Why Podcasting is My Favorite Pastime (and You Should Try It!)

Bryan Entzminger: 00:00:00

Today is Saturday, October 6, and the prompt for today is what's your favorite pastime or hobby?

This prompt is fun for me to answer, but it also feels a little bit strange because my hobby turned into a fairly successful freelance business that right now is facing some challenges. So it's sort of a hobby and sort of a business, and right now, kind of in limbo a bit. My hobby is podcasting. You're hearing that right now.

Or more specifically, I enjoy creating and editing audio podcasts. Now, I've started dipping my toe into the world of video, and I like it, but I'm still pretty new to that.

However, as it relates to podcasting and the mechanics of it, I really love, and sometimes really dislike what podcasting can make possible from a technology standpoint, it's possible for pretty much everybody to have a voice and to share whatever they create. And there are really no rules, if you will.

Now, there are some industry leaders that are continuing to try to challenge or push on some of the rules, some of the things that have kind of held the industry back and trying to expand those possibilities. Do you want to host an interview show? You can do that. If you want an example, you can check out the show that I hosted, the engaging missions show.

I will have links for this stuff if you're interested in checking that out. If you want to host a monologue or a co host it or a panel show, you can do that. I'm doing a monologue show right now.

Or you can check out the podcast gauntlet. If you want to host a news show, you can do that. You can check out pod news, the Pod news daily review, or the Pod news newsletter rather.

If you want to host a true crime show, I think pretty much everybody knows that you can do that. But what about narrative or fiction shows? Yeah, you can do that. How about a music show?

I mean, if you can get the rights to the music, you can do that. Check out the boostagram ball. Do you want to share your original music? Podcasting actually makes that possible as well.

You can check out the music section on Truefans FM if you want to hear that. Do you want your show to be available in every app? Yeah, you can do that. Do you want to restrict your show to just one app or platform?

You can do that.

But, but why would you, would you like to be able to share your views without worrying that some tech giant can easily cancel your show completely just because they like it? Looking at you, YouTube, you can do that.

Those in my mind are building on one central theme podcasting gives you the opportunity to share your voice, and it makes it very hard, if not impossible, for you to be canceled. Now, what about the cost? I mean, this is about my hobby, but let's be clear, it's also been a business for me. So, like, let's talk about the cost.

It's okay. And it can cost money to produce a podcast. It doesn't have to be an outrageous budget.

I know we hear in the news about people spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. For most podcasters, that's not the case. Maybe $100 upfront, maybe a couple hundred dollars upfront, and maybe $20 a month could get you started.

Now for sure. You absolutely can spend more. Starting a show can be overwhelming.

So I've had people hire me in the past to help them with the initial setup or the ongoing editing and podcast management. But it doesn't have to be that way.

If you have the knowledge, the time, and the commitment to continuous improvement, you may not need somebody like me. And there are becoming more and more ways, if you want to, to offset the cost.

Some of these you probably know about advertising, sponsorship, selling merch, selling premium content, that kind of stuff.

The one that really interests me right now is value for value, where if you as a listener receives something, or if your listeners receive some value, you just ask for them to return some of that value back in whatever way they feel is appropriate, whatever it was worth to them. But of course, you don't have to offset the cost if you don't want to.

You don't have to make money, because hobbies can be hobbies if you want them to be, it's okay for a hobby to cost money. Don't ask any of your golfer friends how much they paid for clubs and memberships and green fees and the fancy pants they wear.

And then also ask them, well, did you make any money at it? Because unless they're using it as a networking opportunity to build a business separate from that, most golfers only lose money.

And that's okay, because hobbies are not intended to get to yield money necessarily. But let's get back to my hobby, podcasting. For me, podcasting is a hobby, but it's also more than a hobby. It's a passion.

It's a business where I'm able to serve, and it's something that I want to see more people enjoy.