Monday, August 2, 2021

Today: Find out the basics of how this podcast and other podcasts are made. Today we cover how to edit your podcast to sound like a pro with a minimum amount of time, money, and headache.

For help with your podcast, contact Neil Hughes: https://techblogwriter.co.uk/

The audiobook I mention, Unlock Your Charisma: Feel like a Star can be found on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0889YVCMM/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-195466&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_195466_rh_us

Your turn: We'd love to hear from you. Use the "Message" button on the Anchor app to share a story, question, or feedback related to this episode. Or email us at joe@connectioncounselor.com

Learn more: Details about the book, online course, YouTube tutorials and more can be found at www.connectioncounselor.com/executive-presence-place

Music: Earning Happiness by John Bartmann is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License

“Remember, it’s not what you say, do, or wear. It’s how you make people feel that generates executive presence. Nothing. Else. Matters.”

Hello, this is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor, and welcome to another edition of Executive Presence Morsels - bonus episode. Today, we're going to talk about the making of a podcast - the editing.

So you have your equipment and you figured out what you're going to talk about, right? That's what we covered in the first two episodes, the equipment, and then the content, and now you've recorded it. Now, you have to get into its final format, right, before you upload it or post it. How do you do that?

Well, again, we're going to keep things really simple today, just to give you the basics so you can put together a decent, professional sounding episode without spending hundreds of dollars or having to buy really arcane software, sophisticated software or paying an arm and a leg for that..

So with just a minimal amount of editing and thoughtfulness, you can actually create a very clean professional sounding episode. And here's the great thing about editing. Nobody can really tell that you've done it. Right? Even just with the most simplest, basic edits, if you do it with a little bit of practice, it'll be very hard for people, Maybe someone who's got a really good ear and is listening for it; but for the average listener, who's listening to it in their car, or, at the gym or while waiting for coffee, they're not really going to notice the difference and it's going to sound fantastic.

First of all, what do you use to edit the audio, right? So you have the audio recorded, there's a couple options. One, you could use a free software like Audacity. They also have, different types of software you can use on your phone. These all have the basic kind of editing functionality that's very similar. If you've used iMovie or any other sort of editing app, you're probably familiar with the basic functionality. We'll talk about that in a second.

You could also use functionality that [is] sometimes included in the podcasting platform that you're using. For this podcast, I happen to be using, Anchor.fm. I don't use it for my other podcasts, but I am using it for this. And Anchor recently released its own editing, sort of, not really software, but ability to edit it, on their website and on your device. And that functionality is also very similar.

So, how do you use it? There's some really, really basic steps to take. The first, I'm just going to call it trimming. And that's what it sounds like.

There's usually a lot of, kind of banter or getting ready and background noise at the beginning. And then at some point you're like, all right, we're getting ready to record. And then you're off. You want to get rid of everything up until the point where you actually start the podcast. So it's like none of that existed.

So it's very easy. Usually there's a line or a bar that you pull towards the space that you want. You set it there, and then there's usually a button you hit and then it just wipes out and deletes everything that happened before as if it wasn't there.

On the tail end, you can do the same thing. At the end of the episode, sometimes you haven't pressed finish recording, and you're still talking to your guest or, if you're doing a solo podcast, you're doing something else and maybe there's some noise as you get up. You can also bring the slider or the bar to that point and edit that as well.

So the most basic functionality you're going to want to do is edit the beginning, so you start at the right place and edit the end. So you end and you don't have any extraneous, type audio.

Now a little bit more sophisticated, although not that much, you can split. Right? So splitting basically means what it sounds like. You can make cuts in the middle of the episode.

So why might you want to do that. Here's one really good reason. There could be a time where there's a distracting noise - there's a lawnmower that comes on, your kid comes in, a spouse or partner opens the door and interrupts you, and then you have to right reset.

You don't need to scrap the whole thing and rerecord again, you can just edit out the part that's a distraction. Here's the key though. You can't make sounds go away. So what you have to do is, when you understand what you're going to edit out, you have to get the person, either yourself or your guest, or both to start off at a point where it naturally fits in, even after you cut things off.

