Last week, I took the entire week off of blogging and all things related to work and social media. My wife and I celebrated ten years of marriage back in April and just had the time to celebrate it at the end of September.

Life happens, right?

Anyway, one of the things that’s interesting about taking time off is that it takes a day or two to really decompress, you know? You have to mentally get out of the mindset of work, of keeping up with your apartment or home and being a parent (if you are a parent).

We spent the majority of the time literally doing nothing but sitting on the beach and reading. But during time at dinner, we’d talk about various things such as our goals for certain things we have planned.

Working Title: On The Beach

And for me, one of the ideas I’ve been toying with for sometime now is the idea of starting a podcast. But the thing that anyone who’s anyone doing a podcast faces are several inevitable questions.

Working Title: A Question & Answer Podcast

I don’t really have these in any particular order, but some of the questions that I think naturally rise to the surface (or I hope naturally rise to the surface) go something like this:

  • Why would I bother doing it when so many other people are doing it well, already?
  • Isn’t the space crowded?
  • What new could I bring to the table that isn’t already being done?
  • Why is what I have to say any more valuable that someone else has to say?
  • Is anyone truly interested in what it is I’d be sharing?
  • …and so on.

Ultimately, all of these questions fall into two categories (as far as I can tell):

  1. Self-Doubt
  2. Fear

And as natural as they may be, how is this any different than building or releasing a product? You can ask yourself the same thing about anything you attempt to do from starting a business to building your first WordPress plugin.

So to address the two, I thought I’d answer them the same way as if someone were asking me why they should start a podcast.

On Self-Doubt

The feeling itself is natural, for many – though not all – but that shouldn’t be a deterrent. The worst thing that can happen is that no one is really interested in what you’re sharing.

But even then, I question that.

Instead, could it not be the format that you’re sharing it? Or perhaps it’s how you’re sharing it? Luckily, there are various ways to produce a podcast.

Try it and if that doesn’t work, recalibrate and try again.

I don’t know a single person who didn’t have an uphill climb in doing what they do.

Fear

Anytime you start something new; fear sits in the back of your mind saying:

This isn’t going to work.

Or something like that. But I genuinely do believe that you never know until you try.

And this is where I began to have a big of clarity around what I might want to try as a podcast.

A QA Format (With a Catch)

I’m not particularly interested in doing the “interview others” for a podcast because other people are doing them so well and they are interviewing such interesting people.

But I did wonder if there’s not some room for a question-and-answer format. I know many podcasts end their episodes like this. However, I’m interested in experimenting with short podcasts (that is 10 – 15 minutes max) and those that answer questions.

So perhaps the best way to start is with members and then branch out from there if it works. And I can gauge that on feedback.

If you’re reading this section of the post, then it means you’re a member of the site. First off, thank you! Secondly, you’re – as I said – the target audience, I have at first. It’s not only meant to be a trial for this, but it’s also meant to be something as yet-another-advantage of being a member of the site.

So how is this going to work?

Easy: I’ve set up a page that only members can access (via this link) and you can submit your question to answer. As frequently as possible (I’m starting with a goal of doing two podcasts per month), I’ll answer as many questions as possible that are submitted.

And here’s how I’m judging the criteria for the podcast:

  • If none are submitted, then there’s no market for the podcast.
  • If they are submitted, then please make sure that you mention whether or not you want to remain anonymous or if you’re okay with me using your first name. I’m completely fine either way, but I’d like to give credit to the person asking the question, when possible.

And that’s it! I’m not looking to do anything particularly fancy other than simply answer questions and perhaps produce a podcast that serves others in a convenient manner (and as short as possible) without trying to crowd the space too many.

Submit Your Questions (But First, Members Only)

So that’s that! If you’re a member of the site, you have everything you need to get started. And if not, that’s okay. You can either sign up or wait until later to see if this thing proves to be a success.