Shownotes
Now two months into live recording episodes for The Momentum Experiment podcast, I’m sharing behind the scenes of how it’s really going, what I’m learning, and what I would change if I could start all over again.
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Transcripts
It has been eight weeks since I started this podcast, the Momentum
Speaker:Experiment. And from that first episode, I explained that the
Speaker:podcast itself is experimental, primarily
Speaker:in that I want to focus on being more consistent, creating
Speaker:content. And to do that, I decided to record this podcast
Speaker:live every week on Wednesdays, and then I would
Speaker:upload them on Thursdays. And today I decided to take a break, seeing
Speaker:that it was my eighth episode. I want to check back and
Speaker:share how it's really going. And when I say really going, I mean I'm going
Speaker:to talk about numbers and actually share them and what is working,
Speaker:what is not working, what am I focused on next and what am I learning
Speaker:from this? Because I am learning a lot and
Speaker:podcasting is no joke. It takes
Speaker:a lot of work. So what are some of the things I am thinking about?
Speaker:And one of the things, just as a, as sort of a recap, I already
Speaker:kind of mentioned the live on Wednesdays and recording. But
Speaker:essentially the way that I do this is prep
Speaker:in advance. I schedule the stream at the start of the week, go live
Speaker:on Wednesdays where I will chat usually before and after
Speaker:the podcast episode portion, which spoiler,
Speaker:it's one of my favorite parts of the week. And then after that
Speaker:I will just cut out that middle and then that goes out as
Speaker:audio early Thursday morning And then on YouTube a little bit later,
Speaker:around 11 o' clock Eastern is how I release it.
Speaker:So now that you know that I want to share the
Speaker:numbers, I'll be honest, they're humbling,
Speaker:but it is beginning. I am beginning. So from audio standpoint, since
Speaker:starting, I've had 183 downloads. However, on
Speaker:YouTube, the number is a bit higher. I've got 60 over 1600
Speaker:views over on my channel over the last 8 weeks primarily,
Speaker:and actually almost exclusively podcast episodes. And
Speaker:together we put that it's around 1800 views, slash
Speaker:listens. Now, of course, I cannot know for sure. Someone listens to the full
Speaker:thing, watches the full thing, but those are the numbers I'm going on
Speaker:right now. Now, two thoughts come up when I see these numbers.
Speaker:One is that my logical brain says, hey, you're just getting
Speaker:started. These are respectable numbers. People are checking out the episodes.
Speaker:And then there's the second thought, which is my emotional part of the brain that
Speaker:says, oh man, I am used to
Speaker:different kinds of numbers when it comes to creating content. For
Speaker:example, if I look at the last 28 days on my
Speaker:tutorial channel, I had around 22,000 views and I haven't put out a
Speaker:new video in almost A year. And then I have a gray hair channel that
Speaker:I haven't put out content to that channel since I finished growing out
Speaker:my gray hair. So this would have been a few years. And even that channel
Speaker:had 2.2 thousand views.
Speaker:So, that being said, I know how this works. It is the
Speaker:long game. And a lot of the views that I'm getting are
Speaker:because I put out a. I put out a bunch of content that people
Speaker:are now finding because they're still looking for that content. When
Speaker:it comes to this podcast, this is brand new. I need to get the
Speaker:traction. I need to keep showing up. And I know that it's. It is, though.
Speaker:I'm just being honest that when you are used to putting in
Speaker:this time, seeing it come out on the other side, and maybe
Speaker:just getting used to different numbers can be challenging. So I am in
Speaker:this constant sort of back and forth between my
Speaker:logical brain saying, yes, this is what you expected. And also,
Speaker:oh, this is not what I'm used to.
Speaker:And that's just me being completely honest about what I experience
Speaker:when I look at these numbers. Now, the other thing
Speaker:that I notice when I look at the numbers is that I am not
Speaker:seeing the pattern I do want to see, which is that I want to
Speaker:see traction, where it's going up, and I'm not seeing that
Speaker:right now. And in fact, that is something that I learned from very early
Speaker:days when I started out on YouTube, is I wasn't seeing traction and I knew
Speaker:something had to change, and so I did. And
Speaker:unlike last time, where I actually just kind of pivoted my focus
Speaker:this time, I still want to stick with the type of content I am
Speaker:creating, which is focused on how you can use the
Speaker:momentum formula, the principles, the ideas and concepts behind it,
Speaker:understanding what this is all about and how it
Speaker:practically works. But I want to
Speaker:do it in a way that resonates and that people want to come back
Speaker:for and keep watching and then share. And so
Speaker:this is where I think there's just a lot of mindset work.
Speaker:And I actually, as I was reflecting and preparing for today's
Speaker:episode, thinking about the numbers, thinking about
Speaker:my reaction to those numbers, it made me think
Speaker:of how there are a lot of people I've talked to who have done something
Speaker:successfully in the past, and they have a new idea
Speaker:that they are interested in pursuing, but they hold themselves back from
Speaker:pursuing it, like starting a new channel or starting a new
Speaker:area of focus. Maybe it's not a specific channel, and they
Speaker:have proven that they're able to do this in the past, but
Speaker:they drag their heels, they hold themselves back, they delay and delay
Speaker:and delay, and they'll say to themselves, this is so silly. I know how to
Speaker:do this. Why am I not doing it? And this is an example
Speaker:of where there are stakes, there are concerns. What if I.
