BONUS: Every Podcaster Needs These Takeaways from PodSummit 2025

[00:00:00] This bonus episode is a podcaster’s grab bag, as in a whole bunch of tips and insights that you definitely will want to hear if you are a podcaster or you are considering starting a podcast in the health and wellness space. This past week, I attended Pod Summit 2025 here in Canada. I took two days worth of seminars and networking, collected a whole bunch of knowledge, and now I’ve boiled it down into some concise takeaways that I wanna share with you today in this episode.

[00:00:28] It was so great. There was a rep from YouTube there, from shore microphones. There were hosting companies, analytics companies. Jan Arden was there, so we got a ton of insights. On what’s working, what’s coming up? Strategies to apply to grow and improve your show right now. Uh, a lot of talk about ai of course, no surprise there.

[00:00:48] So whole bunch of stuff I’m really excited to get into. I’m Joel Oliver and this is Profits Through Podcasting.

[00:00:55] Perhaps surprisingly, I had been working in podcasting for the better part of a decade now, and I have never gone to any in-person podcasting events. Schedule never really lined up. Me being in Canada most of the time and most of the events being in the US just never happened, and I was never actually really aware of the massive benefits that would come from going.

[00:01:17] Understood that, that maybe I would’ve gone to one a little sooner. But, uh, I would see the photos on LinkedIn and think that looks kind of fun. Like these people who had only ever connected online were actually getting together in person and, and being there face to face but I’d just never done it. But anyway, this year the stars aligned and I was able to attend Pod Summit 2025 in Calgary, Canada. It’s the second year for this event, so it’s really only in its infancy, but, uh, massive success. Great crowd, really good people there. As I mentioned, from all walks, whether it’s companies, podcasters who are more on the established side, quite big, some who hadn’t even started their podcast yet, just a really good group of people.

[00:02:00] And now whether you’re interested in podcasting enough to actually go to a podcasting event, that would be your call. But I can say at the very least. Consider this my first takeaway here. Make an effort to go to some events or conferences that would be relevant to you. If you’re in health and wellness, then that’s great.

[00:02:16] Find some events either broadly related or more relevant to your specific niche, whatever that looks like. Or, you know, if you’re interested in something like marketing for your business or you want an entrepreneurship mastermind, that sort of thing. Look around, see what’s out there, determine what is going to work best for you, what would align with your goals, because you may want to improve in the marketing department, or there might be something on your mind, whether it’s say, finding clients or just connecting with professionals who are doing similar things to you.

[00:02:47] You know, consider all that. Consider what your budget is, what you’re able to go to, but definitely. Give it that thought and make it happen. It totally changes things to get out. In the real world like that and, and meet people. If that’s not part of your business as it is right now.

[00:03:03] I really enjoy the whole experience getting to actually see the people behind these companies. You know, that for, for the most part, a lot of this stuff I just know as a domain name. Like I’ll type in a domain, I’ll go to a website. I use it, maybe use the service or clients use the service, but you’re not really thinking that there are actual real humans that built this stuff and founders and co-founders who are really passionate about what they’re doing.

[00:03:27] So to actually get in a room with people like that and put faces to companies and names is really neat. Uh, I really appreciated seeing the enthusiasm as well. I kind of relate this to me, working at home a lot, you know, just virtually I don’t get out. So you don’t feel that energy, that enthusiasm within your space, whatever it is, if you’re not going out.

[00:03:48] So for me, being podcasting, you know, to get out in this room and see how excited people were and developments companies were working on and new podcasters there that were just wanting to take in as much information as they could and meet people. It’s really cool. And it gives you perspective on the size of the industry as well.

[00:04:05] Because again, if you’re not ever going to any of these events, it feels small, right? But when you actually go out and get in a real room. Wow, there’s big companies here. There’s a lot of money behind this. There’s, uh, a big industry. There’s a future, you know, a lot of people thinking about how to tackle certain challenges, so that’s great being able to nerd out and talk about the industry.