So if, uh, the interruption happens in the middle of a sentence, you're going to have to, when you rerecord during that podcast, you're going to have to start that sentence again. Right? Cause the splitting is not magic. It just cuts out the piece that you don't want. It doesn't magically recreate anything.

So that's one reason you can use the split. Another reason - there could be a really long pause, right? Someone could be thinking and that's natural and that's great. But if someone's thinking for 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 minutes, people start to, I mean seconds, people are going to start to think, is there something wrong with the audio? Did it drop off?

So good once in a while for dramatic effect when it's appropriate, but for the everyday, you don't really want silences more than 2, 3, 4 seconds. It's no problem just to cut out some of that time, to make it seem more natural and keep people more engaged.

Last little tip, something that I learned from doing audio books, when, you have a portion that got interrupted and, you know you want to go back to edit it later, sometimes it can be kind of hard to find.

I mean, if you don't have the presence of mind to write down, the time when it happened or you get distracted after you're done recording and you forget exactly what part of the conversation was, you're going to have to listen to the whole podcast over again, to find it and be sure that you find it.

Although I do recommend you listen to the podcast, through and through before you post it anyway, it's a lot easier, if you know where that piece is, so you can get to cutting it right away.

So here's one tip that I learned. When there is something you need to cut, when there's a mistake, it's easy to mark it by clapping. I'm going to clap softly, not too loud, cause I don't want to hurt your ears, but if you clap, it leaves sort of a big, sort of mark or a wave on your podcasting line, timeline when you do the editing.

So it can be very easy to go back and see, you know, there's a certain height, there's a certain height, there’s a certain height when you clap, it's like, boom, the line goes up. So that way you'll know where it is and you can go back and very easily cut that out using the split functionality.

So I hope this has been helpful for you just with a little bit of editing, you can make a really professional looking and sounding podcast.

Quick plug for a good colleague and friend of mine, Neil C. Hughes, he's a tech writer, celebrity interviewer, and podcast tech facilitator. So that's the part that I want to share with you. Some people they don't, I like to do the technology and I enjoy the editing and posting myself, some people you just want to get on the mic and you want someone else to deal with all of that.

Neil is a maestro at doing that so you don't have to worry about that. You can do what you do best on the mic and podcasting. So I'll leave a link, to his website where you can talk to him and see if he can help you get things set up and rolling. So, fantastic guy and he's helped a lot of people get their podcasts up and running, especially if the technical piece isn't something that you like or are interested in.

So my name is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor. Thank you for listening to Executive Presence Morsels - bonus edition. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what podcasting app you use to record and edit your podcast.

Do you use Anchor? Do you use Audacity? Do you use something else? How is it? Do you like it? Are you looking to use something else? Really curious to see what others are out there doing.

My name is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor. Remember you can change your life - one connection at a time. Thank you.

Monday, August 2, 2021

Today:

“Remember, it’s not what you say, do, or wear. It’s how you make people feel that generates executive presence. Nothing. Else. Matters.”

Hello, this is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor, and welcome to another episode of Executive Presence Morsels - bonus edition. Today, we're going to talk about making of a podcast, the distribution. So we're going to cover two topics today - hosting and post. But, before we get started, just wanting to remind you, on July 5th, we are launching our new daily podcast, Executive Presence Morsels.

I'll be delivering that 5 days a week. It will be delivered in the morning, 7:00 AM Eastern, so you can get your insights bright and early reflect, and perhaps even use them throughout the day to increase your executive presence, which elevates your career, by giving you access to more opportunities.

Do you remember when you heard your first podcast? Do you remember what your favorite podcast is? We would love to know. When did you first start listening to podcasts and why, and what do you love about podcasting? It's really easy for you on Anchor to click a link and leave a voice message, so we'd love to hear, what you love about podcasting and what other podcasts you like. Feel free to leave us a message. I listen to all the messages and where I can, I like to share them in future episodes.

