I was in a room with about 50 other youth leaders in my culty AF church on a Saturday night. The youth pastors were presenting a PowerPoint about the general pastors’ “new vision.”

 

You see, the pastors in my church were considered “prophets” and “apostles,” Evangelical lingo for “people who can supposedly listen to the actual voice of God and receive direct orders from him that other people have to follow.”

 

God had just handed them a shiny new vision for the church — we were now to focus on signs and wonders. We were to perform miracles, to heal the sick and even raise the dead (when we were holy enough). We were to prophesy to people and become known for all these things.

 

As I heard my youth pastors drone on about all this, I marveled at how far my church had strayed from the actual teachings of Jesus.

 

In this new vision, there was zero mention of love or service. Nothing about what we would do for our community. In fact, we were expected to be even more separate from our community than we already were, high and mighty in our ✨spiritual spectacle✨.

 

 

Never mind the fact that my mom had attended this church her entire life, and so had I.

 

Never mind that this was everything I knew. That all my friends and family were a part of this church.

 

I wanted to yeet myself out of that building.

So when my youth pastors said the pastors had a dream in which they were climbing a ladder to heaven (which represented their vision) and we were holding the ladder at the bottom (supporting the vision), and my youth pastors said,

 

 

I could feel the weight of those 50 pairs of eyes staring at me, but I didn’t budge.

 

I crossed my arms, tipped my head down, and waited for the meeting to be over.

 

And as soon as it was, I bolted out of there, drove home, and told my parents I would never step foot in that place again.

 

Sometimes, quitting is the best choice; it certainly was for me. I quit my church and eventually even my entire belief system, and I essentially “gave up” on all the goals I had that were tied to my religion.

 

Quitting is not always a failure! Sometimes, it’s self-preservation.

 

 

Let’s talk about it!

 

I want to blog a lot more, so expect a weekly / biweekly blog post here in this section! This week, we have “3 Proven Ways to Build a Loyal Podcast Audience that Connects with You.”

 

It covers:

Check it out here!

Quitting your podcast is extremely common. According to The Podcast Host, 1 in 3 podcast creators have quit, and they have good reasons for that:

 

30% say they’re struggling to grow an audience.

 

25% cite a lack of time as their main reason.

 

23% say they’re putting their podcast on hold because of financial difficulties or an inability to monetize their podcast.

 

22% have one word to say: BURNOUT.

 

You’re completely within your right to give up on your podcast. Sometimes, quitting can be the healthiest thing you do for yourself, as we clearly saw in my story.

 

There’s no shame in cutting things from your life to make room for other things you really want to do, and it might just be that you’re no longer invested in your podcast.

 

However, if you still are, and the mere thought of quitting breaks your heart or feels wrong to you, I'm gonna discuss each of these problems along with potential solutions.

 

 

Problem: You’re putting in so much time, effort, and blood-sweat-tears into your podcast. Maybe you’re even spending money on it, and it’s just not growing. 

 

Every week, you publish an episode, and you feel a sinking feeling of dread when you open the analytics because you know what you’ll see: the same 13 people showing up to listen.

 

Solution: Yes, podcasts take time to grow, and unless you had already started with a large, faithful audience, this growth can be slowwwwww.

 

But there are easy and simple things you can do to speed things up a bit and start seeing momentum.

 

For starters, you can optimize your podcast for SEO by including a keyword in your podcast name and rewriting your episode titles. I discussed this strategy here, if you want to see how it’s done.

 

You can also use Riverside Magic Clips to promote your podcast — all they take is a bit of tweaking and, boom, you have reels. I discussed this strategy last week!

 

And while this one is a lot more time-consuming, it also produces the most growth: you can go on a podcast tour and be a guest on other people’s podcasts so that new audiences discover you.

 

And if you feel like your podcast content itself is the problem and your podcast is boring, you can listen to my episode for Point of the Story where I talk about exactly that!

 

 

Problem: If you’re a podcaster subscribed to this newsletter, you probably have an online business and a million other things going on. 

 

And on top of that, every week you have to plan your podcast, coordinate with guests, record an episode, edit the episode, write the shownotes, schedule the episode, and promote it on social media!

 

Podcasting is undeniably a timesuck.

 

Solution: Simplify your podcast.

