Podcasts Are Like Puppies

The Jag Show

Over the long holiday weekend, my wife and I puppy-sat for Henry, a 4-month old golden doodle. And this got me thinking. Puppies and Podcasts have a FEW things in common.

When you start a podcast, you probably have the exuberance of a puppy. Henry has a habit of BOUNCING when he walks – he’s very excited, and it’s very cute. But at some point, you need to learn HOW to walk. And you can learn that by observing other podcasters. Our cousin, Henry’s owner, said on walks, he’d just plop down on the sidewalk. But when we walked our 10 year old coonhound Jules, Henry would follow her around, like, well, a puppy dog. The added bonus, 3+ miles of walking per day makes for a very tired, and thus very well behaved, pup.

You may have a plan for your podcast, but in the early goings, you may have to change course.The plan was for Henry to sleep in a crate in our bedroom. But his first night with us, this well behaved pup screamed and cried and barked from 11pm to 1am. Now, I’m sure some neighborhood fireworks didn’t help, but around 1:15am, we called an audible.Henry would sleep in our bed all week.Sorry to his Mom and Dad if you’re listening – I’m sure he learned some bad habits here at Camp Jules. Bottom line, you may think you know what you’re podcast is going to be – but if it’s not working, it’s OK to change – even after you’ve launched.

Then there were the puppy teeth – who knew they were so sharp? Yes, they hurt when he nipped at my ankles – and yes, those first few podcast mistakes may leave a mark. But outside something drastic, or outside the realm of common sense, you aren’t going to destroy anything in your first few episodes. No matter how hard Henry went at those deer antlers or stuffies, he didn’t cause any real damage. It’s OK as a new podcaster to be “teething.”

At the end of the day, your new podcast needs a lot of attention – you are still figuring out your new world. But the more time and care you put into it, the better your results. You might need constant reminders about mic technique and avoiding tangents – the podcast equivalent of “don’t eat that and don’t pee on that.” Lata!

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