This is Digital Podcaster hosted by Dylan Schmidt. Welcome to Digital Podcaster. My name is Dylan Schmidt. And today is a special solo episode. I thought because, you know, it's the end of the year, and we're about to hop into 2022, I would record a quick little behind the scenes episode and give you a look at how things have been going, where things are going, what's gotten in the way. And yeah, a little bit of focus on where Digital Podcasters going, that I think will help you also plan what your 2220 that's going to be a tongue twister 2022 is going to look like as well. So just a little Christmas recap for you. I've been pretty sick the last few days, you probably hear it my voice a little bit. But I've been in great spirits. I did spin the Christmas weekend, quite a bit on the couch. But it's all good. First Christmas, I can think of where I've been quite sick. But it wasn't COVID got the COVID test. It was negative. So thankful for that. And yeah, I thought I'd share a little bit about what's first gotten in the way of this podcast and moving forward because so often it's easy to share the things that are going awesome for the podcast. But I figured it'd be helpful to share what's gotten in the way because Digital Podcasters are is only six months old. And it's kind of rare that you're able to share what's kind of been a roadblock, especially as a solo podcaster. It's easy to just kind of breeze over the stuff. But it's not always easy. And if you always portray it as being easy, I think you're doing your audience a disservice. So my goal in sharing what's gotten in the way for Digital Podcaster is to let you know what obstacles I've been kind of trying to overcome as I grow this thing. So one of the big things has been deciding who Digital Podcaster is really for, you know, I have my own desires of who I'd like it to be for. But I don't really think about it too much. Honestly, I don't focus too much on a specific audience. It's more of a general thing that I think I can talk about to keep things interesting. So at first, I was kind of like, you know, it's just for creative entrepreneurs. And luckily, that's stuck. But it has been a bit of an obstacle or kind of a thing is like, Who is this really for? Because I made it clear from the beginning, I don't really want to make a podcast about podcasting, that sounds that sounds like I would just get burnt out and bored, burnt out and bored. That's a that's a book name right there. And rather than for something, because that would you know, on one hand on paper, make sense, like make a podcast about podcasting because you're in the podcasting business. But I don't really see Digital Podcasters just in the podcasting business I see is in a bigger platform, like I think of podcasting as a tool to get your message out to the world. And I want Digital Podcasters here to kind of be like almost like a pseudonym for different things. You know, in the future, I'd love to because my knowledge is more than just podcasting. I have a lot of marketing and business background. So really, I'd like to make Digital Podcaster more than just a podcasting company, more of a marketing company. So if you're looking to grow your audience, yeah, podcasting is a great tool for that. But I am not going to say it's the only tool for that, you know, there's different ways and I have such experience in different avenues of marketing that even you know, in the early stages of where Digital Podcasters that I want it to be for. I want to be for everybody. Everybody interested in creating a platform, growing a platform, all that stuff. Because when I'm talking to clients, I'm not only talking about their podcast, I'm talking about how their overall platform strategy is going, and how they're doing what's working, what's not working all that stuff. Because very quickly, when I talk with clients, especially they realize, oh, I can get a lot more out of Dylan than just talking about a podcast because while that is beneficial, if you happen over a bigger strategy going then the podcast is like the cherry on top, it makes everything sweeter. But it is not the only thing right? So going into more in depth on different landing pages and email marketing and social media tools and tactics and strategies, things like that. I think that'd be a lot of fun and the mental and emotional health that goes along with entrepreneurship. And you know, being a content creator in this day and age, because there's a lot that goes with that. And that's really what I'm setting up for a Digital Podcaster to head that's the direction it's heading is doubling down on what I was didn't share about in the beginning, I, you know, when I filled out the description for this podcast, I just was like, let's make it for creative entrepreneurs. I don't even know that sounds great. And luckily, you know, while I didn't, it didn't get in too much in the way of, you know, saying, you know, it's, I didn't stop myself I guess is what I'm trying to say is nothing got in the way of me stopping what I'm doing. It was just something that made me second guess not second guessed in a way of that stopping me though, I guess I'm trying to say is, I just push forward regardless. And that's why the momentum of Digital Podcaster has been great. But yeah, so in 2022, gonna double down on all things business, marketing, and mindset. And, of course, going to be staying consistent for every week through 2022. So that means a new episode every week, every Tuesday, like normal, and growing on top of what I've already been building with Digital Podcaster. So I'm thinking for the first quarter, four quarters in a year, excuse my voice. So yeah, for the first quarter, at least doing one solo episode a month, in three interview episodes a month, because I've got a backlog of interviews right now that I'm releasing. And I'm really super excited for what's coming up, we have public speaking expert, we have a blogging expert, we have a therapist, credential therapists that we you know, we we go super in depth on their