Things You Learn in Therapy
Things You Learn in Therapy
Ep 136: Voice Matters: Turning Your Passion into a Podcast with Phil Quinn
Ever caught yourself saying, "I should start a podcast"? You're not alone. But between technical hurdles and fears of speaking into the void, many never take that first step. That's why we've brought in podcast editor extraordinaire Phil Quinn to demystify the entire process.
Phil peels back the curtain on what truly matters when launching a podcast—and it's not expensive microphones or technical wizardry. "If you've got a laptop with a camera on it and a pair of AirPods, you can podcast," he reveals. The real challenge? Understanding the time commitment and knowing exactly who you want to reach. With over 4 million podcasts competing for attention, having clear direction makes all the difference between creating another forgotten show and building something meaningful.
We dive deep into practical strategies that won't overwhelm beginners, from utilizing "power advocates" to grow your audience organically to leveraging AI tools for content creation. Phil shares his experience working with local businesses for starter sponsorships ($25 per episode) while I offer perspective on how podcasting can indirectly generate income through workshops and consulting opportunities. We also explore the nuts and bolts—recording equipment, hosting platforms like Buzzsprout and SoundCloud, and the importance of owning your content through a dedicated website.
Throughout our conversation, one theme emerges repeatedly: authenticity trumps perfection. The moments that resonate most with listeners are rarely the polished sound bites but rather the genuine, unguarded exchanges that make podcasting such a powerful medium. If you've been sitting on an idea, waiting for the "perfect time" to launch your podcast, this episode might just be the gentle nudge you need. Subscribe, share with that friend who's been talking about starting a podcast for years, and let us know what ideas this conversation sparks for you!
www.bethtrammell.com
Hello listener, welcome back. I am glad you're here. I'm your host, dr Beth Trammell, and I am here with a very lovely and interesting guest that this is actually the first that I'm recording of this sort of next season or next batch of episodes, and I'm so grateful that my guest decided to say yes to come today, because I think this question is often asked of me as a podcast host, and so I'm excited to have Phil Quinn here with me. He is the magic behind the editing. Now, listen, folks, let me tell you this Phil doesn't edit all of the episodes. The ones that sound excellent, phil has edited. The ones that are much, much shorter, usually the solo episodes I might edit on my own.
Speaker 1:So I need to make that disclaimer that Phil is a an amazing editor and if you've listened to some and you're like Beth man, that breath every so often is sort of a lot, that probably wasn't Phil's editing, okay. So anyway, phil came on today to talk about how to start a podcast. I get people that ask me this a lot and they say, oh, I've really thought about starting a podcast. I really have something I want to share with the world, but I'm just so afraid to do it and I don't know how to do it, and so we're going to break all that down for you today. Before I do that, before we get into that, phil, thank you for saying yes to being here today and tell us a little about you. And then, obviously, you have heard all the fun facts of all the guests in the past, and now you're on the hot seat. Something fun about you.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, thank you for having me. I'm going to start out with the one fun thing. I have listened to every podcast twice. That's my one fun thing. I get the opportunity. Is that fun too? I don't know. I do enjoy it.
Speaker 2:But yes, phil Quinn, I have other duties and responsibilities, but I have a background in radio, spent a lot of time in high school and in college in the first part of my professional career on the radio, selling radio, telling people that radio is not newspapers and it's not dying, and then sometime around I don't know the fall of the economy in 2008, I started podcasting and I got into that and doing some podcasts, some very blue, trying to be funny oh, you mean, in podcasts you can say those words Cool and worked out a few of those. A couple of podcasts still continue on in my absence and I'm just more of a legacy kind of type thing. And then I really got into helping folks like you take some content and maybe narrow the gap a little bit, add a little bit of music here and a little music at the end and maybe coach up a little bit about audio settings and not setting in front of the leaf blower or the washer and dryer and being fairly close to the microphone or the camera if you're recording it for video. So I do a lot of conversations like this where we just talk a little bit about, if you want to start, what does it involve? And so that's why I'm here.
Speaker 2:I'll give you another real fun thing. I live in Phoenix, but originally from the Midwest. Real fun thing. I live in Phoenix, but originally from the Midwest and so far as long as I don't have to go outside.
Speaker 1:Summers are okay here. It is so hot. It's a different kind of hot than it is in the Midwest.
