well podcasts if you aren't listening to
one chances are you have friends who
swear by whoa oh yeah in fact 50% of
American households are fans of them
this week the pot fest Expos in Orlando
bringing some of the most recognizable
names in podcasting to Central Florida
and among those is Pat Flynn the host of
smart passive income thank you so much
for joining us thank you for having me
so we were just saying in the commercial
break we have so many questions we're
afraid like jumping let's do it all
right so how do you have your own
podcast well yes we kind of do we do six
we'll get to that in a second but let's
talk to you I mean how long have you
been doing this you said you did this
what 10 years ago
I've been podcasting since July 2010 and
it actually took me three times to
record my first episode because it's
kind of a scary thing to talk to a
microphone alone in your office but
after I finally did it now I have over
65 million downloads five different
podcasts 1,300 episodes recorded so I
know a few things about this base so
when you first started 10 years ago you
said in your office talking by yourself
into a microphone did you imagine that
podcasting would become what it is today
I did not although I knew the power of
podcasting because it was actually a
podcast that actually changed my life I
was laid off from the architecture
industry in 2008 and I discovered this
podcast about starting your own online
business and I fell in love with that
podcast and the host and I followed
their directions and I started my own
business and as a result of that I
always knew I wanted to start my own too
so I could sort of pay it forward and so
YouTube is helping other people make
their own podcast as well what are some
of the pieces of advice that you give
people so audio is really important the
nice thing about podcasting is it
doesn't matter what you look like you
don't need all the fancy lights and
cameras you just need a really good
microphone and thankfully we have a lot
of great microphones that will make you
sound like a professional at a very very
good price in addition to that you need
a place to record into on your computer
and there's lots of different programs
from GarageBand to audacity which are
free and then the higher level ones like
from Adobe and then we have other
programs like anchor and then you have
to host that file somewhere and then
essentially you tell iTunes and Apple
and Google and Spotify where your show
lives and then every time you come out
with a new episode your subscribers get
notified about that and you basically
are just having a conversation with them
and it's cool because I can be in my
office speaking
by myself two loads of people and to the
listener it's as if you were just
talking to them you can have a very it's
like the most intimate way of content
consumption and it's really cool
and we talked about the first big
podcast that a lot of people will
recognize the name serial and that was
following one case all the way through
from beginning to end one person who was
in prison during high school tell us how
you felt about that boom when cereal
came out people started thinking oh my
gosh podcasts this is cool it was such
an innovative show because it followed
this crime story and you really felt
like it was kind of like watching a
Netflix show that you had to watch the
next episode and continue listening and
I actually saw a spike in my download
numbers even though my show is nothing
to do with that because that introduced
people to what a podcast was because
people started talking about it at work
and with their friends like have you
heard about this thing's serial so it's
a podcast what's a podcast and so now
people are coming on in actually on
average people are subscribed to 7 to 10
podcasts which is really cool so if you
want to start one of your own don't feel
like I can't do it because somebody else
is already talking about that people are
listening to so much content out there
because like you said earlier they're
driving they're on a walk they're at the
gym these are places where you can't
watch a YouTube video right at least I
hope you're not watching YouTube while
you're probably I was reading your
guiding principles and by the way after
I read them I decided that I probably
need to move in with you and have you
read my life I love that you said the
right path is the one you make yourself
that leads to your version of happiness
tell us a little bit about that and like
how that inspired you inspires other
people thank you for sharing that you
know when I started my podcast it was
kind of a rough time in my life because
I had just gotten laid off like I said I
took five years of architecture school I
wanted to be this architect that's what
my parents and society and whatever told
me to do and then I got laid off and I
couldn't get a job and then I discovered
this new path and just really showed me
that I can make an impact and actually
be happy and now I have a family and I
could spend more time with them and
although I love architecture and
everything I did there I do miss parts
of it I'm now able to make a bigger
impact in other people's lives directly
through the airwaves and with a podcast
which is amazing and you can you can
make it whatever you want
and real quick pod fest that is here in
Orlando you're speaking at it if anyone
wants to kind of know more about it what
is pat pat fell so fast
so the pod fest multimedia expo
an event that's happening right now in
Orlando which is amazing and I'm doing
the closing keynote tomorrow and it's a
gathering of audio nerds who are here to
just talk shop and we're learning from
each other we're supporting each other
that's the coolest thing about
podcasters we all start from zero we all
know what it's like so we're all here to
help each other if you could give one
piece of advice very quick how do you
grow an audience how do you grow an
audience well you have other people on
your show who also have podcasts and you
kind of just share each other all that
works is and and and when you're doing
an interview with somebody just be
curious that's the best advice I can
give you because that's going to allow
you to ask the right questions and get
that golden information out of that
person