[00:04:26] So in this case, podcasting. But in your case, whatever, uh, type of event you happen to go to, it’s neat to know that everyone is here to both talk about something you’re interested in and also to meet other people. You know, it’s uh, it’s not awkward to go up to someone and say hello. They like everyone’s literally waiting for that.

[00:04:44] So the whole thing is really great. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to, ’cause you meet interesting people and you want to. Further those conversations and learn more about what they do. But you have a limited amount of time. In this case, it was a two day conference with only limited amount of actual networking and talking time.

[00:05:02] So we’re trying to meet as many people there as possible, but still they’re so interesting. You want to talk further. So I recommend looking at following up. In those cases, make the connections at the event, get some good face to face time so people remember who you are. I like to make notes. If I tell someone I’m gonna follow up in a certain way, like introduce them to someone, that sort of thing.

[00:05:22] Make a quick note, get them on LinkedIn, swap business cards, whatever it is, and then follow up on that after, but use the time there. To meet new people and then solidify the connections to the extent possible. But try not to spend the entire time, hanging out with the first couple of people that you met at the event, which we have a great tendency to do because you develop these great relationships and you want to see those people more.

[00:05:44] But definitely maximize the networking time there when you go to these events.

[00:05:49] Okay, so the next takeaway from Pod Summit 2025 is keep being authentic. Now, I suspect you’re probably tired of hearing this word and talking about it. I know we’ve had a lot of in-depth conversations about it and stress its importance over the years, but we’re gonna be talking about this authenticity thing until the end of time when it comes to content creation and it’s only getting more important.

[00:06:14] There’s a guy named Matt Hird. He’s from Signal Hill Insights. If you follow any of the podcast data surveys out there, you might have seen this company’s name before because they do a lot of this stuff and collect data from consumers about their podcast consumption, their habits, that sort of thing.

[00:06:30] Matt shares some really interesting stuff, and one point that stood out to me was the fact that consumers feel podcasting has an edge when it comes to authenticity. Uh, compared to other media. So they actually feel that there’s more authenticity coming from podcasts they listen to. They’re really able to connect with the hosts and we wanna keep it that way.

[00:06:48] part of this, I think comes from the fact that there’s no real filter on podcasting. You are not having to be hired by a big media corporation to to have a voice. You don’t have a boss on your back telling you what you can and cannot say. you can just do the show that you want to do, and of course, that would end up being more authentic, right?

[00:07:08] Anyone can just join. There’s a low barrier to entry. Do the show that they want. So it makes sense that people feel there is more authenticity coming from podcasting, that’s a huge benefit, and as I said, this is, I think, gonna become more important. With especially the prominence of ai, which we’ll get into, and the fake content that’s coming out from that, and the struggle that we’ve all probably faced over the years of wanting to present as authentic and be ourselves, but perhaps getting a little reserved when we get in front of a camera or behind a mic, we’re no longer ourselves, the person we be with our friends. We have to keep things a little dialed back or whatever. Even if it’s not intentional, it just happens. And not, not to say that you need to be your complete unfiltered self in your podcast. There’s a time and place for everything. But understanding more what authenticity looks like, I think is very important.

[00:07:57] You know, and, uh, I got a good glimpse of that at this event. ’cause one of my favorite people there. Who was on stage was Jann Arden. Now if you’re a Canadian, you’ll know that name. She had some really good songs, in my opinion. Hit songs in the the nineties and probably some after that, but there’s a really good album from the nineties, and Jann, went on to become a podcaster.

[00:08:22] She’s been doing her current show now for about five years. Prior to that, she had another one. and over the years she’s had various media presence, guest appearances on shows, that sort of thing. So she kind of, and she was outspoken on topics that she felt strongly about, so she didn’t just do some music and kind of fade away.

[00:08:38] She had a bit of a prominence in Canadian media over the years and just became more of a, a known public figure beyond just a, a musician and I have to say Jann’s comfort in front of a crowd. And just being able to say what was on her mind was just unmatched. In her words at 63 years old.