Speaker 2:No, no, that's not true. All the grass and the golf courses and everything else, there's humidity and allergies out here in the area, since six million people thought they didn't need their snow shovel anymore.
Speaker 1:So you're saying it's not better it's not better.
Speaker 2:It's not better. I was out here looking for houses um in 2020 and I came back to indiana around labor day and the humidity and 90 in ind Indiana is equivalent to 118 and supposedly dry out here in the valley. So there's no sanctuary, no safe space.
Speaker 1:No safe space from the heat in the summer, you know? No, oh, my goodness. Well, okay, so I was reminiscing about some of our early time together and you also do the editing for Core Essential Values. So I'm the guest on that podcast and your connection to Leslie Bulser who is the curriculum director at Core Essentials, and that's how we sort of met.
Speaker 1:And, phil, I have to tell you, when I hear you talk about like consulting with other folks, I need listeners to know how just lovely and kind you are in that quote feedback for people, because I'll never forget the day we kind of showed up to do the recording and it was, I swear, it was like one of the first times I'd ever been in front of a microphone, you know, and I was just sitting there and I was clicking away with a pen at the table across from Leslie, and I remember you just sort of like, just sort of gently saying like maybe you know when we're recording you don't want to, you just might not want to click the pen, because I was just thinking about all the moments you were going to have to edit out because I kept clicking that pen, but you were so kind I could imagine you being like hey Beth, weirdo, you're recording audio. It picks up everything.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not abnormal, because we do have conversations, but when you're recording on a platform like Zoom or where you're long distance, or even if you're in the same room, there's always a tendency to think, all right, I have to say something after you say something, and with the technology and the gap sometimes you just want to take a pause. Well, if you're thinking about that, you probably have some ticks. One of the coaching things that I tell people is leave yourself a voice memo, two or three minutes, talk about your day, whatever it is, because that's the sound and the background and maybe clicking the pen. You'll notice those things right out of the gate and those are great things to pick up on. But it's okay to have a little bit of a pause between when the host asks you a question and then you wait because I can edit that out if it's too long, it's okay.
Speaker 1:Too long. It can be edited, but also it doesn't make sense to not have pause. Right Because of natural conversation.
Speaker 2:Most of the people that therapists talk to pause. They're very good listeners's the job right. At least of all the podcasts I've heard, that's a big part of it, yeah, so you kind of just have to be uncomfortable in that silence sometimes. And that's the same with recording okay, so this is great.
Speaker 1:I think, um, we probably could get into like what not to do's perhaps toward at some point. But clicking a pen is one of them, but I think the other, the other piece I think I remember early and meeting you was you're just sort of like, just go for it. You know, like get a mic, it doesn't even have to be an expensive one. The hardest thing to really do is to have good content, and as long as you have good content, people will listen. And so I don't know if that's like the starting advice that you give for most people, but where would you kind of start If there's a person who's listening and they're like, I've really thought about doing a podcast, but I am kind of afraid what's your advice? What's the first thing you'd say?
Speaker 2:The very first thing is please understand the time commitment. So, very first thing is please understand the time commitment. So, beth, I would ask you, how much time do you prepare outside of clicking the record button, scheduling, thinking of ideas and concepts? What do you spend If you were to record three times in a month and those are hour-long conversations or a little shorter than that? How?
Speaker 1:much prep time. Do you think you have getting ready to start that recording? I think it's probably two to three hours minimum per hour and that doesn't include editing. So early on I was doing my own editing and, depending on how perfectionistic you are, it could take you like an entire day to edit a one hour episode, which is why I hired Phil. Yeah, I mean, I think to your point, it's not just oh well, here we are. This is a 45 minute episode.
Speaker 2:And so they spent 45 minutes. Yeah, no, and we would do that in radio. I hosted a morning show and it was very often where the host of the show spent an hour and a half of show prep time per half hour or hour on the air. And the purpose of that, for someone that wants to get started doing this, is understand that A there's 4 million podcasts out there. The chance of you being the next Joe Rogan is next to nil. Okay, 4 million. Think about that. If that was your cable channels that you could listen to or watch.
