J Cleveland Payne's Creators Pep Talk

Don't worry about taking every piece of advice offered to you as you work on your podcast. Some is counterintuitive. Some is just bad. And the bulk of it is so much that you can never try it all anyway.

The question that all creators know they will have to eventually face, despite how amazing they think their work will be at the start. But knowing when to quit is not as simple as realizing you are not reaching a very supportive audience.

As a life-long stutterer, I am constantly battling verbal tics and other stammers. Here are some techniques I have used over time to get past them.

Do a comparison of how well you are doing now to how you were performing a year ago. You will see the progress you have made and keep yourself in check for forward progress.

Interviews are controlled and directed, building up and down on with a purposeful cadence. Conversation are meant to flow, and just go as they are want to go, while you hope for the best in coherent content. Your natural style and comfort level should determine which ones you use, but what you believe the audience wants.

Being a popular podcaster is more about market timing and less about how good the product, or how much production value goes into the podcast.

I often suggest taking in less media from other creators to maintain the purity of your ideas. But if you are short on good ideas, sifting through the work of other to ‘borrow’ a few creative ideas can’t hurt.

Two websites that offer you a chance to see what other people are asking questions about are https://answerthepublic.com/ and http://quora.com .

In order to shake of the stress of writer block, simply get out of your seat go for a walk. Get moving to get your blood pumping and you brain firing off ideas again.

With the exception of talent, connections, and a large following, there are only five pieces to create a great podcast. And everyone has total control of all five.

With the exception of talent, connections, and a large following, there are only five pieces to create a great podcast. And everyone has total control of all five.

The band playing at the bar you were already going to that made you pay a $5 cover should not be expected to provide an experience on par with front row floor seating from a mainstream act on a major tour in a large stadium. A sitting in my closet produced podcast should not expect to perform like an NPR produced limited series either.

It the latest craze and podcasters are worried if it is a threat or a blessing. It is exclusive to iOS, and not yet oversaturated with marketers. Should you be there?

Try to gauge your success and failure on real criteria that can me measure and tracked. Less about feeling, more about metrics.

Very few people who call identify themselves as a part of your fans will put forth minimal effort beyond basic to support your work. Don't worry about it. This is normal.

Think you've mastered podcast launching with your first? You'll see just how hard it is to do the second time around.

Any tool to help your planning is excellent, but there is no magic tool that works as a universal fix for all.

Other's podcaster's glossy websites and fancy audiograms help them promote their show over yours. It is not about how good the show is or how well it resonates with the audience. This is the selling the sizzle over the steak argument.

One of the frustrations you will find when you finally get interviewed about your podcast are the questions you are asked do not reflect well on explaining your podcast. Do some 'interviews' of yourself on your podcast and see if what narratives should work so you can steer a conversation towards a more positive angle.

Trying to be a marathon podcaster (posting more than one episode of a show within a week) can make you a standout to potential audiences, or maybe a quick ticket to burnout and giving up on podcasting. Yes, the nightly news produces content every day, but the organization behind your local or the national newsrooms is immense (and extremely expensive).

It can be a pain to change your hosting platform. Unless you see a significant boost in moving to a new one, see what you can do to fall in love, or at least kinda like, the one you are already paying money to.

You may be a podcaster looking to do your work on the cheap. You may be itching to spend big dollars on shiny new gear. All are welcome at the table of podcasting.

There are three main barriers that keep people from pulling the trigger in starting podcasting: the tech (do I have the stuff to do it), the talent (do I have the ability to do it), and the time (do I have the time/intangible resources to do it, cause money can buy time).

Do you need to produce content that is linear, i.e., follows a pattern logical pattern. It depends on if you are teaching, commenting, storytelling, or a combination of the three.

A question that stymies and stalls potential content creators is whether the medium is too saturated to enter. It’s not. Every year there are award winners for new entries to all media, so do what you can to be a new and influential entry into the media you choose, hopefully, podcasting.