[00:08:57] She has no doubt in her life, she lives with the absence of doubt. She’s not overthinking things. She’s just her. And, you know, I really, I really admire that quality. It’s something that I would like to do. Myself, I’m, I’m constantly working towards, it’s just magnetic. It’s charismatic to see someone like that, you know, she’s just been on stage so much and she’s at that point in her life that she’s just completely comfortable and it’s great to see, you know, like she set the tone for the room.

[00:09:26] She’s gonna be the first one to get on stage and use a swear word, and then everyone else kind of feels like, oh, okay, we can, yeah, it’s cool. It’s, it’s relaxed in here, that sort of thing. And if, if anyone had a problem with it, she wouldn’t have cared. So that’s where the authenticity comes from. Jan emphasized the importance in, I’m using her words in offending people.

[00:09:47] now that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are trying to say things to anger people. Like, I want to make people angry. Uh, especially, you know, we’re talking the context of health and wellness podcasting here. We’re not trying to go out of our way to be offensive to anyone, but her point was, and the thing that we can take away.

[00:10:04] From this is is just she’s being herself. The right people are going to like you, and then the wrong people are going to dislike you and that’s exactly what you want. Maybe they will write mean comments. Maybe someone will disagree with your take on whatever it is that you talk about in the health and wellness space, or they’ll be jealous of you or whatever the case.

[00:10:23] But Jann was explaining that apathy. Is killing the world in, in her opinion because people are scared to speak up. She put it as monetizing authenticity. She has been successful off being herself, and there are people out there who like her, they like what she says. They like her opinions on things.

[00:10:41] Her style of humor and she is, has been successful in connecting with those people and the ones who don’t like her. She couldn’t care less about. But the importance is she has been that, uh, enough of a polarizing person to attract in the people who would like her and, get rid of the ones that that wouldn’t like her.

[00:10:59] And that’s exactly what we want because if you’re just a milk toast. Personality, no one’s gonna care. And again, this is not saying you have to go out there and be shocking in your podcast. It’s just about being you. If people can see the real you, they can connect with you and they can say, I like that person’s opinion.

[00:11:15] I like the way they talk. If they’re just, they’re very comfortable. Whatever, whatever that looks like for you. The takeaway here is to be authentic. Be yourself. Many of us, whether we want to or not, even though we may try not to, we turn on this mic. And we end up being a different person. So the more we can work towards that not happening and just being you, being comfortable, the more success that you will see.

[00:11:41] We obviously do need some considerations with what we’re doing. I’m not saying to get on your podcast and swear and, uh, become a, a polarizing political figure. It not that, you know, and I don’t necessarily agree with Jann Arden’s opinions on everything, but I have a lot of respect for her ability to just speak freely.

[00:11:59] About what she believes in. She feels compelled to do that. The right people tune in and love her. You know, it’s just don’t let fear of judgment hold you back. Whatever that looks like in your space with your podcast, if you’re doing something and putting yourself out there, it’s almost certain that you were going to get some pushback, right?

[00:12:19] If you’re not getting anything like that, then you’re probably not being seen by. Anyone. So even if you’ve ever thought, oh, I don’t wanna start a podcast ’cause what if I suck and. Even just that, that thought alone, what if I suck? I don’t wanna start. That is exactly what I’m getting at here. Doesn’t matter, just do you.

[00:12:35] Don’t worry about what other people think. You’ll improve along the way, but don’t have any reservations based on judgment from other people. Alright? Authenticity is key. The more we start to understand what that looks like and how we can be authentic and show up in that way on our podcast, on our social media, in everything we do, the better success we will see.

[00:12:57] And so this leads great into my next point because the authenticity thing is going to continue to get more and more important. I wanna talk about AI next. We all know ai. Yes. Crazy. We were talking about it a lot. But, uh, although it has benefits, it’s also coming with many downsides. Uh, as creators, we are worried about ai.

[00:13:17] Slop is the term that’s been coined now. Just mass junk AI generated content with nothing. No real thought behind it. No humanness behind it. Just mass amount of terrible content that is just. Really meaningless. Uh, we’re as content creators perhaps worried that we’re going to be replaced by this type of stuff.