So with that said, let's get started. Hosting. So hosting, don't want to make it too complicated. I like to keep things simple. And it's basically a home for your podcast, right? You have this file, you have some data surrounding the title and the episode of the numbering. That all has to live somewhere.

I mean, it's not exactly a website, but if you think of it as a website. That content has to sit somewhere and have a home. And that's essentially what the host does. So there's two different ways you can think about the hosting. It can either be done, on a website that you purchase and run like a blog, Squarespace, Wix, a lot of the other kind of popular and commonly used websites often have a podcast hosting functionality.

I won't go into all the details, but then there's a couple things you need to do to get that set up, and configured. And then from there you can record and host all your podcasts there. So the other main option are podcast hosting platforms, right? So instead of on a website you own, you either rent and pay money for a separate site to host your podcast. And some of these are actually free.

So Anchor.fm, which I use for this website, for this podcast, excuse me, is free. There's another, kind of older one. I think it's one of the original ones called Libsyn and it's got a very small monthly fee and then there's other, there's other hosts, like, I believe Podbean and Blueberry are other ones that are pretty popular that people use.

I'm not sure if they're free. I think they might be free or for a small cost as well. So it's really easy to find a home for your podcast without spending too much money on it.

And I do both. So I have my own website where I host some of my podcasts and then I use Anchor for some other podcasts. So you don't have to just pick one, and be stuck with it.

The second part I wanted to cover today is the posting of the podcast. So depending on how you have things set up, you may need to set up posting to all the different platforms. So what's a platform? The platform is just the provider that that particular person is using to play the podcast.

So, Apple podcast is one, Stitcher is another one that use that I like, Google Play, I believe has one. Spotify, you may be listening to this on Spotify. Amazon Music has gotten into the podcasting game. So these are basically just different kind of doors that you can open to get your podcasts. And the nice thing is a lot of podcasts are off. All of these platforms are on multiple platforms.

However, here's the thing. For your podcast, you're going to want to make sure you're on Apple podcasts at a minimum because that's, they still have the lion's share of podcasting. And then, anything else you want to be on, you also have to, post your podcast there.

So what does that mean to post your podcasts? Typically what happens is once you've hosted it, there will be something called an RSS link, which basically just looks like a URL. You know, likewww and all the letters that follow after it. What that basically does, is if you provide that to the additional platforms, they'll be able to pull down all the information from whoever's hosting and replicate it onto their platform.

So people can listen now to your podcast in several different places, right? Not everyone has an Apple device or wants an Apple device. So maybe Apple podcasts isn't going to do it for them. So then you need to go on a different provider that's not Apple-specific.

So there you go, hosting and posting. This is where it starts to get a little bit more technical, but you can do it with just a little bit of reading. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. And again, I mentioned a good colleague and friend of mine, Neil C. Hughes, who does this semi-professionally or I should just say professionally. He does this as part of his living, super knowledgeable guy, and he can either hook you up with some resources or help you himself.

So I hope you enjoyed and learned something today. This is how I'm setting up my podcast for you. Again, we're launching on July 5th. I am so excited! We're getting closer to the launch of Executive Presence Morsels. Just want to tell you, I'm terrified because I promised all of you that I will produce an episode every single week day. Five days a week, holidays, vacations don't matter, committed for one year.

So that works out to roughly 260 episodes, without missing a single day. That is my promise to you. And I don't like to break promises. So I'm terrified at all the work and energy that will have to be put in, but it's totally going to be worth it.

I'm so excited. I'm already having a blast recording these bonus episodes. So see you on July 5th. Please subscribe. Please leave a voice message with some encouragement, questions, whatever you like. We'd love to hear from you.

My name is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor. Remember, you can change your life - one connection at a time.

Friday, July 2, 2021

Today: We explore what you need to turn your podcast idea into a reality. We also review some of of my favorite examples of well-made indie podcasts.

