I'll tell you no lies. I'm not a podcast guy. Barely listened few episodes in my life so far. How come I'm now recording one? And how the process went from the very first thought till the moment when I'm about to release my very first episode this Friday. Keep reading and you'll find out. I'll also write about motivation behind and why I think the following is true:
Kicking yourself out of comfort zone == Progress
Why I started it?
It was actually a shower thought. One day it simply popped out to me. Let me share a bit of background, nothing happens out of nowhere. During the first half of the 2020, I had a chance to work on my own product. It was part of codecentric (the company I work for) innovation platform. I've submitted the idea, they granted budget and that's how it started. I'll write about that another time.
During that period, I've learned a lot. And there's much more still to learn. But I slowly started to change my mindset, when it comes to doing side projects. If you ask "January version of Bruno" to ship the product, he'll start coding it. If you ask "August version of Bruno", he'll put the coding at the end. Let's put that aside for a moment and get back to the question. Why I started it? Several reasons.
Knowledge sharing. No matter how tiny it can be, you always can help someone who is one step behind you. Very often you're the best person to help them because you just avoided an obstacle they are about to encounter. And you're still within the range to stop and lend a hand. You not too far away.
Motivation. I want to motivate people to start doing side projects. I've seen a lot of nice way to create passive income and you can do it, too.
Personal development. I want to improve my skills. English is my second language. I'm using it every day but theres always room for improvement. Verbal skills. Conversations. Adapting to situations without being stuck. Who knows, public speaking comes next. Meetups, conferences.
What is it about
As you already read, I worked on my own product in the first half of 2020. During this time I met a lot of cool people. And I've seen what they are building. I've seen some common struggles. And obstacles.
So I decided to record video podcast that will feature these people and let them tell their stories. Not only fancy profile pictures and twitter handles, but real faces. From their homes, kitchens, gardens.
Each episode will feature a guest that can share some experience and knowledge about specific topic when it comes to the complete process of the product making. Landing pages, Sales, Copywriting, Pricing, Newsletters, Communities, Talking to customers, just to name a few.
Process from the scratch
What it takes to have an episode recorded. Besides technical equipment, you definitely need an execution plan. When it comes to camera and microphone, I've just borrowed some from my colleagues. If it proves successful, I'll buy my own. Don't start with buying microphone before releasing first x episodes of your podcast. It's an equivalent of buying a domain name before launching your product. Don't do this either!
The first thing for me to decide was the mission of the podcast. Then I compiled the list of all potential guest I can think of. I wanted to see if I can compile a list of 20+ names. You don't want to start a podcast and thinking in total of 3 persons who could be your guests.
I've recorded 3 episodes in advance and will start releasing it now weekly. Before every episode I create a list of topics I want to discuss with my guest. Send them so we get a feeling in which direction the conversation will go.
Sessions are recorded via Zoom, and external cameras, because I wanted to play a bit with multiple angles. But I want to keep the editing to the minimum and thus reduce the production time.
My first guest is Arvid Kahl
If you're building a side project, or you're in entrepreneurship waters, chances are that you know who this guy is. He was the first person I've invited to be my guest. This was his quick and short reply
Totally up for that, I'd love to help you out.
That gave me motivation to continue with it.
We talked about lot of things that are important when building your own product. Make sure to not miss this episode on Friday.
- Giving value everywhere,
- Consistency and not giving up,
- Why writing is important,
- Burnout,
- Building in public and fear of stealing ideas,
- Tribe and niche,
- no CS degree needed and more
Call to Action
Arvid recently published a book Zero to Sold and I'm going to organise a giveaway on Friday on Twitter.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @brunoraljic in case you would like to win a free copy of it.
There's also a podcast newsletter available, so you can get all the juicy updates in your inbox. I'm writing there about all the things that happens during this process.
Alright, thanks for reading and see you around.
Bruno
![From a non-podcast developer to hosting a personal one [+ giveaway announcement]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.hashnode.com%2Fres%2Fhashnode%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Fv1597733728690%2FRZjv-RH1q.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