[00:13:39] And as an industry, say, with podcasting, we’re worried about AI taking over our jobs, doing the editing, the writing graphics, all this stuff. So it was interesting to hear people’s opinions on this, who are in the trenches. And ultimately we would like to try to predict the future. We can’t really control it, but know what’s coming next.

[00:13:58] Stay ahead of the curve, stay up to date on the latest tools, and remain relevant, I suppose, is a big concern for everyone. And that’s where you know the authenticity. Ties in. It’s great to learn how to use the new tools that are coming out and not just see the tool. Say, okay, that seems kind of neat, but how are other people using it?

[00:14:20] How are other people thinking about this? So this is a great takeaway that I got from the conference, was hearing what other people in the industry are doing, hearing new ways that they’re using AI that I hadn’t thought of. You know, it’s, it’s good to understand this stuff and that will help you stay relevant.

[00:14:36] Uh, I would say the sentiment for right now, what I took away from everybody who who spoke about AI is that AI is a great way to make things more efficient. Obviously we would love to save time, perhaps save some money, get the same or more work done, but be able to spend more time with our families, that kind of thing.

[00:14:54] So there’s a lot of focus on that in terms of how AI can help us, but relating to that authenticity, I was just speaking about. It seems unlikely that AI will just take over. There’s actually some data, some surveys gone out. People are trying to get a feel from their audience what their take on AI is in the, the case of producing their content or producing podcasts for people.

[00:15:19] The sentiment, at least for now, was pretty negative in the data that I was seeing and hearing here, uh, towards AI generated content. People are tuning into a podcast for a certain reason. They like the presentation, they like the people and this, this word AI is kind of a dirty word to them. They don’t, they don’t like that idea that, you know, you might be tricking me and just using AI to produce this entire thing.

[00:15:42] And maybe the visual of you that I see on screen is all fake. The script was all fake. They’re averse to that. That’s, I don’t think how you’re gonna be connecting with people in the future is there’s more and more junk AI content out there. People don’t want to see that or hear it, I just don’t think it will make that connection.

[00:16:00] So there’s, uh, there’s definitely some negative sentiment there around ai. I remember there’s an example a while back I heard too regarding a newsletter, an email newsletter that had a great audience. Really, really good, uh, engagement. There’s been going on for years and this newsletter started doing one mail a week.

[00:16:22] Regarding their podcast, it was an AI generated summary of their podcast, basically telling people to listen, and that immediately had negative repercussions for this newsletter. People started unsubscribing. They were very upset because the style that they had become accustomed to from this newsletter, the quality of writing.

[00:16:39] Was not there. And they, they had just destroyed that trust very quickly with their audience. We’re, we’re also discussing AI and how it can actually create results. Uh, writing especially, and a lot of people finding they’re just not able to get that exact same tone that comes from them writing themselves.

[00:16:59] And then, you know, just using AI as a proofreader, it just can’t do the same job as humans. This is why copywriters are still being paid. People are, are starting to pick up on the differences when they see just poorly written, boring, average looking content, uh, on a LinkedIn post or an email or whatever, you know, so the pendulum may continue to sig may swing back the other way where people just tire of this AI completely.

[00:17:24] Uh, I suspect it will continue to improve, but we’ll see. They’re also chatting about a bit of a plateau it feels like right now, and not to suggest that AI won’t continue to improve, but it’s a lot of people are feeling like it was getting better and better and better. And now for the last bit, it kind of feels like it’s just.

[00:17:41] There, it’s stagnant. We haven’t seen any amazing developments in terms of how it’s gotten better, surely in the industry. I’m sure there are people building really cool tools out there. But in terms of some things that we would use it for, it’s kind of just been a little stagnant for a while. I’m, I’m certain that will change, but, uh, we’ll definitely keep an eye on it and see where things go.

[00:18:01] But keep the humanness in everything you do. There are some great AI tools out there that are making our workflows better and helping us save time, but ultimately the content. Remains from a human right. We still have humanness where it counts, and the AI is just part of our workflow to help make things more efficient and help improve our lives and help us get more great quality content out there.