expertise. And I'm not trying to be an expert on blogging, I'm not I don't have my masters. You know, my I'm not a therapist, you know, I'm not a licensed therapist, but I would love to talk to licensed therapists bring up questions that I see that I have for myself, and I know that you would possibly have as well, or questions that maybe you didn't even know that you have answered for by a therapist. And those are the different areas, you know, just a couple, for example, that I really am passionate about. And I would love to talk with an expert about that and share those conversations with you. And I think it makes the most sense to add in a solo episode at least once a month to kind of integrate, maybe that's probably makes the most sense to do that, in the fourth episode of every month, kind of like a recap of that month of those three conversations. And then what's coming next, that kind of thing. Because I just feels like if I'm only doing interviews, I don't get a chance to kind of connect with you quite as much one on one. And there's stuff that I want to say during episodes when I'm doing the interview, that it just doesn't feel right at the beginning of the episode, or at the end of the episode. Because you know, we just had this long conversation with maybe an expert on some level. And then at the end just to throw in like some update life update, something like that. This just doesn't feel right. So I think doing at least one solo episode per month makes the most sense, because I got a lot to say. And I don't want to just over flood it in each episode, I'd rather drip it out. Because unless it's urgent or time sensitive, it doesn't need to be crammed in an episode and not given it. Given its, you know, its its whole justice made to whatever I'm trying to say. So that's where we're going. And let's see, and yeah, and the interviews, they're going to be all around the creative and entrepreneurial headspace. Some might not make that much sense on the outside. Because I am a bit eclectic. I understand that. So when I'm choosing interview guests, I'm choosing interview guests on conversations that I think fit in the creative entrepreneur headspace, you might disagree, or you might think, I don't understand how that fits Dylan. And that's kind of the stuff that gets me excited of if you can't make that connection of like, I don't understand how this fits. Because I love having conversations with people that aren't the ones that you expect on Business and Marketing podcast. I like having conversations with people that get you seeing maybe something the same that you've been looking at, but from a different angle. And I think conversations really help move that needle. And I think having conversations with people that maybe you've never heard of before in categories that you've never heard before, but having conversations around something that we're familiar with, is a lot of fun, and just helps all of us get the creative juices flowing. So if you see you know one day you're like why does he have a rap artists on? If chances are we're talking about the creative production or creative things, and that stuff can help your content creation or it could help your marketing strategy there's there will be a connection there. I promise. It's not just a Dylan just talking to whoever he feels like there's yes and there's always a similarity or a through line through what I'm trying to get with you. Get get with you. Share with us. We'll try to say and next Share some this is transparent as I can be, share some financial focuses for Digital Podcaster. It's six months old. And you know, it's already grown more than I was expecting. And a couple of the financial focuses for Digital Podcaster. Because I don't have sponsors and ads and I don't really want to do sponsors or ads. When I say I don't really want to do I wouldn't do sponsors and ads, I'm not looking to add that in here. So a couple things I've launched recently that I'll be growing as well, in 2022, I have podcast Pro, which is an on demand editing service. So there are the services out there like design pickle or content, cucumber, basically, you give them for design pickle, you give them the it's like having a graphic designer on call. So if you like, you can give them as many tasks as you need. And then you get his designs back on demand, usually within 24 to 48 hours, something like that I created I didn't see anything like that for podcasting. So I created podcast Pro, which is an on demand podcasting service for podcasters. And because I've started this Digital Podcaster or this podcasting business, I've talked to a lot of people. And the biggest thing that people have are is the editing and the publishing. It's like, there's a lot of steps to podcasting. And I totally understand that. And I don't think that any podcaster needs to be proficient at editing and all that stuff, making their show sound good. I honestly think that the podcast host should just focus on being a host. And let someone else do that. And I understand that that's not in the budget for everybody as well. So not everybody can afford to have someone else edit their podcast for them, I totally understand that too. So I'd like to help both sides of the coin there. And podcast Pro is helping people that have a budget for getting help with their podcast. And they want their show to sound awesome. And all they want to do is record and they get you know, we give you social media clips, publish your podcast for you all that good stuff, make it sound awesome. And you have a whole show schedule, a lot goes into it. And so podcast Pro, I'm looking to grow in 2022, as well. So take on more clients for that. And then for the people that are like, you know, I don't have in my budget to have, you know, my own dedicated podcast editor. But I still want to have a podcast I'm going to be relaunching a course that I've already created and put out there and have clients through is called profitable podcast Academy. And that will be completely revamped and updated, that