Speaker 2:So understand that if you have something that you want to say and get out there to your point and what you said, go for it. If you've got a laptop with a camera on it and a pair of AirPods, you can podcast. Don't worry about starting over or that didn't make sense. I want to stop and I want to rerecord. It can be edited, but it's you and we're looking for content. You don't have to do something weekly. You don't have to do something weekly. You don't have to do something monthly, but it is important once you decide to really get into this, understand about the time commitment and who your audience is the very first tip, outside of understanding that commitment is who do you want to talk to? Understanding that commitment is who do you want to talk to? Once you understand who that target audience is much to what you have developed with 65,000 listens for your podcast is. I want to talk to therapists and I don't care if we have a whole bunch of other people in different lifestyles and careers listen in. That's a part of it, that's the ancillary. So how often do you want to put a podcast out there? Be consistent. After you have got an idea of who you want to talk to and who do you want to listen. Some podcasts don't have any guests, that's okay. Some podcasts don't have any guests, that's okay. But you don't want to let that listener start to try to figure out where you're going. So the other thing is is that, depending on your Zoom account, if you're doing going to video, if you're just recording on your phone, I used to do voice memo things all the time and post those. It can be five minutes, it can be 10. It can be 15.
Speaker 2:Just make sure that you're filling it with good content, that you have maybe an outline of what you want to ask or where you want to go or how you want to summarize and wrap up that topic and the host of this podcast. We get off on tangents. I have a list, by the way, if we're going to do this tangent, of other topics that I would love to have you cover. So we'll do that a little bit later on. But because of some of the side conversations and the way you take topics, especially when talking about your kids, the way you take topics, especially when talking about your kids and putting a situation that you're in yourself and using that as an example of how to further the conversation, those are the things that you can't teach, but those are the things that come very natural when you're just having a conversation. So know your target audience, understand how much it's going to take for you if you want to be consistent at it, and then don't worry about buying $2,000 worth of equipment.
Speaker 2:It's not about the noise as much as it is. What are you trying to say? The other items I wanted to mention before. I know you've got a question catchy names. You're trying to spend time trying to figure out the name and maybe you're on Canva or Photoshop and you're trying to figure out what you want your logo to be yeah, okay, that's a very fun activity. Don't let it stop you from going ahead and maybe having four or five episodes, if that's what you want to call them. I think you do a really good job, beth of hey, I'm going to spend the next 12 weeks really focused on getting the next season. It's quite all right if you said, hey, we're taking the next two weeks off because I've got vacation with the kids. We'll see you around the bend. So being consistent is another one of those tips, and then I'll edit out that cough if I need to, or I'll leave it in. Let them see.
Speaker 1:Leave it, I don't care.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how are you going to engage and promote your podcast? There are a lifeline of social media apps and social channels and so many things that you have already people that are interested enough in you to follow you or to be friends with you or to subscribe to you. So how do you want to get your message out that you're doing this thing and to be excited about it and to frequently share those episodes? Doing it once you're not putting any pressure on anybody to listen, but understanding that you might have said something really important and it's that sentence or two that you or your guest, if you have them what they say is the hook, and all commercials and all advertising have that call to action. So it's quite all right to go. Please follow, please subscribe, jump on, follow me on these social channels, because those are the ways that give people a sense of urgency that I got to go listen to this now on the way home. So those are some tips already.
Speaker 1:So many already that I think, yeah, if I go to, who is the audience? What is the time commitment? I think both of those are really good, like let's plan this in advance, let's think about this. But I think the thing that has helped me the most is recognizing how I infuse it into what I already do, and so I think, as therapists right. So if I'm speaking to therapists who are thinking about starting a podcast, or if you're I mean I don't know if you're not a therapist, but you're just thinking about starting a podcast the most common question that I see on like Facebook groups or social media groups that I'm in right, so I think that's another piece that has helped me as a non-podcaster at the beginning, was joining some social media groups around podcasting in particular, and over and over, the common question is like how do you get more listeners? You know how do you get more listeners, and I think for me, it has been.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of less focused on how do I get listeners, though. I know that's one of the key paths toward monetizing, which we'll probably talk about, but I am constantly having people ask you know questions related to mental health, for example. Okay, I have a nine year old, who's lying, what am I going to do? And I'm like I can't keep telling the same person, or you know this, answering the same question. And so now I've started to create this platform where I can answer some of these common questions.
