steven covery – Podcastreporter.com

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of podcast skills and the perspective of Todd Henry, podcaster of The Accidental Creative and also The Daily Creative.

Todd has spent a great deal of time in letting us know that we have to keep “sharpening the saw” (an expression used by Steven Covey in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) which means that we need to sharpen our skills continuously, as well as do up-front key planning for success.

And Todd gives us food for thought in this famous quote from Pablo Picasso: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

And the key idea that is the take-away from Todd’s micro-episode is: “The skill that you are known for today will be unlikely to sustain you tomorrow. You must continue to grow.”

And we learn the podcasting craft and then come into our own genius in podcasting after much experience — from imitating others to get the experience, then diverging and delivering our own style, framework and VOICE in the podosphere (because we now have learned what works for us due to our growth). Todd can contemplate success when we experience making a “unique mark” and delivering a “unique contribution” in the podosphere.

Sound familiar?

Well, Todd then throws a bit of reality as he splashes the waters of realism in our face — we will hit what he calls “the crisis phase.” And he describes this phase in this manner: “But, then we hit what I call “crisis” phase. This is when we suddenly realize that the work is fine, that it’s delivering on expectations, and that everyone around us seems happy with what we’re doing, but we feel stuck. We’re doing what we’ve always done, and we’re doing it well, but we know that we are no longer growing.”

Now, does that sound familiar?

So before we can stagnate and start to get nervous about our future growth, Todd suggests that an avenue of growth may lie in going down the road of learning and in building your skill — in fact, building a new skill: “Then, you will be able to incorporate it into your existing work and use it to find new ways of accomplishing your goals.”

For the creative podcaster, this is the inspiration that comes with skills transfer or skills-learning that can invigorate you as a content creator and skilled professional.

And it is up to each one of us as podcasters to go beyond our limits and see which new skills we can learn (or adopt) or internalize so that we can go beyond our limits today and have what we need to grow our craft and sustain us tomorrow.

Thank you for your attention.

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on the theme from a recent podcast episode from Evo Terra in Podcast Pontifications show. This theme dealt with the “value equation” vs. opportunity investment in deciding whether to go after and/or accept the business from a client for podcasting services or consultation, etc. In fact, you could even extend that to offering from your web site or business some type of product, service, offering, offer or other type of deliverable to a client for money or other type of value (i.e., barter, quid pro quo, exchange, joint venture, etc.).

Evo goes on to examine the value of “good money” vs. “bad money.” The latter is considered to be compensation from a client that is NOT desirable for you as an entrepreneur or podcaster, because of either moral or ethical views — or perhaps you just don’t like the individual or people or the job itself (that is, you may not enjoy or you may hate doing this type of work and wish it to be over). In fact, the bad money may make your life miserable and may leave a sour taste in your mouth — but because of the financial situation that you have (especially during the plan-demic virus crisis), you may have to accept this type of job or work out of financial necessity.

Now, I myself have had a great deal of “good money.” But I have also had myself a share of “bad money.” And it was not until I got “smart” and decided to place a VALUE into the equation of entrepreneur and podcasting work that I finally realized the difference between that type of work that I DID NOT LIKE TO DO vs. the type of work that I DID NOT WANT TO DO, and thus, REFUSED TO DO.

When you, as a podcast consultant or solutions provider, begin to loathe what you are creating and what you are doing, you can easily fall into the “monkey’s trap” of being stuck doing something you either do not enjoy or cannot see a good future for yourself (in spite of the financial returns). This is a sign that you are chasing after — and accepting — deals that bring with them “bad money.”

Now, in the podcast episode from Evo Terra, not only is this “value equation” described, but he also gives you food for thought about providing your skills to those clients (or potential clients from your online services, products, offerings or offers), but also whether you are in a position to DECLINE the “bad money” and thus set your course for your future to accept less in remuneration, but receive the “good money” that can make your work more valuable to others and your life to have more value to yourself, as well.

We recommend that you consume this episode (either in audio or from the transcript that he provides from his newsletter email), especially the sections that are titled:

“The wrong clients eventually bring bad money; and
The right clients may never have good money.; and
Unexpected clients with unexpected money come from unexpected directions.”

Since this decision is your own judgment call as an entrepreneur and podcaster, it is critical from your self-examination that you can differentiate very clearly the “things you won’t ever want to do vs. the things you don’t want to do forever.”

The latter presents us with a case study of Douglas E. Welch of the podcast show Career Opportunities, who was one of the first podcasters (and whose story we have discussed in prior episodes of this show). He was a computer and local area network consultant, as well as a podcaster and author and writer and blogger. As he stated to me several times, he realized that he should quit wiring cables on his knees and underneath desks for a living and go into the soft skills of New Media content creation, writing, podcasting, blogging, screencasting and video (and gardening) instead. His bodily pain from years of putting “his knees in the breeze” (so to speak) forced him to take a different approach to his livelihood (although perhaps at a lower income level) and reach out for his own “good money.”

So, we recommend that you consume this episode from Evo Terra and then do some self-reflection in your periodic planning to see if your entrepreneurship and podcasting is delivering “good money” now and future “good money” — or if it will imprison you in the jail of “bad money” and dissatisfaction, with the end of the road being a miserable livelihood. As Evo explains in his post and episode, the old quadrant expressed by Steven Covey in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People can be a good analytical tool to ensure that you can be in the quadrant of “Important but not urgent” instead of letting the tyranny of the urgent drive your actions and run your life. You may want to check out the description and benefits resulting from a view of the quadrant.

So we hope that you can benefit from the discussion of the bad vs. good moneys, and that you can plan your satisfying livelihood as an entrepreneur and podcaster by placing yourself in the quadrant of the “important, but not urgent” status as you steer your business toward being successful.

Thank you for your attention.