Podcasters Powering Through The Pandemic

Evo Terra: [00:00:00] Being on lockdown socks, but if it's any consolation, you're not alone. Here's how a few other working podcasters are making it through these trying times.

[00:00:16] Hello, and welcome to another podcast. Pontifications with me, Evo Tara. So how are you doing? Are you okay out there? I'm doing much better this week because I tried to avoid too heavy of topics that I got into last week, and I think I did a good job of them. Um, but I just wanna know how you're doing. I think one of the things I'd like to do with this show, at least for a while, at least until we kind of get in the clear, is do a check in with you, my listening audience, and I'll give you information from me, like, for example, um, we're fine.

[00:00:52] We're on lockdown. I say we in the fact that it's me who always works here from the studio and my lovely wife, Sheila D, who has been on work from home, like many of your spouses have been on work from home, I'm sure, or maybe many of you are on work from home right now. So we've been doing great. We're getting along just fine.

[00:01:09] No problems. They're finding things to do. We are on complete lockdown because both of us have been. A rocking, a little bit of an elevated fever for, well, Sheila for a little over a week and me for most of this week, minor fever, low, low, low grade fever, but a fever. No other symptoms, no cough, no aches, no pains.

[00:01:32] Oh, little sleepiness here and there because that's comes with an elevated temperature, but nothing to be concerned about. Nothing that we're terribly concerned about. Yes, we have called into the hotline numbers and described our symptoms and travel history and exposure, and they, that medical professionals have advised us, just do what we're doing.

[00:01:50] Quarantine at home. So we are, we're reading to our grandkids. Uh, a couple of nights a week to be good and, you know, stay in their lives, communicating with their family through various video and foreign chats. And as well as professionally. I'm talking the podcast, resolve the time I've got my, my clients.

[00:02:07] We all work remotely anyhow, so for us, it hasn't been a giant snag, a huge pain in the butt yet. You know, we're bracing for that, we're prepping for that, but, you know, we're also hoping that everybody does what they need to do. We take this seriously. We stay away from other people, wash our hands, respect the quarantines and all that stuff so that we come out of this as as well as we can.

[00:02:33] That's how I'm doing now. For the rest of the show. I want to let you know how a couple of other working podcasters who are listeners of this show, and that's Sam Walker from desert diaries as well as Tom Rigsby with seven minutes in the morning, I want you to hear how they are doing, and so I'm going to play that in just a moment, but I'd also want to hear from you.

[00:02:55] So if you want to send a short audio clip, a minute or two is fine. That lets me know about you and your podcast and how you're doing. Through all of this. I'd love to hear it. I'll share it here on the program. Let's hear from the people.

[00:03:11] Sam Walker: [00:03:11] Hi Evo. My name is Sam Walker and I am a host. I used to be a broadcast host on the BBC for nearly 20 years before I quit my entire life and moved to Phoenix, Arizona last year. See the podcast, some walkers, desert diaries for details. Uh, I make podcasts, desert diary as being one of them, which I host and right there kind of a selection of real life short stories.

[00:03:34] Actually, my. Actual life falling apart around my ears, but I also work as a podcast developer and editor and I worked with a bunch of clients, both in the UK and the U S and I would say a lot of my clients, it's kind of business as usual. I have had approximately 48,000. Okay. Slight exaggeration calls over the last few weeks of clients saying, how do I record remotely?

[00:03:58] How can I do my interview show now that I can no longer be in the same room as people? Which as we all know, is challenging because it all depends on the technical capability of a, the host and B, the interview E as to how good that podcast is going to sound. So that's been a lot of very challenging conversations.

[00:04:16] Also, I've been talking to a lot of people about. Changing the entire nature of their podcast. One of the podcasts I make for women's business organization, Northern power women, is usually taped in front of a live studio audience every month. Well, that isn't going to happen, but she still has a network of thousands and thousands of senior business leaders who now we're all sitting working from home thinking, what the heck do I do?

[00:04:37] So we've completely reshaped that whole podcast, and that's gonna now launch and go from a monthly hour long podcast to a weekly 15 minute podcast all about the challenging times and how you work around. Yeah. Um, from a personal point of view, what's been really weird is I'm, I'm genuinely quite a solitary worker.

[00:04:55] I've really realized, I like sitting in my little home studio and editing and developing and writing free works and narratives for large podcasting products, which is great. And I'm still doing that. But I have little people on the door every five minutes, which is really challenging when either my brain is right in the middle of trying to work out quite a complicated structure for something.

[00:05:19] Or I'm mid ed it and we know what that feels like. Or I'm on a call to some stressed out client in the UK who's going, what do I do now? And I've got some little person shouting that they've got orange squash down their front. Do you know what orange squash is. No, let's move on. Anyway. Uh, it's, yeah, so lots of challenges from clients, lots of challenges from children and the change in working environment.

[00:05:44] So bizarrely myself, isolation is probably is more social than my life normally is. Although I do miss meeting you for coffee VO, that's put that on the diary for what, five or six months time?

[00:05:58] Thom Rigsby: [00:05:58] Hey there. Emo. This is Tom Rigsby from what is usually a five day a week video podcast called seven minutes in the morning and talk radio for entrepreneurs, a syndicated radio show. Um, I say normally five day a week. Podcast, because the biggest change that has happened to us and what we're working on during this whole coronavirus thing is that we have switched up the show, um, to go, first of all, to go seven days a week.

[00:06:27] So we run the show every day of the week, and we changed our content model a little bit. We've switched our model so that we are talking about first and foremost right now, the things that. Business owners and leaders need to focus on and do today to first be able to survive this virus outbreak. And then once we are over the hump and we're ready to reboot our businesses on the other side, what can I do now to prepare and what should I do as we are on the other side of this hump?

[00:07:03] There's some worry, when will we come out? How do we know if it's time to start? How am I going to be able to fulfill all those orders, do those services, those sorts of things. So those are the kinds of things that we've started talking about. I do try to include that little bit of inspiration, a quote of the day or something so that we're not always talking about doom and gloom.

[00:07:28] And finally. We're just nurturing the community. We already have a, a great thriving community of business owners and leaders that participate in the show every day. Um, whether they participate, participate while the show is live, or whether they follow up later on in the comments. There's a lot of chatter that goes on in between the members of the community, and that's fantastic.

[00:07:52] And we want to really promote and facilitate that. Especially right now. Because it's always difficult for business owners to have the support and nurturing that they need. Because we see the world differently. And so to have those other people that see the world differently as well can be a real encouragement.

[00:08:15] But when times are especially tough, it's great to know that you're not out there alone. That's really how this has impacted me. It's impacted my team and how we are delivering. Uh, the podcast, uh, our listenership is up. The number of people participating in the live show is up. Hope that helps my work every day is working with business owners and leaders to help them, you know, just have the business that they want to have and, and feel confident and secure in that business.

[00:08:47] So if there's ever anything I can do to help you or anybody on your team, your audience, by all means, feel free to ask. Thanks for everything that you do. It's an encouragement to see other people out there still in the grind. And, uh, we'll talk to you again soon.

[00:09:05] Evo Terra: [00:09:05] So I wish both Sam and Tom the best, and I hope you're doing well as well. As a reminder, please just send me your audio clips of how you're doing as a working podcaster. What does the pandemic mean to you and how have you been impacted? I'll be sharing them either here on the regular program or maybe as a bonus episode if I get enough of them.

[00:09:25] So please send it in. Evo add podcast launched up pro. Enjoy your Friday and then your weekend. I shall be back on Monday with yet another podcast. Pontifications cheers.

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