Some of my favorite examples of podcasts that made it happen:

1. Stories of Selling Human, by Alex Smith

2. Own Your Awkward, by Andy Vargo

3. Getting Unstuck, by Jeff Ikler and Kirsten Richert

4. DreamsRecycled, by Tiffany Ann Beverlin

Your turn: We'd love to hear from you. Use the "Message" button on the Anchor app to share a story, question, or feedback related to this episode. Or email us at joe@connectioncounselor.com

Learn more: Details about the book, online course, YouTube tutorials and more can be found at www.connectioncounselor.com/executive-presence-place

Music: Earning Happiness by John Bartmann is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License

“Remember, it’s not what you say, do, or wear. It’s how you make people feel that generates executive presence. Nothing. Else. Matters.”

Transcript hHello, this is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor. I'm so excited. This is our last episode of Executive Presence Morsels - bonus edition, before the launch of our actual podcast, Executive Presence Morsels, which is taking place the day after Independence day, July 5th. So starting July 5th, I'll be meeting with you every day, 7:00 AM in the morning, sharing some executive presence insights that you can use throughout your day to elevate your career.

So these episodes have been to give you a little bit of, preview of what's to come, as well as some of the background as to how this podcast is made, as well as if you're interested in making your own podcast, giving you some very simple, streamlined tips and tricks that could maybe nudge you in the right direction and get you creating something, rather than Googling and spending all your time, reading different.

So today we're going to talk about making a podcast - the reality. So these are going to be some of my experiences from actually participating in creating four separate podcasts. And I'll share with you some of my insights and learnings, as well as highlighting some podcasts that I've been on, with colleagues and friends, where I think they're doing something exceptional, that I want to point out that maybe that can give you some insights, as well.

So the first principle I want to share with you is "part of one is better than none." So let me say that again, "part of one is better than none." So many episodes that I've come up with, so many things that I put together, whether it's a book or online training or a podcast, it was done in tiny little pieces.

It's kind of cobbled together over time and then edited to make one cohesive piece. So sometimes it may just be five minutes. It may be 30 minutes. It's very rare that I can actually have the time to go from beginning to end, uninterrupted and create the perfect product. You don't have the time often to do that, unless this is your full-time gig, and even then things get in the way.

And also creatively and energy wise, often it doesn't happen that way. Sometimes you just have 30 minutes of kind of energy or mojo to go, and then you kind of peter out. So anytime you spend after that is actually wasted time. The key is...to do just a little bit, right.

To be consistent. And even if it's like one minute today, three minutes tomorrow, and then you're having a really good day the day after that and you do 20 minutes, it's that consistency and keeping to do it. Because what happens is if you skip too often, then one day becomes two days becomes four days.

I'll go to the gym in a week. And then all of a sudden it's a year and later and 30 pounds later. And you'd never gone to the gym, right, after buying that expensive or what seemed at the time, a good deal, a monthly subscription, right? So doing even just a little bit, right? Even if it's just a thought or writing something down, making an incremental effort really will go a long way to help you produce something consistently. It doesn't seem that way, but it definitely makes a difference.

Second principle I'll share with you. How do you actually get these things done? Right? Like I get that question a lot. So the principle I'll share with you is it's not because I'm super hardworking or more industrious than anyone else. I mean, I work pretty hard, right? But I don't think that's the key.

The principle I'll share is "a factory line saves you time." Right? What does that mean? A factory line, saves you time. What I've noticed is when I'm most productive, I'm kind of repeating the same thing over and over again. Right? So if you think about different things you may need to do for a podcast, there's recording the intro or filling in the titles or coming up with titles. Rather than do one episode and do A through Z for that episode and then repeat, sometimes what helps a lot is let me, let me come up with five episodes.

I'll come up with five titles right now. I'll start to fill in the five intros for those titles and I'll create sort of a production line. And what happens is if you're doing the same thing over and over again, you get faster, you get better, you get better ideas.

So you're actually much more productive doing things repetitively and breaking up into pieces, than trying to go all the way straight through and repeating it. That can be good too, but in general, to be more productive, I feel like having more of a production line or a factory line definitely saves you time.