[00:18:26] One of the guys gave an example from his company and he actually was talking about the podcast industry and how a lot of editing and production people have to put in some additional hours, some late hours to really make a living. You know, it’s, uh, oftentimes the nine to five, they have to go beyond that because to, to make ends meet, they’ve gotta be doing more work and perhaps the skillset is not valued as much as it could be.

[00:18:50] Or there’s a lot of competition with cheaper options. So in their case, the AI is not replacing their team, but it’s allowing their team to get more done in the run of a day. And actually. Finish up, work at a reasonable hour and go be with their family, that sort of thing. So they are loving the fact that AI is bringing that type of, uh, of opportunity and relief to their business.

[00:19:10] And that’s definitely how you can think about that as well in your business. Don’t replace yourself. Don’t create a whole bunch more watered down, ai, slop content that’s just gonna all meld together, and there’ll be nothing unique about you because you’ve been doing it all with ai. Don’t do that. But definitely use it in your workflow where possible to make more time for yourself.

[00:19:31] Now the next big takeaway from Pod Summit 2025 video and YouTube. Boy, we have a lot of questions around this and it’s been ongoing for a while, but as things continue to evolve and competition gets tougher, we are still very curious. Should we be doing video? How can we do it best? What’s going on with YouTube?

[00:19:51] What do I have to do to promote my podcast? Some people don’t really want to do videos, so they would love to hear the answer that you don’t need it. So here in this section, I’ve got some data and also some recommendations on what to be doing because as I’m saying, a lot of people have added a video element to their podcast.

[00:20:08] Many still have not, and there are people on each side of the debate. Some just don’t want to do it. Some think that you really should. So Alex Paterson from YouTube in Canada gave us some great insights here. At the summit and along with Matt Hird from Signal Hill again, and also James Cridland from Podnews was talking about this a bit.

[00:20:27] So we got to see some interesting insights, and I’m gonna start by throwing out some numbers. So first of all, of the top 250 US podcasts, only half are posting full video to YouTube. 18% are audio only on YouTube, and then of the remainder, most of them are not even on YouTube at all.

[00:20:49] Now, that is definitely something we want to deal with, but we’ll, we’ll get to that in a moment. When it comes to consumption, there’s about a even split 50 50 when it comes to people who just listen to audio only even if there is a video available, and then the other half consuming video. So whatever is there with that podcast, they’ll actually watch it.

[00:21:09] YouTube has taken a lot of market share when it comes to podcast consumption. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it is those people who are watching. The video of a podcast. It could be an audio only podcast on YouTube, or it could be a visual that people just don’t look at, but they’re just using YouTube to subscribe to shows and then play back the episodes.

[00:21:30] So that’s an important note to keep in mind because you need to be on YouTube. There are too many podcasters in my opinion, and I saw from the data who are still not on YouTube, and that includes then YouTube Music, which is like their, their music slash podcast apps. So it’s kind of separate from YouTube.

[00:21:48] Think of it like Apple Podcasts or Spotify rather. You need to be on there because so many people are using YouTube as their primary platform. For podcasting. So if you’re not on YouTube at all, that needs to change. But as I’ve been saying here, this doesn’t mean that you need to produce a full video for your episode.

[00:22:07] You do not need to put the full length video out. It can be audio only, but you definitely want to be on YouTube. Whether you do that full video of your episodes or not, that’s your call. But perhaps what is arguably more important is at least capturing video. For promotion. That’s the way I’ve been looking at things.

[00:22:26] You don’t have to, but of course you’ve seen people putting out reels and shorts to promote their podcast, and if you’re not doing that, I think you’re missing out now. There is a challenge and, uh, I think a disconnect from the idea that using podcast content as. Social content is going to get you more podcast listeners.

[00:22:51] There seems to be a very big challenge there, expecting people to make the jump from seeing a reel of yours on Instagram, let’s say, and then subscribing to your podcast. That’s not gonna happen most likely, but if you’re in the content space, you probably are using an Instagram anyway.

