When you’re self-employed you have to take control of your own professional development. Nobody is going to send you to a conference or offer to train you on new skills. When money is tight and you’re busy running your business it’s easy to let months, even years, go by without investing in yourself. This year I’m…
Reflections on Two Years of Podcasting
On Monday I’ll publish episode #63 of the While She Naps podcast. It’ll be the 24th episode I’ve produced this year and will mark my second complete year as a podcaster. Last year around this time I reflected on what it was like to produce the show in the first year. These were the things…
Help Me Plan a Podcast With Etsy
In June Barack Obama sat down in Marc Maron’s garage to record a conversation for Marc’s podcast. Did you tune in? The episode was remarkable on a number of levels, most importantly because the President of the United States was talking to a regular guy in a regular space for a show that went straight…
Behind the Podcast: The Nuts and Bolts
This post is part of a short series I’m doing with my friend and fellow podcaster, Sandi Hazelwood. We’re looking at what it takes to make a podcast. See the my first post here and Sandi’s here. Today, we’re airing a lively discussion we recorded about podcasting. We take you behind the scenes and answer…
Behind the Podcast: Surround Yourself with Great People
My friend, Sandi Hazelwood, and I are doing a little series about podcasting together. Today and Monday you’ll get four posts – two from each of us on our own blogs – focusing on aspects of podcasting both technical and conceptual. We’re looking at questions like why are podcasts important as a listener and as…
Reflections on a Year of Podcasting
I started a podcast by accident. In February of 2012 I was finishing up the manuscript for Stuffed Animals and knew that I didn’t want to immediately write another book. I decided to explore how other people had created businesses doing what I loved: designing sewing patterns for stuffed animals. I figured if I talked…
How to Review a Podcast in iTunes
Podcasts are a big part of my life. Being able to listen to independently made radio shows about the niche topics I’m most interested in is totally fantastic. Listening to podcasts makes my daily run go by faster, helps me accomplish all sorts of tedious household tasks like folding laundry and doing dishes, and most…
How to Get Started Podcasting
Along with most Americans, my family watched the Super Bowl last weekend. Every time the game coverage paused for commercials my older daughters, who are seven and nine, became totally exasperated. “What is this?!” It was an old school moment for me. I realized that my kids live in a world of a la carte…