will be launching later in spring. And that's going to cover everything, it's going to be intense. But it's like the all in one solution, from email marketing, to social media strategy, to podcasting, to web pages, all that stuff. It's going to be awesome, and already has a lot, but there's a lot of already wanted to add, since I've launched it once. And so I'll share more on that later. But this is what I'm looking at in 2022. And then lastly for you know, focuses business wise on 2022, for Digital Podcaster is to continue to add massive amounts of fat value, and be seen as the authority in the podcasting slash marketing slash business space. Because there are a lot of options out there for business and marketing stuff. And I see Digital Podcaster as an all in one solution. Yes, the business focuses on podcasting services right now, that might not always be the case that will likely expand but also I have so much knowledge and I was sharing this on Instagram the other day is like you there's a lot of people I've I've found, as I've been communicating with people lately on Instagram, whether you're looking for help with certain things, it's hard to know who to trust out there because a lot of people can make claims about anything. You come across someone that specializes in social media services or something like that. And they make all these claims I have a six figure this or I got my clients this or that. But you don't really know if that's true. And it's kind of disheartening for me to see how much bad information people put out there. And when I actually work with some designers are some little things like they can make all these claims, and maybe they can make their content look really pretty. But have they actually done what they are claiming they can do or hinting that they can do likely not and that's a waste of time and money and just sets you back because you're trying to find someone you can trust. So I want to make Digital Podcaster are a trusted resource. This doesn't mean that Digital Podcaster becomes the only resource that you trust. But I want to create a network of trusted resources because I would never have someone on the podcast that I just Don't get a good vibe from or they haven't passed my own measure of Is this legit, I'm not going to be featuring someone on my podcast that I'm like, This person is scamming people or they, you know, I don't know, they, they aren't who they say they are essentially what I'm trying to say, and I have a good gauge at that. And I know that a lot of people don't, they don't, because I can see from a mile away, that there's people out there with decent sized platform that appear to be what, you know, one thing and then I know behind the scenes, because either I've talked to them, or I've seen their course, whatever, they're not what they say they are, or they're just, it's not worth purchasing their stuff. So I really want to make Digital Podcaster a trusted source because it needs we we we need to stick out the ones that are really trying to make a bigger and better impact in the world really need to stick out. And I this is kind of stuff that keeps me up at night is like I don't want to sit by and just let these people get louder. So that's what, that's what the business side of things looks like for digital podcaster. What about you? What are you doing for 2022? What's your big goals? What's your big vision? Share, if you haven't already with me on Instagram, that seems to be where I'm most active at the moment at Digital Podcaster. And I have a couple tips for you that I've written, written, written down written down for what I've done for myself, which I'm going to do again here shortly and keep adding to. So some tips for making an awesome 2022 for you in your business. Number one, create a vision board. bonus point for creating a vision board inside Canva and then getting it printed out and framed on your wall. You can do this for like under 30 bucks. It's awesome. So a vision board if you don't know is how I would define it. It's just a collection of images that inspire you to where you want to go where you want to be. This could look like money, this could look like a house, this could look like an audience, this could look like some type of you know, whatever it is you want. When you're making a wish, it would say it's your birthday. And it could be health as well. It could be relationships, it say it's your birthday, and you're making a wish before you blow out the candles, what are you wishing for, that's what your vision board should be a collection of all of that. It's like a collage. So what I would do is on your computer, make a folder called vision board, whatever, and go and google images. And then start making going through and finding the images of stuff that inspire you and what you want to have. And then saving that to the folder and then going in Canva and then creating a image, I think it's like 18 by 24 or something like that, make it pretty big. And then start dragging the photos from your folder into Canva. And putting in mix, you're making a collage on that one image. And then in Canva, you can get the image printed. And when I got mine printed, it was only like seven or eight bucks. It was super cheap for Dino to have your custom image printed. And then I got a frame from target for like, under 15 bucks. I want to say probably let's just say$20 to be most but I think was cheaper. Because there's a common size. And so yeah, so that's for like 30 bucks. I had my vision board now it's framed on the wall. How cool is that? And I've made vision boards over the years. And it's just something so cool. So I have it every day I see it. And mine has, you know, cool office, cool house, some jujitsu stuff, some places I want to travel, relationship stuff. And just some mindset stuff. Audience platform business stuff. And yeah, and that's a serves every day as a reminder for me to stay on track. And it's not like something I meditate on it, I just look at it. And something about seeing it over and