David Lee Martin

It took me a long time before I took the leap into podcast land. Fearing the commitment and consistency it requires I didn’t want to start something that I dropped after three episodes.

I’m pretty sure that’s the average. Start with a splash and end with a gurgle when you find that no one’s listening.

Is that not the problem?

We judge too soon the impact our creativity can have? Sometimes it’s the long play that wins the spoils, and I think Podcasting is one of those long plays for many would be presenters.

Consistency coupled with faith moves mountains, and through the exercise of patient expectation of good we can fuel and fly far further than we we believe we are capable of.

There will always be the stories of those who shot to the top after their first viral episode aired, but the majority begin as a seed, and water their talent with time.

Time spent learning.

Time spent honing.

Time spent making mistakes and returning to the basics.

This, friend, is why your chosen subject should be something you believe in, something that delights you and you’d want to speak about when no one else is in the room.

Passion-driven podcasting boiled down to something that resonates with others. Don’t be too general, keep it neat and niched, focused like a laser on just one or two subjects that vibrate through your soul.

For me, its creativity and faith. I love to pray. I’m obsessed with God and all that He makes and says. And I love to create things, and encourage others to step up, step out, and make stuff too – all for the glory of God!

So how do you start a podcast?

Let me give you the 99 point list of stuff you need to do before you get started…

Nope. You are not escaping that easily. Let’s shave that kilometer-long list of to-do’s down to just three.

Here’s the list.

1. Buy a reasonable USB microphone.

2. Plug it into your computer.

3. Speak.

Use the free software Audacity to record your episodes. Snip the beginning and ending if needed. Don’t overthink. Don’t try to make it perfect.

Just get started.

Try the Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ Microphone, or even a Blue Snowball. My chosen USB mic is the Rode Podcaster. (to be clear and open, these are amazon affiliate links)

The rest is actually surprisingly easy.

Use a service like Anchor FM to publish for free. The steps to make it happen are laid out on their website, so don’t figure you need to spend hundreds of hours or thousands of dollars to find out how.

I use Podcast.co to host my show, and let them take care of the tech side of distribution.

I’m closing in on 100 episodes.

Remember what I said about passion? I felt the Holy Ghost prompt me to start a podcast. I thought about it, and my fears of failure, so decided to begin simply and safely. A daily podcast! What was I thinking?!

Once a week would be enough. That would be a great place to start. I do daily, but I’ve always been kind of over the top.

And rolling toward my century I’m passionately serving 20 listeners or thereabouts.

Impressed? You should be.

Impressed by the notion that if I can do this, you can too. Impressed by the realization that it takes time to build a following. Touched by the idea that it’s not all about impressive stats, or magnificent stories of overnight explosions and world-shattering success.

Sometimes it’s just doing the daily. Working the weekly. Making the monthly.

Daily commitment to your own genius.

Resolve to connect first with your creative calling to add value and love to others. Let that undergird your dedication to stay the course.

Dear Christian friend, if you have something to share and say, say it freely and fully.

Don’t hide behind the idea you have to have everything in place before you begin. Don’t pretend it has to be easy to be worthwhile.

Do what you can, share your heart and mind in an authentic way, and keep sharing, keep learning, keep growing.

Oh, and one more thing, subscribe to my podcast here https://pod.co/david-lee-martin

A writer writes. Right? That’s what makes them a writer. Not the intention, or the dream, but the down and dirty daily discipline of bum-in-chair pounding the keys and producing words on the page.

But writing a book can seem overwhelming at times. The idea of of a 300-page marathon of mind leaves us begging for rest before we even begin the first chapter.

Enter your saving grace, and a revelation that will free you from the illusion that the only way to be a writer is to produce books.

My advice to those who aspire to authorship, but need to sharpen their writing blade.

Blog.

Originally termed a “web log” – a series of journal entries on a web page – blogging is a journey-sharing exercise that requires nothing more than expressed honesty.

Don’t start so you can become a famous blog celebrity, although that could happen, but simply to leverage yourself into a disciple of consistently turning up with words that you share in public.

Blogging is a dynamic, in the moment, form of communication. It draws raw immediacy from heart to key to screen in a way that sometimes a book will not. I believe it’s a mindset that says blog writing does not need to be perfect because it’s passing down the river. Yesterday’s entry with all of its imperfections is soon superseded by todays. This frees you from the need to piddle around perfecting every comma and colon and just do the work. The joyful work of writing.

Another suggestion?

Write your book.

But you just said blog?

Write the book one short blog post at a time!

A popular example would be that the Martian was first published in serial form on Andy Weir’s website. Andy essentially wrote a long-form blog that became a book that became a blockbuster movie. Who knows where your public practice might lead?

Embrace the benefits of raw, untamed immediacy and punch out your book page by page, day by day, in blog post after blog post, until it is complete.

Then gather those babies together and stitch them into a whole.

If need be, once they are sandwiched between the covers, feel free to don the editor’s cap and tidy their bullish tone, smooth any uncultured grammar, and caress the gnarly unrefined prose into something more fitting for the shelves.

But start real and raw.

Daily posts of between 300-1000 words will quickly slice and dice your book down to manageable chunks and before you know it your novel or non-fiction world-changer will be ready for stage two. Blog to book.

The book to blockbuster? Who knows, and frankly at this junction who cares. The only thing that matters at the outset is the first word, followed by the one after that and the one after that…

Nothing should stop you in your tracks.

Make writing a daily practice, just like cleaning your teeth.

