.

:

Never meet your heroes.

:

A dream job cannot be both.

:

Now, there are exceptions for both of those rules.

:

Obviously, I've met Drew Ackerman from Sleep With Me in person, and

:

he is genuinely a lovely person.

:

I've also had jobs that I have really loved.

:

For a while.

:

And they've loved me.

:

For a while.

:

There's that old adage find a job that you love and you'll never work a day

:

in your life and that's utter garbage.

:

Because a job is a job.

:

At some point in time, it just becomes a job.

:

Some jobs are a lot more fun than others, but still it's going to be a job.

:

And a podcast producer is one of those jobs that is fun.

:

It really is.

:

I've been a podcast producer for a long time.

:

I've been doing it professionally on behalf of other people

:

for several years now.

:

And it is a lot of fun, but it is still a job.

:

Now, in the early days of podcasting, I resisted the temptation that

:

many of my friends jumped into wholeheartedly - and go for it, why not?

:

- I resisted the temptation to become a podcast consultant.

:

And probably missed out on a lot of money because a lot of my friends who were

:

doing that were charging quite a healthy rate for being a podcast consultant

:

back in the early days of podcasting.

:

But I resisted.

:

I also resisted launching my business of podcasting where I produce

:

podcasts on behalf of people.

:

Because I didn't really want to do that at the time, but I think

:

the bigger thing for me was back in the day, I resisted bringing a

:

podcast consultancy to my day job.

:

One of the reasons I didn't jump into the other things is I had a nice

:

well-paying day job that could have dovetailed nicely into podcasting.

:

And many of my friends decided to do that.

:

They said, Hey, I'm sitting here.

:

I got this great job.

:

Podcasting.

:

We can do it.

:

Let's bring it in.

:

And I, someone said, I will become the principal of this new podcasting

:

division within my company.

:

Great idea.

:

Sometimes.

:

But oftentimes not.

:

Because I have seen this play out at many different new media

:

things that come up in the world.

:

My background is in advertising and I've seen the influx of blogging,

:

video production, social media.

:

I've seen those things blow up inside of the company and then

:

blow right back down again.

:

So I had always resisted that temptation of building that into my own company.

:

And of course now I do produce podcasts professionally.

:

So I've gotten over it, but still you see there's a conflict that

:

happens between the creators, people like you and me, who want to create

:

amazing things on behalf of another entity, and then there's the company.

:

And the company, they may say they want amazing content.

:

They may say they're looking for great engagement and things

:

that really elevate them.

:

But what they really want is to make money.

:

Cause if they don't make money, they can't make payroll or they can't

:

pay you or they can't pay anybody.

:

So they can say they want all those other things.

:

But at the end of the day, they still have to make money.

:

And if you, as the podcast producer, either internally for an organization or

:

externally as a consultant or contractor of some sort, if you're seen and the jobs

:

that you do are seen as something that's a cost center for the company, there

:

will always be pressure to either lower those costs or increase the efficiency,

:

the outputs of those standard costs.

:

And that's the race that you're into when you're a cost center only.

:

If you're not core to the biz, if podcast production is not core to

:

the business that you are in, that you are working for, if that is not

:

what they do, if podcasting is not core to their business, you're always

:

going to have to fight against those people who don't get podcasting.

:

And you'd think 15, 20 years later that we wouldn't have to fight

:

that fight anymore, but we do.

:

Let's not forget the most recent data from the Infinite Dial 2021 shows us

:

that 78% of people in America still don't listen to podcasts on a weekly basis.

:

Chances are your boss, the person that you're reporting up to, the person

:

you're turning stuff in, it's very good chance that if they're listening to

:

podcasts at all, it's infrequent at best.

:

So, you're already at a disconnect.

:

So, what do you do about this harsh reality?

:

I've just laid out in front of you?

:

If you are a podcast producer, at some point in time, you're looking

:

and saying the writing is on the wall.

:

Maybe not today, but tomorrow, sometimes this is going to end.

:

What do you do about that?

:

I've got three ideas for you.

:

Do your best work.

:

Always do your best work you can do to the specifications laid

:

out and then go above and beyond.

:

But while you're doing that work, document what you're doing.

:

Take screenshots, grab source files, show your work.

:

Now, obviously I don't want you to get into employment contract issues, if you

:

signed something that said, you will not do this, then look, don't break the law.

:

But assuming that's not the case, you're putting something out publicly.

:

Go ahead and grab some interesting bits about how you did that job

:

and document exactly what you did.

:

Put it in your portfolio.

:

That's number one.

:

Get credit.

:

Get credit for your work, even if you are just a contractor,

:

get credit for your work.

:

Sure, you can get on the website if that's at all possible.

:

But I'm thinking about inside of the in-app episode details.

:

If you are an integral part of that show, and you're not just a cog in

:

the wheel, tell your client, as part of your job as a podcast producer,

:

that best practices is that we should include the names of the people who

:

worked on the show to show we are human.

:

And again, it's best practices.

:

Go ahead and give your boss the title of executive producer and

:

give them credit in there, as well.

:

That'll help.

:

But get your name listed in the credits inside of the in-app details

:

of each episode and save those.

:

And the third thing to do is build your credibility.

:

Now, again, watching out for any employment issues, but get on the circuit.

:

Take the knowledge that you have and start talking to people.

:

Referencing the job that you worked on, yes, but more importantly, referencing the

:

products you were producing for that job.

:

Update your LinkedIn profile listing each of the podcasts you're working

:

on as a project and specifically what you were doing on the project.

:

Yeah, talk about you, obviously.

:

The reason you're doing this is to talk about you as a podcast producer.

:

You're not here to represent the show.

:

Don't misrepresent anything, but start building your credibility.

:

Chances are, someone who's not happy with their job as a podcast producer

:

right now, maybe they need to hear this.

:

So go ahead and send them a link to this episode.

:

Or you can go to the article and send that link at podcastpontifications.com.

:

That will be helpful to them.

:

And if you got any great value out of this, if it helped you

:

at all, please consider going to buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

:

and buying me a virtual coffee.

:

That's always nice.

:

That's it.

:

I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.