Speaker:What if I can't repeat what I've done before? What if I do this and
Speaker:it doesn't work and people see that it doesn't work? And so I know that
Speaker:one of the reasons that a lot of people will delay doing
Speaker:something that they've done before and that has worked is
Speaker:because they have fears of, well, what if this doesn't turn out the way that
Speaker:I expect? Now, luckily for me,
Speaker:I've done a lot of this work, and I'm still trying to do this work,
Speaker:to say, okay, what is the worst that can happen? Okay, the
Speaker:worst is that nobody shows up and nobody finds any value in
Speaker:anything I'm doing. And then the second
Speaker:question is, okay, now, even if something bad happens, might I still
Speaker:be okay? And so when I take that into account of what am I afraid
Speaker:will happen? And also if that bad thing happens, will I still be okay?
Speaker:Constantly reminding myself of that has been really helpful. And
Speaker:it's one of the reasons I want to be very open about my. My
Speaker:numbers and how I'm feeling eight weeks going into this is
Speaker:because this is one of those things that it's not necessarily what
Speaker:I would have chosen. I would have chosen an experience where I
Speaker:would continue to have traction. And that's not necessarily the trend that I'm seeing.
Speaker:But I'm still. I don't regret doing this, and I'm going to
Speaker:continue to put more work into this. And when it comes to that
Speaker:mindset, I think the reason
Speaker:that I feel okay about this is because I truly went into this with
Speaker:an experimentation mindset of saying, I am
Speaker:going in curious, I'm going to try things, and I'm going to see what
Speaker:works and what doesn't. And now that I have a couple months of
Speaker:data that I can look at, I am starting to get some information,
Speaker:maybe what's working and what's not working. And first,
Speaker:let's actually take a look at what I think is going well. And so
Speaker:for me, what is going well is consistency. And that was
Speaker:the whole goal, is that I am showing up week after week
Speaker:and creating regular content. And I am talking
Speaker:about subjects that deeply fascinate me and
Speaker:that hopefully give perspectives. And I have heard from individuals who have said,
Speaker:oh, that's really good insight. I hadn't thought of that. And they are
Speaker:benefiting from the content that they are hearing. And so from that
Speaker:angle, things are going well. The other piece of piece is that I really
Speaker:do enjoy every interaction I have during the Wednesday live,
Speaker:whether there's a larger group or a smaller group. I truly
Speaker:feel gratitude each week when someone says hi in the chat
Speaker:or just engages. That is something that, when I
Speaker:ask those questions, what would it look like if it were fun? It's this. This
Speaker:idea that I am showing up and there's someone else who is there while
Speaker:I'm recording this. That is really. I just. It's
Speaker:a. How do I describe this? It just. It's a highlight of my
Speaker:week and it makes this more enjoyable to create.
Speaker:Now, the other thing that I. That I think is going well is
Speaker:that I have made a commitment to make this podcast.
Speaker:Even when I am not comfortable in my studio at
Speaker:home, I have all of the gear, all of the setup. I feel much more
Speaker:comfortable. I'm not worried about things going wrong, whereas when I'm on the
Speaker:road, it's a little bit of freewheeling. You never know what's going to go wrong.
Speaker:I am not always sure about Internet connection, about my camera,
Speaker:my microphone, all of that, and just saying, you know what? I'm going to
Speaker:try and do this scrappy anyway. Now, it's partly to just show that it
Speaker:does not need to be complicated. This is both showing myself, but also showing
Speaker:others that it is possible to continue making content
Speaker:if you've kind of made that commitment. And so that part feels really good to
Speaker:me. I also think that given my
Speaker:current capacity, so all of the commitments, the things that
Speaker:I have going on in both my professional and personal life,
Speaker:I think that I am doing a good job of showing up week
Speaker:after week. Even when a week might be a little bit chaotic or I have
Speaker:a lot of things on my plate, I'm still making an effort to show up.
Speaker:I do notice, personally, I feel different about the
Speaker:content week to week, and there are weeks that I feel better and weeks that
Speaker:I'm a little bit harder on myself. But I think that's really normal and part
Speaker:of it now. What's what I want to focus on next? So I'm not
Speaker:going to say what's not going well. I already kind of shared that the numbers
Speaker:aren't trending upwards, and that's a sign to me that people aren't necessarily
Speaker:coming back and they're not necessarily sharing. And when
Speaker:I look at my content and the podcast, there are a lot of thoughts that
Speaker:I have about what I would do differently if I had infinite time.
Speaker:Now I don't have infinite time. So what I wanna do is focus
Speaker:on the thing that I think has the most impact
Speaker:for my podcast and that is really zeroing
Speaker:in on my preparation around creating valuable content.
