J Cleveland Payne's Creators Pep Talk

Being an expert is as simple as knowing a little more than your audience. Being an effective communicator and trainer doesn't require being an expert in a topic, but being proficient in communicating and training are skills needed to convey your expertise as a creator.

There are four basic questions I ask everyone who comes to me for help in beginning their journey as a creator. First, why do you want to be a creator? Second, what do you know about (or want to know about)? Third, are there enough people interested in this content? And fourth, how many other people are making the same content?

Niching down means focusing on your ideal target customer and aligning your marketing to match. So niching down is a popular topic for new podcasts and video creators to help find a consistent audience.

You are a creator because you have many ideas. And many of them are great. And many of those great ideas have no chance of success.

A solo production is just a person giving a speech, and an interview or group chat production is just a few people at a party having a structured conversation together. The key to your success in whatever you are producing is to give a speech or have a dialogue that your average lister wants to listen to and is willing to do a little work to get to hear.

Know what your content's true purpose is. It may not be the most entertaining, but if it hits its mark, you are doing it right by producing it.

The format of your content makes a difference to the audience that consumes it, even if it is practically the same information.

Not a new, but expanded focus for this micro podcast to help digital creators of all types master their messages and grow their followings.

Either could be a hero or hindrance to your podcast growth, but they are not the same inherent issue.

It's your work. If you are not getting the response you want to your offering, continue to do whatever you like to hear in the final product. Or at least keep doing what they don't seem to hate.

The road to finding 'success' in your work will be a very long journey. Start a list of accomplishments and accolades early in the journey to help sustain you.

Podcasting is an easy way to reach an audience beyond the borders of your home country. But do the norms you are used to flatter or offend those of other nations and cultures? If you don't know, you won't know how a broader international or cultural audience will react to your content.

You know no one is checking out your content but you have more to present. Is now the time to quit and move on to something else?

Working your niche can both work as magic and as chains of bondage.

Having someone to underwrite your work is awesome, but it also binds you to those underwriters to produce certain things just for them, which may mean less of the things you want to produce for yourself.

You do have to take care of the listeners who are here for you and your content. But not at the expense of people you might not initially consider your target listeners. There are a lot more non-target listeners in your flock than you realize.

…you can get 10, then 100, then even more. What it really takes, is the talent to connect (one person at a time) and just the passage of time itself.

Don’t give up hope that your audience isn’t out there looking for your content. Don’t stop trying to find easier ways for your potential audience to find your content.

Yes, lucky breaks can make a content creator. But luck can only be capitalized and sustained but a person already putting in hard work with an intention of what success looks like.

Delivering a message without scripted lines is hard. Delivering a message with scripted lines is also hard.

How to manage the anxiety that is opening up to an audience when you're not so sure your audience even exists.

Too many people hear the word “support” from voice coaches and think it means to create pressure in your abdomen as a means to somehow push more air out. The key is to relax your abdomen and create no pressure at all.

Most people simply do not open their mouths enough to let the sound come out unobstructed. This method will send more sound waves into the cheek area before exiting with a more resonant and full quality.

Gear is a great equalizer for all podcasters. Better can give better results but doesn’t make you a ‘better’ performer. Work toward acquiring better gear, but don’t be in such a hurry.

Of all the things I am and I do the most memorable seems to bb 'JJ's dad.' you may think your audience knows who you are, but they probably don't identify you as the image you are trying to push.