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You Can Be An Expert On Your Podcast Without Being A Jerk About It
Episode 5120th October 2021 • Podcast Pontifications • Evo Terra
00:00:00 00:11:33

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Evo Terra:

"Just the facts, ma'am," said no podcast listener ever.

Evo Terra:

Yet, podcasting directories are filled with niched-down podcasters

Evo Terra:

proclaiming their expertise.

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Is that what your audience truly wants?

Evo Terra:

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Evo Terra:

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

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I've never been comfortable with the term "expert" or "guru" as

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applied to me in podcasting.

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Heck, in anything, really, if I'm honest about it.

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And yeah, I suppose in podcasting I do tick all the boxes someone is likely to

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set forth for an expert or a guru, but I still bristle at the term and always have.

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Perhaps you feel the same way about your role on your podcast.

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I have a new way for you to think about it if that makes you

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uncomfortable, or, perhaps, even if you are totally comfortable.

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And, yes, I'm going to help you think about it in the form of a question.

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And here it is:

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Are you an expert or are you a guide?

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A better way to ask that question might be, does your audience want you to be an

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expert or do they want you to be a guide?

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I'm going to give you two unrelated-to-podcasting

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examples about what I mean.

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On a recent trip to Belize - I love Belize - we took a tour up Monkey

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River to, well, see Howler monkeys.

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Hence the name.

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We also saw a bunch of bats, iguanas, birds, even a little baby crocodile.

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It was so cute.

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And our guide was just that, he was a guide.

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He'd grown up on the river and in the jungle, and guiding people is a

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large part of what he does every day.

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Now, what he is not is an expert biologist.

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He's not a biologist at all.

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He didn't study biology in college.

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He didn't get his PhD.

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But he knows an incredible amount of information about the flora and

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fauna of a five-square-kilometer area that he grew up in.

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In fact, he is so much of an expert, if you will, in that area, research

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scientists, actual experts with PhDs and whatnot, hire him to guide them to various

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places as they conduct their research.

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So that make sense for him.

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I want a guide going up the river.

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I don't want to hang out with just a scientist.

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However, I don't want a guide when I go see my neck and shoulder

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specialist next week to find out whether or not this is a pulled muscle

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or maybe I've got a bulging disc.

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No, I've actually selected and specifically sought out a

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medical doctor, an orthopedist.

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We're not going on a journey together.

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Something is wrong, and I want to know how to fix it.

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That's an expert for you.

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So back to podcasting and what your audience wants from you, while there

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are instances where the audience does, in fact, want to hear from

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an expert, chances are the rest of the time they want a guide.

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In many cases, your expertise is going to shine through as you guide them.

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Sometimes your expertise will shine through more than anything else.

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Like, if you're talking about, I don't know, tax implications or educating

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people on how black holes form, or maybe discussing the history of

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military coups in Thailand, for example.

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But a podcast that just lays out facts, facts from an expert, is boring, about

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as boring as reading a research paper.

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So if the bulk of your audience now is made up of other experts who just

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want you to recite the facts to them?

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Well, then I suppose that's okay.

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Be an expert all the time.

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But I'm betting that's not the case.

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It's likely that even if your show is tightly niched down, you have people

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listening to you that have different levels of skillset and mastery.

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So if, when you're talking in your expert voice to your audience, you

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find yourself saying, well, it depends when answering questions, your next

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words, chances are we'll be in the voice of a guide and not an expert.

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Because being a guide means that you recognize that there's no

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one right way to present your ideas on your podcast, though.

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There are certainly maybe lots of wrong ways that you have strong

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opinions about opinions, which you should voice vociferous early.

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Being a guide also means that you recognize you don't have all the answers

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to share on your podcast, though.

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You probably do know the general direction of answers or the general

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directions where those answers are likely to come from being a guide also means

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that you recognize that the role that serendipity and the circumstance plays

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in your boat podcast, listeners LA.

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Lives that might look quite different from your own.

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So reflect back on the last few episodes of your show and the approach

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you take overall to podcasting, or you being the, know it all expert,

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or are you helping your audience?

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Are you, is your audience a better way to say that is, is your audience relying

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on you to be the best guide you can be?

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Now, if you've got any value at all out of this episode, please consider

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returning some of that value by visiting Podcast Pontifications.com/value for

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value there, you will find lots of ways.

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Like you can buy me a coffee if you want to.

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And also links to some new podcast apps, new podcast, apps.com, new podcast

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apps that will let you stream value to podcasters like me who you listen to.

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It's a novel way of rewarding podcasters for the excellent

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And that is a growing way people are actually funding podcasters.

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So check it out.

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It's all at podcastpontifications.com/valueforvalue.

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That's it.

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I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast pontifications.

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Cheers!

Evo Terra:

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.

Evo Terra:

He's on a mission to make podcasting better.

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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes

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section of your podcast listening app.

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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at

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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected

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transcript, both created by Allie Press.

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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.