The last principle I'll share, and this one is so key, I call it "in order to prevail, prepare to fail." Right? So you just have to know that there'll be times where the recording doesn't work well, or you say something stupid or something got deleted by accident. Just understand that these things are gonna happen.

So what are the things that you can prepare to do to offset those? So for instance, If you have a launch date, give yourself enough time and start working ahead of time, so you're not trying to do everything the night before, and then you're up until 2:00 AM in the morning. And then you find out the next day, you totally botched the launch and everyone's hearing your great first episode and it's all staticky or you're totally missing a section and you're embarrassed, and then now you've just given up.

However, if you prepared for the launch and you tested everything three or four days before, you'd have adequate time to rerecord, to rejigger things just to fix what you need to do. So in that way, if you're prepared to fail and know that things can go wrong, you can handle it better. And also you give yourself the space and sort of the mental capacity to go in and fix it.

I want to share with you and highlight just a couple of podcasts of friends and colleagues of mine that I've been on and just really quickly to share some things that I really like about what they're doing. So Alex Smith, he does a sales podcast called Stories of Selling Human.

And what I love about what he's doing is I talked about passion and your topic. He's really taking his passion, which is not sales. His passion is. Operating like a human being, right? Like as a real person that cares about others and not just about yourself. His job is in sales, but it's really about being a human and he brings great, other salespeople who have that same mentality.

And one of the great things that I think he gets to do is he gets to network and meet other great salespeople. So it's really a win-win situation. So Alex is doing a great job - Stories of Selling Human. I'll include links to all these podcasts. Definitely check it out.

Another great podcast is by my good friend, Andy Vargo; met him at the no longer virtual conference. He does this great podcast called Own Your Awkward. I won't spoil the story, but Andy has a really interesting backstory. And his theme is feeling awkward for a lot of his life. And he really turns that and leverages it into a strength and his business. And he makes his living by talking to other people about how they may feel awkward and how you can get through that and how you could actually use that to your advantage.

So check out Andy's podcast - Own Your Awkward. He's also a standup comedian, which jeez, it takes a lot of bravery. Public speaking is tough, but stand up comedian, come on. So Andy has some really great insights to share, as well.

Next Jeff Ikler and Kirsten Richert. Two dear friends also met through him through NLV - the No Longer Virtual conference.

They do such a great job co-hosting, right? So I didn't talk about this much, but you can also co-host. You don't have to go it on your own. Definitely have a good relationship with your co-host, right? Because you don't want to be talking over each other or arguing. I think they have such a good trusting relationship and they've known each other over the years so this works for them and they have this great educational podcast called, Getting Unstuck.

It's about education and innovation and solving those really sticky problems and figuring out ways to do better for, you know, our youth and for the children and people that we're trying to educate. So check them out if you're interested in a co-host format. They do it so well.

I've been on their podcast, more than once actually, and it's just a great experience. It doesn't feel any different than going with one great host. So check that.

And last but not least, Tiffany Ann Beverlin and she has a podcast called, Dreams Recycled. I won't spoil it, but Tiffany also has a really interesting backstory how she started her business, the name of the podcast, how she came into all this. Actually she came on my podcast, Why it Works, and I learned a lot about her backstory on that podcast. So check out her podcast, Dreams Recycled.

What she does really well is she builds community, right? She's got this great website for a community, the podcast caters to that community. And she's really masterful at building things for her community that are important to her community and that address their pain points. Remember we talked about in the content section, "what's the audience's pain?"

And Tiffany has created this great business around understanding, resonating, and connecting with her audience. So just a few podcasts besides mine to inspire you. And hopefully you'll get a chance to listen to those and get something good out of them.

Well, July 5th - coming right around the corner! We're launching our daily podcast, Executive Presence Morsels. Five days a week, delivered fresh to you in the morning a tasty morsel that you can take with you to sustain you throughout the day; think about it, reflect on it and act on it so you can build your executive presence and elevate your career.

My name is Joe Kwon. I'm the Connection Counselor. Remember. You can change your life - one connection at a time. Thank you.ere