New Home › Forums › Progress Logs › LAUNCHED A PODCAST, NOW I'M ABOUT TO JUMP INTO CREATORA HEIGHTS!
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December 19, 2016 at 12:09 pm #33387
Hi everyone!
It’s been a few months since I’ve been “on the mountain” but in actuality, I’ve been on the mountain the whole time… I’ve just been busy toiling away in the ramshackle manufacturing camp that I set up somewhere between the foggy stands of Architekt Forest and the rarefied highs of Creatora Heights!
You see, I forgot my radio at Basecamp, so I decided to stay behind from the group and build one out of what I could find around me. Turns out a radio is hard to build from scratch on the side of a mountain: there was some serious tree-felling, mining and smelting going on at my camp for the past couple months. I employed some forest creatures in the effort, the natural elements (obvs.) and used all the MacGyver skills I could recall from the mid-80s TV show to fashion the necessary components.
Now, my hair smells like ash and metal, and my clothes are covered in charcoal but HEY! I have a functioning radio that I can use to communicate my work out to the world! If you wanna hear my broadcasts, you can subscribe to The Working Together Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and other podcast directories. There are two episodes currently available, and I’ll be releasing them every two weeks starting in January.
This was a big part of my audience development strategy, so I’m happy to announce it!
Now that I have all the gear I need, I’m charging back up the mountain with my climbing buddy Dan Doherty. You can expect to see me around these parts a lot more as my goal is to have a working ALPHA of the course in early 2017 (and no later than spring 2017).
I look forward to connecting on the journey, and please do check out my show!
December 26, 2016 at 4:55 pm #33554This is awesome!!! Congratulations, Stefan!!! (Love your story! Way to use your MacGyver skills!!)
January 2, 2017 at 11:18 am #33634This is awesome. Congratulations on this big accomplishment Stefan. Pumped for you.
Curious what your top THREE lessons were about doing a podcast and interviews?
Also curious what your marketing plan is (1-2 things you can do consistently) to bring attention to your podcast now, while you build your eCourses?
HIGH FIVE!!!
Lets kick ass this year.
January 8, 2017 at 6:35 am #33895Thanks Bobbie Jo! Really appreciate the kudos.
Bradley, these questions are really key. At a rough glance, I would say my top three lessons so far are:
– Ask the question, don’t be afraid of the silence afterwords
– Batch everything: interviewing, production/editing, scheduling
– If you build it, they won’t necessarily come
On the latter, I’m going to be going deep on marketing/list building, etc. in the next 3 months. My lack of business experience shows on the whole marketing front. I really don’t know! Any suggestions are welcome.
Just from where I stand today, I think that I will be:
– trying to join more facebook groups related to Working Together themes and share my content there
– soliciting friends and associates to have a listen and if they think its worth 5 stars, to review/comment in iTunes
February 11, 2017 at 1:32 pm #34966Pretty sweet that you launched a podcast. Good job. What are you going to be talking about? I have a general idea from the title “Working Together” but can you be a little more specific?
February 15, 2017 at 9:59 am #35077Hey Rodolfo!
Here’s the blurb I wrote on my webpage:
“The Working Together Podcast features in-depth interviews with people who have made interesting things happen—no matter their profession. From street-smart changemakers and operators to the book-learned academics of social innovation, the Working Together Podcast is on a mission to amplify lessons from the frontline of pragmatic social change. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an activist, a manager or an analyst, these episodes are chock full of insight and actionable advice that will inspire you to do more and change your world.”
February 16, 2017 at 6:58 am #35093Love the write-up Stefan. How’s it been going? Still producing episodes and releasing? Any traction with your course now that you’ve got that up and rocking?
February 23, 2017 at 5:40 am #35207OK here goes,
How things went > Where I’m at > What I want/need > What I’m going to do.
How things went > Where I’m at >
It’s going OK. I’ve had terrible luck in 2017 with colds/flus and have been knocked off my high-horse a few times (just recently, I got this cold/flu on Saturday that totally zonked me for the past 5 days). 🙁
Ugh.
Anyways, I’ve managed to do a lot of work e-course creation work on paper as a result, but have only been using computer time to do the essentials to ensure the podcast keeps a regular schedule.
So far, the podcast is regularly getting released every two weeks, and slowly improving in download rates over time. Success!
What I want/need > What I’m going to do >
I want to have more regular contact with my burgeoning audiences, so I’m probably going to start recording mini-episodes soon too, so that the show can become a weekly one. Excited about that! I spend a lot of time promoting the content when it’s released, and I need to spend more time getting it out there during the weeks where an episode isn’t released.
As for the e-course, here’s the tack I’ve taken after working through Architekt/Creatoria/Validation on paper outside of the videos (trying to take your advice from when I saw you in Victoria a few months back, and not get too caught up in being totally complete with each step):
- As Working Together is a side hustle, I need to be hyper aware of time. So, after working on course headings, rough outlines for modules, transformations, etc. in Architekt/Creatoria, and after creating a MASSIVE structure of topics and subheadings, I realized: I can’t afford to get too far down the track with one course idea unless I know that it’s going to really solve my WHO’s problem! I’ve got a lot of stuff in my head that I know about–but this course isn’t about me just telling people what I know! I’ve got to give them only what’s necessary to satisfy their needs/wants and solve real problems. Right? I really like the Validation module for this part… lot’s of great resources in there! (I’ve also turned to one of my favourite business books of all time to structure some of my work with potential customers: Value Proposition Design. Have you heard of this book/used this?)
- Because of the time issue, I’ve come to the conclusion that I shouldn’t iterate after I’ve built, but rather, before. That way when its time to really get into the Creatoria (and onward) creation zone, I will have a better idea of where to focus my energy.
- I’m going to be doing some serious value proposition design work over the next few months, and build some solid customer segments and profiles. From there I will start to dive deep on creation. I’ve set up interviews with folks who represent potential customers in my mind for the next month, and will use that feedback to help make choices about where to focus my creative energies.
- I’ve also decided to not treat my original ideas as sacred cows.. who knows, I might even focus on creating a handful of smaller courses on focused topics (including a free one to act as a “lead magnet”), and if those are successful, turn my mind to a bigger single course. I want to be totally open to feedback from my potential WHO.
But there is so much work to do on this front alone, and I’m wondering how I can possibly get it done while working on all this on the side. Anybody else on this platform doing there thing on the side?
😉
February 24, 2017 at 6:21 am #35242Hey Stefan!
Thanks for the awesome glimpse into your world. Congrats on the podcast. Just keep going with it man. It takes time for these things to take off, so as long as you’re having fun, GREAT!
As for the courses: My suggestion is, JUST create mini courses/experiences right now. Bite sized experiences and resources that are fun for you to create and useful for your audience to go through. Because this is a side thing for you right now, create 1 or 2 really awesome free tools or resources for your audience. THEN once you have an audience, you can do some more research on paid experiences (even pre-selling them).
It may be a little while before you start generating the revenue need to retire from your other work, but if you just focus on creating the most useful student learning experiences you possibly can for your audience, you’ll get there much sooner.
Hope this is helpful for you and helps to alleviate the pressure of building something HUGE.
Lemme know if you have more questions on the subject 🙂
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