Book buying and book reading habits have changed dramatically in the past decade. Gone are the days of judging a book by the fatness of its spine. Whether it’s 45 pages or 450, a book can be a life changer, and the instant availability at the click of button means we have more at our fingertips than ever before.

And it’s not only book reading that has changed beyond recognition, book writing has experienced a revolution too!

No longer are you stood in line waiting for a gatekeeper to give your book a thumbs up. You can choose yourself and publish freely and furiously to the biggest bookstore on the planet.

Technology has overtaken traditionalism and a new era has dawned for anyone who wants to share their words and worth with the world.

Don’t sit back thinking you must wait to be discovered before you put words on a page, put your words out where they can be read and let the discovery take care of itself. My encouragement to you is to learn well the art of “practicing in public”.

Kill perfectionism in a blitz of creative courage, and write and publish your book with all of its imperfections.

Instead of thinking you need to write the next great American novel, or a 21st Century classic, carve your way to a perennial bestseller with a small knife, one short book after another.

Lay your words as milestones on the road to fulfilling your destiny. Share the steps as you take them, not just after they have all been taken. Invite people to walk the road with you as you bring your wisdom to the table.

Remember this, your book is not about you. You don’t want your reader to be impressed by your eloquence. You want the reader to be impressed with themselves, when they internalise and apply what they learn from your writings!

The most significant Hero’s Journey is the reader’s journey, not your own. They are the hero of your story, and you act as a muse for their dreams and desires to become a bigger, better version of themselves.

Don’t deprive the world of this indescribable gift.

Words are powerful. The Scriptures say that in them we find the power of life and death.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21 KJV)

Your words carry life.

Pages are panting, thirsty for your wisdom. Pick up your pen, punch your keys, and set them free!

I’ve had some bombs when it comes to cars. There used to be guy who lived over the road from me, and whenever one car of mine gave up the ghost, I’d be knocking on his door for another poor excuse for a vehicle I could buy for a few hundred pounds. Seriously, some of the wheels I travelled in were shockers!

I wondered on many occasions if they would even get me to my destination, and sometimes my fears were founded and I was stranded by the side of the road waiting for a pickup truck.

I have a better car now, one I can trust with a great deal more confidence. And what is the trust I place in the car? That it will take me from A to B.

In the transference of knowledge world, the A is your mind and heart, and the B is the heart and mind of your audience. Your challenge and mission are to get all of that awesomeness from A (inside you) to B (inside your audience so they, in turn, apply it, and can also share it with someone else).

Vehicles of Value

Vehicles of Value, as I like to call them, are the means by which you do this.

In the simplest form these vehicles are words, video, and audio. There are numerous forms that these three main carriers of information and inspiration take, but you’ll find that most sit comfortably under one of those three umbrellas.

How can you bake your knowledge into written form so someone else can enjoy them.

Will video work best to show and tell your value to another?

Or will pure audio do the job?

The best vehicle may vary from audience to audience, or depend on the purpose and outcome you are promising. Often, you might want to leverage all three, and give those who are learning from you an array of choices that allow them to partake of what you are sharing in the way that best suits their preferred learning style.

The important thing is that all of your tremendous worth climbs inside one or more of these vehicles so it can transport from your heart and mind to those of someone else.

So long as our genius remains locked inside and has no way to travel it is very difficult to see an expansion of any kind.

The fabulous thing is that once you record your revelations and experiences, be it in words, pictures, or sound, it immediately becomes replicable, and can reach far beyond the short span of your geographical social circumference or sphere of influence.

Whereas some of the automobiles I used to drive were questionable and may never reach their final destination, the Vehicles of Value I’m advocating here, ones that package and transfer information and inspiration, can carry you to the other side of the world in a split second!

The crystallising of value is a key factor in becoming successful as an online trainer or coach. It’s very difficult to sell or share something that lives in your head or on your hard drive and never takes the next essential step.

Those ideas you have? They have to be released into the wild.

It may sound barbaric, but the world is waiting to rip your ideas apart so you can receive vital feedback, grow some balls (forgive the surly language), and thicken your skin. I don’t mean to be rude, but believe me, once you are out there for all to see and criticise, rudeness may be one thing you’ll need to be accustomed to. Not dealing it out of course, but dealing with it when your baby creations are not received with the same devoted adoration you believe they should be.

And this I think is often the main reason we fail to translate ideas into action. Our cherished thoughts remain just that. Our novel stays unpublished, languishing on a USB stick somewhere. Our poetry has taken up residence on a dusty old laptop. Our paintings, songs, and writings have been resigned to mere wishful thinking along with our dreams.

The fear of what others will say prevents us pulling the trigger.

And even worse than what they might say, what if no one says anything?

No likes, no comments, no criticisms.

The tragedy of silence!

And still is yet one more thing more tragic than either of these two possibilities.

That you DON’T step out, despite the fears.

No courageous stepping out despite the anxious worries.

No possibility-opening activity that places your work where people can appreciate it and consume it.

Dear creative friend, you may be surprised.

Our “what ifs” and “buts” that prevent us right now can become our best friends if we’ll turn them around.

“What if it works?”

“What if people love what I share?”

“But it might change my life and the life of those I speak to!”

“But if I don’t step out I’ll always be left wondering what could have been?”

Don’t be a “what if widow” divorced from the dream of what could be. At least open the door of potential for those dreams to become a reality.

Crystallise what you know and celebrate who you are in public, through sharing your thoughts, ideas, and creations.

I can’t promise what the response will be, but I will guarantee you’ll feel a whole lot better for trying. And with each swing of the bat you’ll get better.