[00:23:08] You know, in my opinion, if someone is following us on Instagram and consuming our content, I got them. That’s good. They can see our stuff. Maybe they’ll wanna do business with us someday. They don’t actually have to subscribe to the podcast. But I get many benefits from doing the podcast and then repurposing that content.

[00:23:25] In the, the case of YouTube, you know, they’ve got shorts. You can put your full episodes there. You can chop up the video into smaller segments, which we’ll we’ll touch on in a moment as well, but. Putting those shorts out, lets a different audience come into contact with your channel and they may subscribe, and then they will be seeing your full episodes or they’ll be seeing more of the shorts.

[00:23:47] But if you’re not recording video at all, you’re, you’re missing out on that potential promotion. Not to say that you’ve got to do promotion in this way with reels and shorts and that type of thing, but it’s, it’s kind of a no brainer at this point. Like you kind of have to be really against doing video to not do it.

[00:24:05] If you actually want to grow and there are other ways. Yes, absolutely. And if you’re more into those ways, then fine. You can still grow a podcast with other means. But if you’re disregarding video completely well, I think you’re definitely leaving some potential on the table. Now on that note, alex from YouTube emphasized the benefits of using YouTube to its full extent. So like I just touched on there, the different formats. Post your full episodes, cut up videos into shorter clips, not, not shorts, but say like five to 10 minutes segments so people can more easily find those.

[00:24:39] You probably yourself have watched videos like that on YouTube where it’s not the full episode, but something you typed in. Uh, you were trying to find an answer to a question. It popped up as a recommended result, just that little segment, or it came up in your recommended videos. Posting these different formats allows you to connect with different audiences.

[00:24:58] On YouTube. And that’s not even just the video elements. Like I said, you know, they have the shorts, they, you can do shorter cuts of your episodes, you can do the full episodes, you can do YouTube lives, you can do posts with text. You can add images to those posts, which by the way, he said those posts on YouTube are a superpower.

[00:25:16] And some people in the crowd reported having very good results with posts like that. So consider that as part of your strategy on YouTube. Um, they talked about the search gap, which is when people are searching for something and it’s not there. So be looking for opportunities like that. What is trending these days or what is not available that people need?

[00:25:36] If you have that in your episodes, cut out those clips and post them So repurposing your content, even just in the context of YouTube, highly important. They are seeing a lot of consumption. Like we mentioned, it’s, it’s an even split, but a lot of it is happening in the living room as they, they call it YouTube living room, people watching tv. They’re sitting on their couch and instead of watching a cable show like years ago, they’re watching YouTube, and that could be your podcast.

[00:26:03] So if you’re not on YouTube at all, again, I cannot stress this enough. You will tap into a bigger audience. You will tap into different audiences within that platform. You have to be on there. It doesn’t have to be video, but uh, it certainly could be beneficial. Okay. They did mention as well that people highly prioritize audio.

[00:26:19] They have very, very little tolerance for poor audio. Video quality people are more forgiving. You know, it doesn’t really matter how good the video is or what’s on the screen, but if your audio is bad, you’re finished, you’re not gonna get any, uh, any watch or listen time. Alex from YouTube also suggested obsessing over your titles and thumbnails on YouTube.

[00:26:42] Keep them unique. He said you need to care about them. I look across YouTube at some of these and I kind of laugh just, oh, another, another person with their mouth open in their hands in the air looking shocked. Okay, great. Yeah. But there’s a reason that you see a lot of this stuff used over and over because they are testing and they’re using what works.

[00:27:02] And that stuff works like showing emotion, an emotion that’s associated with the video, showing that in, in the visual, uh, the quicker you can communicate to people what the video is about. So, you know, facial expression that, that says a lot may, and you’ve seen this all before, maybe some big bold words about something, whatever it is.

[00:27:23] There are reasons that thumbnails look like this, and if you are serious about getting more of an audience, growing your YouTube presence, this is a no-brainer. Okay? And he actually pointed out this is, this is a very shocking stat to me that most of your watch time on your YouTube videos will come from non-subscribers. People could eventually subscribe to you once they see your stuff. Multiple times is kind of how he, he said it works. Whereas you might see a a video from someone that you don’t subscribe to and watch it, and you might not subscribe at that point, but you’ll start seeing a few more of their videos popping up in your recommendations and that sort of thing.