Speaker:And when I say valuable, I mean it is content where
Speaker:every single episode there's a clear
Speaker:objective of this is what you're going to get from this. And so when
Speaker:a person is done listening to it, I think Jay Clouse calls it the passing
Speaker:the regret test, they do not regret spending that time with me
Speaker:because they took something away. Whether that is a new
Speaker:concept, a new insight, maybe understanding themselves a bit
Speaker:better, or maybe feeling compelled to try something different
Speaker:because of what they learned in the episode. So that is what
Speaker:I want to take away. But I also want to think about the concept of
Speaker:shareable content worth sharing. And
Speaker:that is both for me, wanting to share content. Because if I'm being honest,
Speaker:if there are weeks where I wasn't as proud of the work, I don't really
Speaker:tell people about it as much. But if I had a really good week, I
Speaker:am willing to, I want to share it. So there's what's the content
Speaker:I want to share and what's content that when
Speaker:someone listens to that podcast episode, they want to share it with
Speaker:someone else because it really landed with them. They got value
Speaker:and they could pass it along to someone else and say, yeah, I really got
Speaker:value. Because there are so many other things you can focus on
Speaker:when it comes to podcasts and especially YouTube based
Speaker:podcasts where you can focus on titles,
Speaker:thumbnails, descriptions, how do you
Speaker:package the episode? All of that stuff helps and
Speaker:I will start to look into that. But
Speaker:a good title, a good thumbnail, all of that stuff doesn't matter if
Speaker:it's not a valuable video, if it's not content worth sharing. And that's
Speaker:why I want to direct first my attention to the preparation
Speaker:given that I do this live. I want to make sure that the
Speaker:coherent ideas that I'm putting together and what I construct
Speaker:so that when I deliver it, people feel like it's valuable content,
Speaker:then I can start to tweak. I can definitely spend more time.
Speaker:I mean, you can spend all the time in the world on titles and thumbnails.
Speaker:And I have constraints, which is helpful, but I know that I
Speaker:can get better at that. However, that to me comes later. I want
Speaker:to go with the highest leverage thing, which is to deliver high value content
Speaker:that people want to share and that I also want to share with other people.
Speaker:I think that I can also later on start
Speaker:to get and pay more attention towards promotions,
Speaker:sharing more about the podcast, but also getting the podcast in front of other
Speaker:people that might look like guest spots, collaborations.
Speaker:And then I also might consider looking into what are some
Speaker:things I can change with the maybe format, what's included,
Speaker:do I have conversations right now it's just me
Speaker:offering insight, maybe suggestions, examples and stories.
Speaker:There are other opportunities potentially that I could grow into.
Speaker:I do not at this time foresee myself wanting
Speaker:to be an interview style show for multiple
Speaker:reasons, one for consistency, but there
Speaker:are still things I could experiment with. However, I think I want to get that
Speaker:solid foundation first. So that's what I'm really focusing on.
Speaker:Because at the moment the fact that I'm seeing the numbers get a
Speaker:little bit smaller is giving me a sign that people have heard something
Speaker:and maybe they didn't get quite what they were expecting out of it. And I
Speaker:want to match the expectations of the listener.
Speaker:I also want to hear from other people who have listened to
Speaker:the podcast and that includes you right now, if you are hearing this,
Speaker:to share with me what has given you value, if anything,
Speaker:or what would be valuable, what would make you want to show up to
Speaker:press play and to hear what is being said on
Speaker:this week's episode or next week's episode of the Momentum
Speaker:Experiment podcast. Because I do really want to get feedback from
Speaker:people. I have heard from a few folks who said, oh, I finally got around
Speaker:to listening and I listened to a few episodes. I really like it. But I
Speaker:also want to hear more specific stuff of what really stood out for
Speaker:you. What do you want more of? Maybe what also do you want less of?
Speaker:But of course, be kind. There are multiple
Speaker:ways you can share that information with me, whether you want to comment,
Speaker:letting me know what you want to see more of, maybe what you want to
Speaker:see less of. I do also have a form for questions that is linked in
Speaker:every episode and you could use that to ask questions, but you
Speaker:could also just share that as a way to give feedback about the
Speaker:podcast. And are there topics that you want me to
Speaker:explore? Things that you've wondered about in your own life? Please
Speaker:share those with me as well. But this is where I am
Speaker:right now, eight weeks into this experiment and
Speaker:I really do feel committed to this over a long term.
Speaker:I know a lot of podcasts sort of flame out. Many people
Speaker:do not make it. I can't remember the stats off the top of my head,
Speaker:but it's very, very low. How many podcasts stop
Speaker:after? I think it's in single digits. And so I've got a couple more weeks
Speaker:to make it into the double digits. But I am committed to the
Speaker:podcast, to making it better, and to make it something that is worth
Speaker:sharing so that people can understand that
Speaker:these topics, these concepts are applicable. And how can you use
Speaker:these in your own life so that you can find momentum
Speaker:and keep it.
