Jeff Brown is the former co-host of an award-winning and nationally syndicated morning show, an award-winning production director and copywriter, and the creator and host of the successful Read to Lead Podcast where he has interviewed a number of New York Times bestselling authors including Dan Miller, Daniel Pink, Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Simon Sinek just to name a few. He has 26 years of experience in the radio world and a career that includes co-hosting an award-winning and nationally syndicated morning show.
Jeff has developed a large following by choosing great guests, asking great questions, and producing a high-quality podcast. He shares with us his passion for reading and some great ideas for starting or improving your own podcast. Even if you’re not a podcaster, you’ll be inspired by his journey and will learn how to improve your leadership through the power of reading.
Podcaster Academy is another design by Jeff to help you gain confidence in your interview skills behind the mic, understand more fully how to intimately connect with your audience, and how to present yourself in a more conversational manner that flows. Jeff also offers strategies on how to monetize podcast content as well as successful methods for formatting a podcast. If you are thinking about launching a podcast or currently podcasting you will want to take his course.
In this episode we talk about:
- How did Jeff Brown start with the Read to Lead podcast?
- What is his podcast all about?
- The power of reading
- The key to good listenable conversation
- The difference between radio and podcasting
- How you make your guests feel at the end of the day
- Jeff’s radio history and background
- Going back and talking about his first podcast
- What are the obstacles he faced when creating his first podcast
- How he settled into podcasting and decided to leave his radio job
- How has podcasting changed since he started
- How he started investigating side hustle opportunities to work on his business
- How he finds an opportunity in teaching himself to create simple mobile apps
- Doing mobile apps and websites for small and medium businesses exclusively
- Working with coaching clients
- How he enjoyed seeing his clients launching a podcast and succeed
- Why podcasting is so hot all of a sudden?
- The importance of curation to get the listeners interest and to be able to make it worth their time listening to a podcast
- Having unique content creation to avoid copying or imitating from other shows
- Some of the mistakes podcasters are making
- Understanding the importance of excellence with consistency
- The distinction between perfection and excellence
- Anything worth doing is worth doing well
- Putting up the absolute best version of what we do and what we can give
When someone is considering a podcast as a medium, how do I know if it’s for me? How complicated is it to do a podcast?
I am very methodical, often times a very intentional person. So when I came up with the idea and I really liked the idea, I began methodically planning it out. And in April, I researched other podcasts to see if there’s anything like what I was thinking about doing was around. In May, I purchased the equipment. In June I started setting up the interviews. In July I launched and it. The only kind of reservation or worry I really had to be honest was working a full time job as I was at that time. I was thinking, “How was I going to able to schedule the interviews I wanted to do at that time when people would actually do them?”
Since leaving my job I just said to myself “I’m going to make this work whether podcasting or whatever it is, I’m going to make this work someway, somehow.” And I have been self-employed ever since. I wouldn’t change a thing.
What are the first mistakes that podcasters often make?
There are lots of podcasts being created that aren’t taking full advantage of the concept or the idea or the fact that this medium give you the opportunity to not get it right the first time. When I did radio for almost half a decade, most of that was live, and so you got one chance to get it right.
What happens when you don’t remove mistakes and remove parts of conversations that actually don’t add anything to the overall conversation? When you leave those things in there, episode after episode, this thing called listener fatigue begins to set in. And so consciously I come to your show, at the back of my mind thinking this is a 30 minutes episode, 10 minutes of which it is going to be a waste of my time.
What are the most important things to consider?
“It’s to the point that when it comes to the content creator, there’s a lot of the same kinds of podcasts that concerns me a little bit. It really makes it hard for the listener. Curation becomes really important. It really makes it hard for the listener to find.
“I think what you want to do ultimately is pick and choose things from multiples genres. Think of mashing things up. Don’t take the template of exactly what somebody else is doing to the point that you’re filling the blanks. I think it’s hard not be influenced but if you’re taking it that far, that to me is beyond imitation.”
Which podcast should I follow, why and how often?
“I actually started listening recently to some voice over podcasts. I’ve done voiceover this year mostly for the advertisers on the radio station that I’ve worked for. So I’ve started listening to Six figure voice, it’s one of my favourites. The Voice Acting Master is another one. I really like Michael Port. For his book “Steal The Show” which is great. The Multiplier mind set with Dan Sullivan is a great one. I like Media Unplugged with Tom Asacker and Mark Ramsey. I listen to a friend of mine’s podcast called The Portfolio life. His name is Jeff Goins. Michael Hyatt, This is your Life. The Ray Edwards show is one of my favourites. He’s a former radio guy and just a well-crafted show and always great content. And anything Pat Flynn does is usually pretty good as well.”
Where to find Jeff Brown
Resources
Website: http://readtoleadpodcast.com
http://www.podcasteracademy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readtoleadnation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thejeffbrown
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brownjeff
Author: Ronsley Vaz
Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.
He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.
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