Speaker 1:And so I think, recognizing that the way you get listeners to what you said is, I think you said, like it's you, you know, when you're the host, it's really about you, it's about the content that you are creating, and so then you have to almost become like kind of the brand. And so I, you know, if I'm doing a workshop in the community, the first slide I have the all about me slide it says here are my podcasts, go listen to something else. And so I think it's if you're thinking about starting a podcast, I don't want to put more obstacles in front of you, because I think our message here is let it rip, go, you know. But also, if you're gonna have these goals in your mind to get to a certain number of followers or to be able to monetize someday, or whatever that looks like, you're gonna have to have a path toward you as the brand being more successful. I don't know what the right word is. Public isn't really the right word I'm trying to think of, but like Open, transparent maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, something.
Speaker 2:Willing to self-deprecating, I think some of those human qualities that let us get to know that it's not a persona that's face front, but it's the person that we would have the same conversation if we were sitting around the kitchen counter. We would have the same conversation if we were sitting around the kitchen counter. You know, and I really want to get further down the road on the monetization but just real quickly, the best way that I have found, I've worked in and done I have a social media content management company that I'm still sort of stringing along here after 10 years. I'm a firm believer in asking for help, and so anybody that wants to get more promotion out of their podcast is basically the same thing you would do if you really love the new pastor at your church. Okay, so it's the people that you are already friends with that you reach out to directly and say I need a favor. I'm going to be posting some content for the upcoming season of Things you Learn in Therapy. You are someone who's on social media a lot and here's what I need. I would love for you, when you see me post not every time, but if you see it, if you happen to listen to it could you comment Again, not every time. I'm not asking for people to be disciples, I just need more followers, and there's a difference there. Family or whatever I call them, power advocates, instead of buying advertising on social channels to promote your podcast and have more money out of pocket, ask for some organic reach five to 10 people. It doesn't have to be a lot, just share it or comment If you just like it, as you're kind of doom scrolling. That doesn't do much for the algorithms, for a lot of meta and X and TikTok.
Speaker 2:Some engagement is important and also filling some of that space with a question. I have a list of questions. You'll believe this, but maybe your listeners won't. One of the things is I have a list of questions that are not political, they're not religious, but they are sort of intriguing. What is something you're really great at that you hate doing? Asking a question like that as either a promotional for an upcoming episode of things you're really good at doing. I'm really good at folding bottom sheets. I hate doing it, but I can hook the corners, I can get that thing fully square and flat, and maybe that's my one fun thing, I don't know. Just making sure that you're engaging in between episodes so that you keep them coming back. And asking those power advocates is a really easy way to get past the algorithms that typically want to bury post. If you're posting five times a day, that doesn't work either. So power advocates really important to getting your listens up and then thanking them, buy them a coffee or whatever stuff you would normally do.
Speaker 1:This is so helpful because I think one of the things that new podcasters might fall prey to, especially as you're following all these different groups of people talking about this, is the best way to do this and this is the best way to do that. And then you're like I'm going to have to carve out another five hours this week to do this or I have to pay $7.50 a day on ads on social media, because that's what this one podcaster who has 2 million followers said I should do, and I think it is really tempting. As you're new and you hear all of this advice, I love kind of the simplicity of what you're saying. That keeps it really not overwhelming, really doable and still like very appropriate for kind of the way you just want to get information out to people.
Speaker 2:Be patient, be persistent. It's a long game. You're not going to be world famous, but it is a really good thing to add to your about me, slide. I love that it's okay to brag about yourself, because, especially if you're a therapist or someone that is in charge of leading other people, it's a really great way to have an icebreaker. So I'm looking for new episode ideas. What's something that someone, one of your patients has shared with you that you're like I don't know? That's a great opportunity to hey, come in, let's talk about it, or hey, follow me. I'm going to answer this topic, and so all of you, if you're all about me Slide has a QR code. That's great.
Speaker 2:Get into the information, get to the website. As a side note, you don't need a website to start a podcast. There are tools that I know Beth can share some information about as well, because I typically send you what I have finalized and then you actually do the yeoman's work of getting it into the different formats. So we need to cover that. But just remember all of the social channels, all of the sites that help put your podcast onto different platforms that people can listen on devices.