[00:28:00] And eventually. You will subscribe, but because of the the discovery nature of, of YouTube and the recommendations, you’ll have a ton of watch time that is not from existing subscribers, which means you need to try to pull these people in. You need your videos to be as appealing as possible to people who have not even seen you yet.

[00:28:20] So that includes the title and the thumbnail. So really put effort into those. You can test and compare. YouTube’s added, a new feature where you can test multiple images and titles right within the platform, and it will automatically choose the best ones. So they’ve eliminated that pain point of having to do it, uh, manually.

[00:28:40] But absolutely if you are serious about YouTube, put thought into your titles and your thumbnails. He also mentioned that a healthy channel is seeing growth in watch time over time, so don’t necessarily be concerned with views. Because views don’t give you the full picture. Yeah, someone clicked on the video, but they may have clicked away very fast as well.

[00:29:01] What you wanna see over time is an increase in your watch time, and that is a cumulative sum of how long people have spent watching your videos.

[00:29:11] Okay, so that’s video and YouTube takeaways. Now, my final category for Pod Summit 2025 takeaways that you can use as a podcaster.

[00:29:21] I’m gonna call this various, you know, back in the day, back in the nineties when I was a kid, I would go to a store here in Canada called Sam the record Man. To buy CDs, they would always have, uh, a category called various, you know, you’d flip through, there’s alphabetical sorting, but then there is various, that’s where you had all your compilations, your mixed CDs with different artists, different songs on there, like dance Mix 95, you know, so that’s what I’m throwing everything here into this category of various, just some random tips I collected that I think are very relevant and useful to you as a podcaster.

[00:29:55] First of all, think about the audience and not the algorithm. Make the show that you care about and your audience would care about. ’cause we constantly hear about the algorithm these days, and we gotta try to feed the algorithm. We need to do stuff that the algorithm will like. The thing is that ultimately the algorithm is reflective of the audience.

[00:30:13] It’s trying to connect great content with people who would consume it. So if you’re thinking about just trying to appease the algorithm, you’re thinking about it in the wrong way. Make interesting content, content that you would wanna watch, content that’s intriguing to your potential viewers, and that will bring you the success that you are owed.

[00:30:33] Don’t be just trying to hack the algorithm. Think about the actual people Next. Specificity is universal. There are always people out there who are going to be interested in what you’ve got to say. It may take a while to get your message out, but. You know, niching, we heard so much about niching.

[00:30:52] Broader is not necessarily better with the internet. The, the, the world that we live in these days, the algorithms, people can find the content that is made for them. So consider that there’s people out there for you. They want to hear what you have to say. They want to hear your take on things. Whatever the niche might be.

[00:31:10] Be specific. Get into that niche. ’cause there are people that are waiting to, to hear it.

[00:31:15] Next, set your version of consistency and follow it. Be very consistent. You’ve heard me preach that over the years here on profits through podcasting, get better over time and just stay with it. So I met these three guys at the conference. They do a podcast called Sickboy, and it covers the stories of people living with illnesses and their goal is to break stigmas.

[00:31:39] They use humor to do it. So it’s very unique and it’s caught on. Quite a big way. These guys have had over 10 million downloads. They’re now signed with the, the CBC Canada’s National Broadcaster. So they’re getting money through that and uh, they’re doing live shows, all kinds of really cool stuff. They’ve been doing this podcast for 10 years and the first five years they basically weren’t making any money.

[00:32:04] There was not a whole lot going on. They just did it because they enjoyed it. Five years we are talking. So it was essentially a labor of love for a long time, five years in CB. C contacts them and says, Hey, we want to sign you. We want to have you on our network. We’re gonna pay you. You can still retain control over everything.

