It's the first episode of the years and in the same that I have the last episode of the year look at why people listen, today we talk about how to start. Ten Years ago I did an episode called "27 steps to launch a podcast and today I am going to update it. As you might imagine things have changed in 10 years. If you already have a podcast I have some items for you. Over the years there have been some ingredients of podcasting that we know add value, but like any recipe, if you use an ingredient in the wrong way you can ruin the final product. Keep it Real I hear the phrase, "Keep it real." This should stay authentic. You should be talking from your heart and your beliefs. Don't say what people want to hear because it's popular, if your opinion differs let's hear it. Let's also hear why you believe those thoughts. We just might learn something. How this phrase is abused is when "keeping it real" means I'm not going to edit my podcast at all. There are editors who work in movies, television, books, magazines, and newspapers. However, your podcast is perfect with no room for improvement. There is always room for improvement. I read on Facebook where someone took 26 minutes to answer ONE question. The final version of the podcast had that answer trimmed to four minutes. Fishing is Boring I haven't fished in 20 years. If you're into fishing check out the Fish Nerds show with Clay Groves. For me, half the fun was getting to play with a boat and get out on a lake. In some cases, if the boat had a motor it was even more fun. Then you bait your hook, throw your line in and wait. Then you wait some more. This part of fishing is really boring. Every time I hear someone start off an interview with "Tell me a little bit about yourself," the person is fishing. They are listening just like watching their bobber float on the lake, looking for a nibble. Reeling in a Fish is Exciting I don't watch fishing on TV, but if I'm clicking through the channels and a fishing show is on, they don't show two people in a boat watching their bobber. They show someone standing up with excitement as they have caught a great fish and they are bringing it into the boat. When you have a guest and you find something that YOU KNOW is going to RESONATE with your audience that's exciting and in the same the fisherman does everything they can to get the fish into the boat, you do everything you can to get that content into your recording. Stories are Great Half the time we ask, "tell me a little bit about yourself" we are fishing for a story. Somehow we are lead to believe that knowing someone's back story is going to help us. If I started my podcast with "Today we are going to interview Gern Blanston who has a proven strategy of growing your audience by 200%, but first, let's find out what his parents did for a living..." you would be yelling at your device to get to the good stuff. Stories are great when someone shares a story that we can learn from, or it makes you laugh, cry, think, groan, or educates us or entertains us. When I was sixteen years one night I was trying to look cool in front of a girl and climbed a sign at the front of the mall that showed the names of the movies in its three theaters. We figured out that we could change the title "Desperately Seeking Susan" to Desperately Sucking Suzan. As I was a hard rock fan, I was not a fan of Madonna and thought this would be hilarious. It took some effort to get up there, and once up there changing letters was not as easy as it looked. In the end, the sign read Desperately Seeting Susan. Is this real? Yes. Is it a story? Yes. Does it help you with your podcast? No. Just because something is real and it's a story, doesn't mean it's good. It might be really boring. The story of Glenn the Geek from the Horse Radio Network asking to get a booth at the largest Horsing Event was a great story as it has helped many people grow their podcast. Fishing Takes Patience - And We Live in a Microwave Society People want g