Speaker 2:None of that is your real estate. You don't own any of that. It could go away tomorrow, tomorrow, but not your website. So as you start to develop, don't forget the only thing that you know you own is that domain. As long as you keep paying for it, that's not gonna go away. So start there. After you've kind of got your footing down, get a website, get a domain, get it saved and then push all your content and channels through that. You can find anything about me by going to. You don't have to do it right away, but be strategic, because tomorrow some billionaire could buy Blue Sky and that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so okay, this is great. So I think, were you the person who told me or did I learn this from someone else? One of the things you said just a little bit ago was that you know how often do you want to do it, but be consistent. So I can't remember if it was you or somebody else. But podcast listeners are different. This is the advice that I've gotten. Podcast listeners are different than other kinds of like subscribers in some ways where it's like they really look for that weekly or every other week, whatever the consistent schedule is. That's how they operate, and if you don't have the content at that kind of interval, whatever it is, if it's once a month even, it's fine. If you're not at that sort of consistent rate, then they sort of scurry off to the next podcast. Who is doing their weekly uploads?
Speaker 2:And a great example of that and it probably wasn't me. I steal everything, so I don't even know how to attribute it, but since I'm your expert on your expert podcast, I'm taking all the credit. I mean, if we have to sit down and discuss that later and maybe dive into that a little bit deeper, we'll exchange fees, I guess, but it is really important. I think that when you think you're going to do a series of episodes, hey, in the next six weeks I'm going to be dumping a few other topics. If you don't know what those are yet or don't have those recorded, fine, but you do a really good job.
Speaker 2:I loved the daily Decembers when you were talking about Christmas and each day. I didn't have a role in that from a production standpoint, but it came every single day and it was really short. So it's okay to. Hey, I'm just hopping on here. I'm going to let you know that we've got new episodes on the way. Even if that's just a two-minute promo, it gets into their feed. Hey, great topic coming up next week. Be sure to listen. And that's also a great place to start thinking about where you might add in potential advertisers.
Speaker 1:Which is the monetizing. Do we want to talk about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really hard to reach a certain amount of listens in an audio platform without getting hooked into places like Spotify or Wondery or podcast production companies. That's where you see sort of getting paid to be this person doing these podcasts Travis Kelsey. He and his brother Jason have this tremendously popular podcast. It was already pretty good. Of course, personal lives get you know. I start dating Taylor Swift and.
Speaker 1:I get more penitential listens.
Speaker 2:Okay, so they signed a $100 million contract to just do podcast, but Travis Kelsey a tied in for the Kansas City Chiefs, that's won I don't know three Super Bowls said it's harder doing a podcast than it is playing football, because now you have to do the content. You lose some freedom once you start looking at it. But here's what I did as we continue to move forward with your podcast. You really have to consider video, the video component. For people that are 18 and younger, youtube is the most watched of any cable channel, any other platform, anything else still. So, getting some content uploaded, being very self-aware of what your background looks like and how you present yourself, and there's not a lot of options to edit if you go live, but you almost want to get to 3,500 subscribers somewhere in that neighborhood before YouTube starts saying, hey, can we pay you to put some ads in? So they break up the podcast episode, they put in some ads. So you're looking for something like that.
Speaker 2:But what I did? I stayed audio. Beth, you know I have a face for radio. I looked at who are local businesses or local companies or vendors or people that would like to sponsor 10 episodes at 25 bucks, because all I have to do is say this portion of the program is brought to you by. You know your local pizza joint, you know if there are some connections. That way you can make a little. I think I was somewhere around $500 to $1,000 a month when I was doing the daily news clips. But remember, now the content is demanded and they're going to ask for the number of listens. So now your job just got a little bit harder, because now you got to promote and you're probably going to share and tag those businesses. But I would start local If you just wanted to exercise some cashflow.
Speaker 2:There is a some validity in having sponsorships, but it's based on the host usually doing a testimonial. It's based on the host usually doing a testimonial, so taking a minute out of the episode to say, hey, I just want to share with you before we go to the next topic or subject or whatever, I'm really proud to use this product and you turn yourself into an influencer. Depending on what you have to say, that can be really valuable, but usually the money comes in once a company says, hey, we think this is going somewhere, can we get in on this? And then they sell these sponsorships and the advertising and you just I don't know get to get to record a lot, being a YouTube influencer or being an influencer on TikTok or Instagram, it's incredibly hard.