over again. My vision board, it really helps just set it into my subconscious and emotion. It doesn't take a lot of work. And it's kind of fun to create. And, you know, what's the worst that can happen? It comes true. Oh, no. You know, I've done a vision board in the past years ago, like 10 years ago I did. And it's crazy. The stuff that comes true when you do it. You know, you don't even have to be into the whole manifesting thing, but maybe you are but if especially if you are then you got to do vision board doesn't matter if you are though, so you still do one either way. This is your your prescription. The doctor is giving you a prescription make a vision board. And then another thing that I do that I recommend for you. If you're not sure how you're going to get stuff done in 2022 is this is what I do. And you can the app is interchangeable. You can use different apps. You could use pen and paper for all I care. But I like using Trello I'll tell you why. So I have my to do list that I'm doing doing every day I'll open Trello. So I know what to focus on. But the cool thing about Trello and why I use Trello specifically, is I have reoccurring tasks. So there are certain tasks that need to pop up every week or once a month or every other month or something like that. Well, I have those on a timer. So after I do them, it will automatically show up every like the first week of every month at this specific time. And that way, it just takes any of that brain power out. I don't have to remember to keep putting it on my my to do list because a lot of success and business is they say, you know chop wood carry water. That's the old saying of how do you build something? How do you get something big done, you just gotta, it's through the regular duties every single day. chop wood carry water, chop wood, carry water, chop wood carry water, that's the surefire way to success cannot fail. If all you do is chop wood, carry water, and reoccurring tasks, there's a lot of reoccurring tasks that you and I both do, that we spend extra brainpower trying to remember those tasks. And it you know, it sucks trying to hold everything together in our head, I use Trello to capture all of those ideas, I have a board that's just ideas that I rarely visit because I have so many ideas, and it just gets kind of, at least I know they live somewhere. I don't need to go through them, you know, everyday at all. But I have another point that just to do list. It's just things I do. And there's the reoccurring tasks. And then the other thing I would recommend for you that number three is publish in some form every day on some platform, it doesn't say it has to be podcasting. If it's podcasting, I would say once a week, but publish in some form, every day, there's a lot of benefit to just sharing your work. And, you know, it's really easy to create stuff just for yourself. It's way different shared. And it brings up a whole different emotional energy when you share it because then you're like, well, nobody liked it, nobody this you kind of have to experience those feelings as a creator, to push through and break the walls, and get to the next level of whatever you're trying to do to grow and attract more people with whatever it is you're creating. And you can only do that through externally sharing what you're doing. And that's why I say publish in some form every day. Whether that's on an Instagram post or a tweet, tweet is totally fine. Whatever it is an email, podcast, video on YouTube, Tik Tok, video, Instagram reels, any of that stuff counts, there's no I didn't say do everything every day, I just said publish one thing every day. And watch what happens. I promise you your life will change your audience will change your whole platform will change. Could be an Instagram story doesn't have to be something big, could take you less than 20 seconds. That's how quick it could be. And that's what I'll be doing in 2022. And I hope that gave you some ideas on what you could do for 2220 22 that's gonna, that's gonna be tough. I'm gonna have to learn that when 2022 If there are guests that you think would be great for Digital Podcaster or if there's something you'd like me to cover specifically, now that you kind of know more about where Digital Podcasters at where it's going all that good stuff, please send me a DM on Instagram at DigitalPodcaster or, or email me at hello at Digital Podcaster.com I hope you have a healthy and safe New Year. And thank you for being with me it means a lot. I'm really really grateful. Honestly, creating Digital Podcaster when I was thinking back, reminiscing on the couch over the weekend during Christmas, honestly Digital Podcaster was It was like one gift I could give myself because like i My birthday is in June. And I created a Digital Podcaster in June. And I was thinking like, you know, if during my birthday, like what if I was blowing out the candles what was like one thing I could have hoped for asked for or wished for. Even I wouldn't even have known to ask for Digital Podcaster because it would have been a little bit too far in my head to like, I wouldn't have been able to dream this big, which is funny because Digital Podcasters teaching me to dream bigger. And I'm excited that that's even possible. And I want to show you what's possible too, because I'm leading the way for certain of you I know that a certain section of you I know that. And I'm leaving ways for myself to because I'm showing myself what's possible. And through that I want to show you what's possible as well, because I'm not sharing things that I don't know about I will never speak to things that if I do speak to things that I don't know about. I'll tell you that I don't know the answer to everything but there are certain things that I know to be true and yeah, so I'm excited to grow with you thank you for being here all that to say and 2021 has been amazing 2022 is about to be even more incredible I'm really excited to go through this year with you and keep going reach out if you need anything I'll see you soon