Ask a dozen podcasters to define success
Evo Terra:and you'll get a dozen answers.
Evo Terra:But I think they all have a common thread, a thread available to every podcaster
Evo Terra:that, when pulled, keeps them in the game.
Evo Terra:Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
Evo Terra:Weird question, are you watching Ted Lasso?
Evo Terra:I know this is a show about podcasting, but I'm rewatching Ted Lasso.
Evo Terra:I watched it originally.
Evo Terra:I'm on round two now.
Evo Terra:And let me tell you, it is every bit as good the second time around.
Evo Terra:If you haven't tried out Ted Lasso, it's on Apple TV, you should
Evo Terra:totally get a copy of Ted Lasso.
Evo Terra:It's amazing.
Evo Terra:And there's a line in the series where Ted tells a reporter something that
Evo Terra:sounds really dumb to say to a reporter.
Evo Terra:He says that success for him as a coach or a manager, isn't about wins or losses.
Evo Terra:And of course there's more to that story.
Evo Terra:So what I want to do today is take that same idea, not being about wins and
Evo Terra:losses, not being about success, at least that's not how we define success.
Evo Terra:I want to refactor that to have a little bit of a chat about podcasting
Evo Terra:that I think might help you.
Evo Terra:Because to me, success as a podcaster isn't about having a big podcast.
Evo Terra:It's about being proud - proud of you as a podcaster and your podcast itself.
Evo Terra:So my question to you today is are you proud of yourself as a podcaster and
Evo Terra:are you proud of the podcast you have?
Evo Terra:Now, by the way, for my religious friends out there,
Evo Terra:screw the deadly sin crap, okay?
Evo Terra:Ignore that for a minute.
Evo Terra:Deal with that Sunday.
Evo Terra:Right now, you're making content.
Evo Terra:You're putting out content into the world.
Evo Terra:You're putting yourself into the world.
Evo Terra:And as much as I avoid the word "should" in my vocabulary, listen, you should
Evo Terra:be proud of the work that you do.
Evo Terra:And if you're not proud of what you're doing right now as a podcaster, you
Evo Terra:should be - yes, there I go again - you should be working on that pride.
Evo Terra:You should be working on the things you are doing so that you can make yourself
Evo Terra:proud of them at some time in the future.
Evo Terra:Pride is a, it's a tricky thing.
Evo Terra:It's an overused word, I think honestly.
Evo Terra:I mean, we're supposed to be proud of the States we were born in
Evo Terra:or the country we were born in.
Evo Terra:I had no control over that.
Evo Terra:But we can take control over the pride we have in ourselves as podcasters
Evo Terra:and of the podcasts we produce.
Evo Terra:That's something we have control over.
Evo Terra:That's really all I'm trying to say to you today.
Evo Terra:You know, with all the churn, uncertainty, doubt we're seeing
Evo Terra:right now in podcasting, which we can't control, what we can control,
Evo Terra:what we should - there's that word again - control is the pride we have.
Evo Terra:The making of content so that we are proud of the work that we are doing and the
Evo Terra:work that we're going to do in the future.
Evo Terra:And listen, does pride equal money?
Evo Terra:No.
Evo Terra:Look, money is going to flow into podcasting the way money
Evo Terra:flows into podcasting, but I implore you, if possible, do not
Evo Terra:let that define success for you.
Evo Terra:Same thing for attention, audience size.
Evo Terra:Look, attention is always, I'm sorry to say this, but attention is always
Evo Terra:going to be disproportionately allocated to big podcasters who
Evo Terra:say oftentimes ignorant things.
Evo Terra:And yeah, that's unfortunate, but there is nothing we can do about that.
Evo Terra:We can't control that.
Evo Terra:What we can control is how proud we are of the shows we make, the efforts
Evo Terra:we put into making those podcasts and those episodes and how that effort
Evo Terra:changes us as people, even when we're not sitting behind a microphone.
Evo Terra:Never forget that.
Evo Terra:Never forget that.
Evo Terra:We should be able to take control of the pride we feel in ourselves as
Evo Terra:podcasters, even outside of podcasting.
Evo Terra:Thanks for that, Ted.
Evo Terra:Now, if you know a podcaster who needs to be reminded of this, please forward
Evo Terra:this to them because I think, time to time, we all need reminding of this.
Evo Terra:And if you wish to show me your appreciation for reminding
Evo Terra:you of this, again, please go to buymeacoffee.com/EvoTerra.
Evo Terra:That's it.
Evo Terra:I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.