Speaker 2:Being an influencer on TikTok or Instagram, it's incredibly hard. Somebody saying I want to be an influencer when I grow up, a teenager do not think that that is any less hard than blue collar work, skilled labor, anything else. It is tough. And then you have to be this public person wherever you go, and that's even before you hit the status of the top podcasts that are out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think you're hitting the nail on the head of what I also think about this too, that young people in particular, but some of us, we watch different YouTubers, we watch people and we're like, wow, I could do that and they're making you know millions of dollars or whatever. And then I remind myself that I don't want to do that. You know, it's like I don't want to have to have the pressure of coming out. Those, you know, folks who've been listening to the podcast know that I have grand dreams that I will say on air and then they're like well, beth, I thought you said you were going to Yep, I sure did, and then life got in the way and I couldn't record for three weeks, and so you know, so I love the things you're saying.
Speaker 1:So local sponsors, I think are great. I agree that if you want to honestly just cover the cost of a podcast, I think we probably should maybe go over that for a hot second. If you don't want to, you know, lose money doing a podcast, then these local sponsorships I think are a great idea. For me, one of the ways that I have kind of conceptualized monetizing is when people kind of hear an episode and they want to hire me to do a workshop for their organization. Or you know, I'm at one workshop and then I talk about it on the podcast and then you know I do a virtual thing, or I have created some ebooks or things like that.
Speaker 1:So it doesn't have to be kind of directly tied to the podcast itself, but it's just tied to kind of you as the host or you as the brand. And you know, one thing I wrote down as you were talking particularly about those kind of local sponsorships or things that you're promoting on the podcast. If you get to that point is the goal for those local sponsorships is for you to talk about things you love, right, and so it's like what do you love? I think about, you know, local organizations that I love and I'd be proud and happy to share with the world. Those are going to be the things that are most in alignment, probably going to be the most lucrative though you're not going to make millions probably but it's going to make the most sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do it for the love. I mean, you would almost need to go viral or do your podcast at a Costco until they kick you out trying to figure out something that breaks through the noise. I'm going to get the number wrong, but it's roughly 24,000 advertisements marketing we see every day. We don't even recognize it, we don't even see it. I always think about Facebook. And who reads the ads that are on the right-hand side? Nobody. Nobody does that. Who looks at the? They do a Google search. Who looks at the sponsored links? No, no, you go below it.
Speaker 2:So what is it going to take for you to break through the noise is going to have to get people talking. Right now, a lot of that consists of video, which makes it a little bit harder. As a therapist. Sometimes it's good to just get something off of your chest as well. Right, I am so tired of or? How can I invite somebody that can help me handle this particular topic so I can stop waking up at 1.30 in the morning trying to figure this thing out? There's a I don't know therapeutic response to being able to just talk things out to anybody who will listen, but maybe put the payday on the back burner for a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think most therapists who are listening do this job not because they think they're going to get paid a lot, I mean just the therapy job in general, but monetizing this. I think we just need to be clear that that's probably, you know, maybe a minute down the road if you're kind of just starting out, and maybe it's never down the road, but if you feel good about the content you're creating, then that's amazing. So I think, if, if I were to break down sort of the steps that I took and obviously there have been other things that I've learned along the way my first sort of stop was to what you were saying, right, Like who do I want to speak to? What do I want to say? And then I kind of partnered with a graphic designer to make like a little artwork with the. You know the title, you have to come up with a title, you have to make sure nobody else has the title you want, and then you make a little artwork for what that looks like.
Speaker 1:And then I think for me the next step, I, you know, I got a snowball mic on Amazon I think it was a hundred bucks maybe and we I have access to Zoom, and so I use Zoom to record, I use Buzzsprout to house and I'm not getting paid by Buzzsprout. This is not a sponsorship of any kind.
Speaker 1:Not yet.
Speaker 2:Although you know maybe I should, I don't know and there's a fee for that, but describe this for people that may not know.