 

What if you follow a biweekly release schedule instead of weekly? That way, you have one “behind-the-scenes” week where you plan, record, and edit, and one “on-the-stage” week where you publish and promote your episode.

 

Another idea is to record more solo episodes instead of guest interviews. Having guests on your show takes time (scheduling, research, follow-up) and usually means longer episodes (which amounts to more editing). But you are fully in control of solo eps, and you can even batch them to save time.

 

Also, have you considered producing shorter episodes? A 10-minute episode takes so much less time than a 60-minute episode. And it can be just as effective! Check out my client Gemma’s podcast for an example!

 

Sometimes we make things more complicated than they have to be. I bet if you DM me or reply to this email with your situation, I can help you come up with a tweak to your podcast workflow that will save you a ton of time! (Seriously, write to me if you need help!)

 

 

Problem: Sometimes, outsourcing all the editing and marketing tasks would solve most of your problems, but this comes at a pretty steep monthly price, and that might not be in the budget for now. 

 

And it’s not in the budget because you’re not making any money from your podcast!

 

Solution: Forget sponsorships, brand deals, and merch. If you’re a business owner, start promoting your own services and offers in your podcast!

 

If you host on Captivate.fm, you can even dynamically insert your own ads, which you record yourself and monetize that way. Make your podcast part of your funnel!

 

 

Problem: Maybe you started a podcast without making space for it, and now you feel like you’re drowning in work.

 

Solution: Take a good, hard look at everything else you do. Is there something you could eliminate to make room for your podcast?

 

Or what if you just take a break right now, rest, do some planning, batch some episodes, and then return much more calm and re-energized?

 

Whatever the case may be, there is a solution for you!

 

If you’re struggling to find it and need an expert opinion, pleeeease don't hesitate to write to me. 

 

I’m on a mission to save more podcasters from burnout and help them create a sustainable workflow. 💛

 

You know those true crime podcasts that were super popular back in the day? The ones like Serial, where you had one valiant host doing the deepest of deep dives into an unsolved case, meticulously poring over evidence, interviewing every single person involved, and editing the episodes with sound effects, music, and the most epic storytelling?

 

I was in the mood for that kind of podcast. So I Googled “podcasts like Bear Brook” (another famous podcast in that vein), and the wonderful people of Reddit pointed me to Your Own Backyard. I just finished episode 1 this morning, and it’s definitely scratching the itch. 

 

Will probably report back next week with my full recommendation when I listen to more episodes!

 

 

“Who is Kristin Smart? Chris travels to Stockton to meet her parents, Stan and Denise, along with her friends, neighbors, and classmates.”

 

 

 

Last week, I shared the corn salad I made for my friends and told you I’d probably share the main dish of the night the following week. So here we are now, and here it is!

 

The recipe makes for the juiciest, fall-off-the-bone roast pork. It’s absolutely delicious.

 

 

1 (3.5- to 4-pound) boneless, skinless pork shoulder

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 orange, halved

2 heads garlic, halved lengthwise

6 sprigs fresh thyme

3 dried bay leaves or fresh 

3 chiles de árbol or 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

2 tablespoons coriander seed (used less ground coriander because it’s what I had) 1 cup fresh orange juice, from about 4 oranges

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, thick stems separated from the tender stems and leaves (I can never be bothered to do this, so I just chopped everything together lol) 

4 limes, halved

 

 

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

 

2. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot (with a lid) over medium-high heat. Sear the pork, fat-side down, until it's really well browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the pork and brown on the other side, another 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the pork to a large serving platter or cutting board, and drain the pot of all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.

 

3. Add the halved orange and garlic to the pot, cut-side down, followed by the thyme, bay leaves, chiles, and coriander. Cook, stirring for a second, to lightly brown the oranges and garlic.

 

4. Add the orange juice and 2 cups water, stirring to scrape up any bits. Return the pork to the pot (the liquid should come a little less than halfway up the pork-add more water if it doesn't. Cover and transfer it to the oven.

 

5. Roast the pork until it is super tender, 3 to 4 hours. Remove the pot from the oven and, using tongs of two large serving utensils, transfer the pork to a cutting board and let it sit a few minutes.

 

6. Top with cilantro and lime juice.

🥂 Cheers,