Podcast #119: An Exciting New Podcast Direction!
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You probably saw that this episode is titled “An Exciting New Podcast Direction!” and wondering what that’s all about. I’m going to take a few minutes here on this episode and share with you how this podcast will be pivoting and what you can expect.
Let me just give it to you straight up front, and then I’ll dive into this more. The short story is that I’m transitioning this podcast from “Born to Create” to a new one called “Smart Business Writing.” I’m niching down because I’ll be focusing on ghostwriting for clients in my business, and I want the podcast to reflect that focus on writing. So in effect, my two main business activities will be ghostwriting for clients, and teaching about writing. The podcast will be my main teaching outlet.
The new Smart Business Writing show will be on the same podcast feed as this show, so if you’re listening to this, you won’t need to do anything different. What you will see in your podcast app, or in your podcast feed (depending on how you are listening to this), is a different title and artwork, but it will be on the same stream (or feed). It’s sort of how a TV show might change its title and some characters, but it’s still the same basic emphasis.
If you’ve listened to my show for any length of time, you know that I talk a lot about writing. So the new Smart Business Writing show is really just me talking about creativity as it takes place in business writing.
Let me take a minute to share what the new show will entail, and then I want to talk about some things that led to this decision.
So what will the new Smart Business Writing show be about? It will be focused on how to use writing to grow your business. We will talk about topics that lie at the intersection of business and writing. We will be talking about how business leaders and entrepreneurs can use writing to grow their business, but we’ll also talk about how writers can thinking more like a business person.
Some of the topics will include: productivity, creativity, self-publishing, email marketing, blogging, writing apps, business principles, storytelling, writing and business resources, and so much more. We’ll also be doing weekly interviews with writers, creatives, and business leaders.
As far as the format, I’ll be starting off with not ONE, but THREE episodes per week. Yes, you heard that right — three episodes per week. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I’ll do short teaching episodes, and then on Fridays I’ll be doing an interview episode.
Why three episodes a week when the standard podcast format is usually one episode per week? There are a couple of reasons: First, because I want to do both teaching episodes and interview episodes. I love connecting with people, and a podcast is a great way to connect with influencers, thinkers, authors, and people both you and I can learn from.
But second, as far as the teaching content goes, it’s easier to create two episodes per week than one. If I’m only doing one per week, there will be a lot of pressure to have something awesome each week. But if I’m doing two, they can both be shorter teaching episodes, and I can experiment more. It’s the principle of getting better simply by doing it more. I would also rather give you two 7-minute teaching episodes a week than one 15-minute episode. People like shorter content these days.
As you can see, I’ll be putting a lot of time and effort into this revamped show. Why? Because I believe in the power of podcasting to connect with an audience, and I love this format of communicating and teaching.
So that’s what the new show will be about. Now let me take a few minutes to share what has led up to this decision.
I want to share two quotes that will help guide what I want to share. They are both from spiritual writers whom I have admired for a long time. The first is from Frederich Buechner, who said something profound in his book Wishful Thinking. He defined “vocation” as “the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”
The other quote I want to share is from Parker Palmer’s book Let Your Life Speak. It’s a great little book, and he said, “… there is as much guidance in what does not and cannot happen in my life as there is in what can and does—maybe more.”
So there are two principles at work here, and I think we can frame them as four questions we need to pay attention to:
- What makes me happy?
- What is a deep need the world has?
- What has NOT been happening in my life that I have wanted?
- What good things HAVE been happening in my life? (Another way of saying this is, “Where has my success come from?)
Over the last year or so, a lot of interesting things have happened that have pointed me in the direction of ghostwriting, doing writing-related work for clients, and also producing more of my own writing. Let me go through the four questions I just mentioned and explain:
1. What makes me happy?
To put it simply, writing makes me happy. I enjoy writing for others because it not only helps pay the bills, but it also helps me learn. Just in the last few months, I’ve done writing for attorneys, an HR consultant, speakers, a florist, business leaders, and others I’m probably forgetting. And I learn something from each one.
But I also love writing for myself. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t written very much of my own material for a good chunk of the last year. That probably explains why I’ve had a low-grade crankiness for a while now—because I haven’t made creating for myself more of a priority.
But in short, writing and creating makes me happy.
2. What is a deep need the world has?
In business terms, a lot of people need writing done for them. Ghostwriting is a quickly growing field because a lot of people need content, but many of them either don’t have the time, or don’t have the desire or talent to write their own stuff. That’s where I come in.
But there is also a need for people to learn about writing. And that’s a need I can fill through my content.
3. What has NOT been happening in my life that I have wanted?
I think life has a way of guiding us if we just pay attention to it. Sometimes it takes a number of doors slamming shut for us to get the hint that life is trying to tell us.
Over the summer, and into this Fall, I had a number of disappointments in terms of business opportunities that I thought were going to pan out. None of them did, and it was hugely disappointing at the time. But looking back, although I think those opportunities could have gone very well, they were not what I needed to be focusing on. They would have distracted me from what authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan refer to as my “one thing,” (based on their excellent book The ONE Thing).
My ONE THING is writing, pure and simple. Which leads me to my next point.
4. What good things HAVE been happening in my life?
As I mentioned earlier, another way of asking this question is, “Where has my success come from?” If I’m honest, the vast majority of any success I have enjoyed in my business has come from writing. That could be writing I have done for clients, or writing I have done that’s impacted others. And by the way, when I say writing, it refers to any content I create, including this podcast.
Sometimes we are afraid to admit to ourselves what our real gifts are. Honestly, that is part of the reason I have been doing a podcast focused on the broad topic of creativity, as opposed to writing. I’ve been struggling with imposter syndrome, afraid to really put myself out there as a writing teacher and coach.
But as I look through the following questions and my responses, it’s pretty clear that I need make writing my ONE THING.
So there you have it—that is the story of why I’m pivoting my podcast. I don’t see this as an ending, but as a new beginning. I’m not going to stop talking about creativity. It will just be focused on this one area of business writing.
I’m still going to leave all the previous episodes in this feed so you can still access them. All of those episodes have content that will still be relevant to business writing, even if they are talking about creativity in general.
If you’ve been listening to this show for a while now, I want you to know how grateful I am for your support. It really means a lot — truly it does! And I hope you’ll join me for this new adventure in a re-branded podcast. I think you will truly enjoy it.
I’ll be back on Jan. 1 with the very first episode of the new Smart Business Writing podcast. You won’t need to do anything to receive it—just keep this podcast feed active and you’ll get it automatically!
Resources Mentioned
- Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer
- Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner
- The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
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