[00:32:23] We just want to have you under the umbrella. That’s a big deal. So, as I mentioned, they’ve been doing, uh, live shows around now. They, like a whole big thing came from this. They also started their own production company. So the three of them, this is one of their, the things that gives ’em a full-time living now.

[00:32:40] The podcast and their production company. So the proper motivation is what allowed them to hang in there all that time. And for long enough for those things to really happen. They didn’t start it and hope that, you know, six months down the road we’re gonna be rich and famous, and then subsequently quit because that didn’t happen.

[00:32:57] So understanding that podcasting is a long game. You’ve gotta stay con consistent and just keep improving over time is super critical. And I say this a lot too, you know, if you’re considering starting a podcast and it’s for some nefarious reason, let’s say, where you just want fame and you think it’s going to be a great big business model and after a few months you’re gonna be rolling in money, that is absolutely not how it works.

[00:33:22] And if your motivation is something like that, you will just give up. Because you’re not gonna have something to, to keep you going forward or you know, the proper target to move to. They were just happy doing the show. They had fulfillment from, from what they were doing, the stories they were sharing, the change they were making in the world.

[00:33:39] And that is what allowed them to keep going for so long. Podcasting doesn’t have to be all about money, you know, it can be about networking, it can be about sharing stories, making a change, getting your voice out there, meeting people, whatever the case, but. Make sure that your motivation is correct and that you are ready to be committed for that long term to get the results, whatever it is that you actually want.

[00:34:01] Because it takes time. Think about people who do start podcasts and they just, they do it for a few months and stop posting. Like, why even start? I always say that. Why even start? Right? So really important point there. And then, you know, on that note, enjoy the journey.

[00:34:19] This is something that Jesse Lipscomb said. Now he is a actor. He is a TV host. I think he still is, and a whole bunch more stuff. He emphasized this point because at a certain point in his life, in his career, he thought, you know, there’s gonna be a day when I make it. I feel like I’m here. I’m finally here.

[00:34:37] You know? And. He said it doesn’t really happen. ‘ cause one of his biggest claims to fame right now is, uh, he starred on the Netflix series, my Life with the Walter Boys. And that’s a, that’s a very big show. And despite that, you know, pretty big hit being on there. He said what, what happened next was, well, he’s, that show is done and he’s back out getting rejected, left, right, and center for acting roles just like he had been before.

[00:35:04] You know, it doesn’t really change a whole lot. And so that, that moment of I made it, I’m here, didn’t really come. And it’s why you have to enjoy the process. you may never get that feeling of I made. It’s why you gotta get that feeling now I’m here. I’m enjoying the journey. Whatever it brings, that’s enjoyable.

[00:35:25] Okay. Otherwise, you’ll just go your whole life waiting for that big moment and it’ll never come. And you just, you know, you, you were striving your whole life rather than thriving. We don’t want that. So just keep moving forward. Even through the failures, you are moving in the right direction if you are taking steps.

[00:35:41] This was another thing he pointed out. Just enjoy that process and keep going. ’cause not everything’s gonna be a win, but so long as you’re taking those steps, even if it’s you’re getting rejection or something like that, you are moving. In the right direction. So hope that was useful. Those are my takeaways from Pod Summit 2025. I really hope that this event continues. I think it’s, it’s still in its infancy at this point, at only two years in, but it was fantastic. It was cool to see that people from all over Canada came to that.

[00:36:11] And then there was, there’s people from the US as well, a lot, uh, representing companies, but it was a pretty big deal and I think it will continue to grow. Podcasting continues to grow. There’s some great events in other parts of the world as well, including in the us, which as I’ve said, I’ve never gone to any of these before.

[00:36:27] But now having been to POD Summit, which was, you know, being new, one of the smaller ones at this point, but still a great crowd of people. I’m very curious what it would be like to go to one of the even more established events with more people and see what that’s like. And thinking about the networking benefits that would come to it and the fun and the friends and that sort of thing.

[00:36:50] Having gone to this one, as I started the episode with, made me feel very compelled to tell you about the benefits of going to events.

[00:36:58] If you haven’t gone to any or many, at least make that part of your. Your journey and and what you’re doing.