Speaker 1:Buzzsprout does what it's such a good question that I had to learn too. So Buzzsprout basically houses the audio files that then get distributed to each of the players that you like. So when you listen to Apple Podcasts, apple Podcasts doesn't hold the audio file, it is just sort of sent a link to the Buzzsprout kind of repository. That's how I think about it. It's like the fridge where all the food is. You holds all the files. It's pretty easy I mean, I'm no technical person, but it's very easy to then link to all of the places where you play it and, um, I think the cost for buzzsprout is like 12 a month and you get x number of hours of uploads per month and then it goes up from there. I pay an extra $10 for AI generated summaries, which kind of is a great tool, and we won't have time to talk about all the great AI tools, but there are a ton of great AI tools. I know you use SoundCloud, though it's a similar sort of thing, soundcloud is very similar.
Speaker 2:If you use Google Drive or Dropbox or any type of cloud file server, the process of uploading any type of file is very similar to what we're talking about for audio. Take the episode and put it in there Real quickly. The only thing on AI I'm going to say is embrace it. In the podcast world, there are AI content generators that can also help with graphic design. Use the tools that are at your disposal for free and right now, as we're speaking in 2025, those AI generated tools are getting really good at helping on the creative end. I use it a lot when I create social media posts. It adds all the emojis, so don't leave that alone. Embrace it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I couldn't agree more, because I think one of the hiccups that I had was now I got the autofile, but how do I write a description of it? Because it needs to be catchy, and what's the title going to be and what are people going to click on? And then man AI will just zhup.
Speaker 2:You're asking for it to be creative. I had a friend who is a mortgage broker that wanted to do his 30-second spiel for the chamber meeting I go to, but he wanted to do it by able to writing lyrics to the song to Billy Joel's Piano man. We typed his name, his business and what would be lyrics that could use Billy Joel's Piano man and while we're sitting at the meeting waiting for his turn, it came up and he gets up and talks about it. It's fun. It's not for fact-based reports and you can still have hey AI generated or whatever. Let's do all the legalese and follow that stuff. But it's fun, so have fun with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh so good, oh so good.
Speaker 2:I got it so good, I've been waiting all. When you say oh, so good, I know, and I've heard it a thousand times- you know all of the things.
Speaker 1:This is awesome. I say awesome, my students tell me because I point out all of their eccentric kind of ways of being and then they remind me of mine, mine, and it's so lovely, and yeah, so this is so good. Oh, I need to just take a minute here, phyllis.
Speaker 2:I got chills.
Speaker 1:And all the rest.
Speaker 2:Now I have listened, as I said, to every single episode and I wanted to share with you that I'm going to get emotional here and I was hoping not to. I'll try to be funny so I can get around it. There were some episodes.
Speaker 1:It's like all I just say about that, though you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm Irish, I'll cry at the drop of a hat. I'll cry, even if you're not crying. The episode with you and Dr Rosalie Aldrich when you talked about suicide I had a friend who was going through that at the time, losing her son. There's real value in people that are listening to this today to also share it with their friends. And hey, have you listened to this? I know you're not a therapist, but they talked about this and it was so helpful. Another one Maureen Clancy's episode back in 2024 in October with you, moving Beyond Labels, south Carolina, north Carolina. I really enjoyed that. And then the other one that I wanted to mention that were favorites of mine when we were talking about breaking the stigma and some of the things that were in that episode.
Speaker 2:I forget the guest right now, but I remember a lot of things. For someone who's not in your profession or world really benefits from being able to apply some of what you are all discussing into their personal lives and giving tools. I've listened to some of the relationship advice and how to deal with personal relationships. I've used some of that stuff on my wife. She doesn't even know, she doesn't listen to the podcast, she doesn't care. I have to think about this stuff all the time. Beth, while I'm listening to you and editing small parts, I think you talk about your kids so much. It would be great to get to meet them.
Speaker 2:What's it like your mom being a therapist, you know? Does she try to? She's trying to set you down and go through this. Do you see it coming from a mile away? I want to know more about that. Anything about relationships a lot of people that listen to your podcast when you are talking about a subject like death, regardless of how it it um, those really are good touch points and I I get a lot out of that. And then the one fun thing what the deal with everybody having their own pet therapy animal? Do they work? Are therapist dogs actually a thing? I mean, getting somebody to go? Hey, I get it. You're not a fan of tarantulas, but this tarantula calms this person down and so it does help. I want to know about those things, because some of the animals I'm just like no, a Labrador is about as far as I'm going to go.
Speaker 1:You know I love this so much. Oh, my gosh, I'm like cracking up without trying to laugh. To interrupt you with the audio.
Speaker 2:What you do is really important and I'm glad that you do it. I'm glad to be a part of it. Small role, uh, but there's. There's tremendous value and the hook is always for the people that are listening. It's going to help somebody. Why wouldn't you do the easiest thing in the world and share it?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean so I think that's how well. First, thank you. I am incredibly humbled by your yeah, your comments and I just really appreciate it, both as a professional but also as a friend, that I remember early and doing podcasting where when you, when you record the episode, it's just you and me. You know it's like it's just having a conversation with you and I. And I remember panicking on some episodes that I was like, oh, there could be 500 people who listen to this and there are some episodes like 1200 people have listened to this episode and I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't I'm afraid of what I may have said, you know, but I think, as I just sort of like live into each moment, I just am like you know what?
Speaker 1:Often what I've learned is the workshops that I have taught in the community, things I have done and I share this. Sometimes in workshops I do that people come up and they're like, oh my God, I've heard you talk one time and I loved it, that one thing you said and I'm like, what was the one thing I said? That still resonates with you and it's never like my big idea, it's never like the main kind of point, it's always some like I had a friend that said to me you know, I really struggled with mom guilt about letting my kids watch TV before they go to bed. And then I heard you say that you let your kids watch TV before they go to bed. And I tell myself every night, if Dr Beth does it, it must be okay. And I'm like, well, okay, thanks, I think. But I think that's your point. You know that it's like if you're going to do this, you have to just sort of like own that there could be a million moments that you don't even know that are going to impact somebody.
Speaker 2:And that's the whole point of talking. Sometimes it's hard to get into one-on-ones. Calling and checking on somebody that you've been thinking about sending a text, I get it. A lot of people don't even want to pick up the phone and call. But having the opportunity to listen to two people talk about something and something resonates with you pretty powerful stuff and it's a great addition to all of the things that some of this technology and and the the I mean it's some of the equipment's really cheap. It's, it's good, it's affordable. I don't mean cheap in a in a negative way, so it's just about. I think I have something to say. Then build on that and let it go.
Speaker 1:Okay, one story. And then I want you to tell people how they can reach you and obviously people can always reach out to me and I can get them in contact with you. But you talk about my kids, my teenagers in particular. About my kids, my teenagers in particular, and I often say in the workshops that I'm saving for their therapy because they have a mom who's a psychologist. I'm saving to pay somebody because they're going to be on somebody's couch.
Speaker 1:And my teenagers revealed to me that last week they had kind of a day off. Oh, it was Good Friday and they had the day off, but the two little guys had school still. And so I said hey, do you guys want to go to lunch? And they were like yeah, you know well where they, you know they, they had all these stipulations. Anyway, we get there and it's we're at this kind of sit down not fancy, but just sit down restaurant. I won't, it's a chain, it's not fancy. But and I was like okay, well, you know what, what's been mattering to you all lately, you know? And they're like oh.
Speaker 1:God, here she goes. You know, we knew we talked about it before you came that you were going to therapyize us. And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like I literally just asked a question about what matters to you right now and they're like you're always asking you want to turn it into something big and deep and I'm like, hey, you know, here's the thing I actually care about. Like, what matters to you? I want to know what matters to you. How else do you want me to ask that question except to say what matters to you?
Speaker 2:There was one guest I forget who it was that that time in the car it may be five minutes, it may be 15, but that time in the car is so important for parents and it seems like it doesn't have to be quiet and it's a little bit more casual. But look, if you and I went to lunch and we're sitting across from each other, what matters to me. If you ask me that, I'm like, oh, this is going to cost me more than a lunch, isn't it? I mean, it's the setting. It's the setting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So I love the idea of having my kids on. I've actually asked my daughter and she it's the scheduling piece that is really hard to get it to be quiet, but anyway, I have the equipment to do it. So here it is. First, they're going to come, they're going to do it.
Speaker 2:But I would assume that what you two discuss, if she's willing to do that Very valuable for other therapists that have kids. What is her perspective? What does she think about having a mom doing all of this important stuff? And I know I want to hear that.
Speaker 1:Well, you'll also appreciate this. I'm leading a workshop tomorrow on mom guilt, letting go of mom guilt and chasing joy, and that's going to be the title of it and part of that in preparation. You know, I think a big part of mom guilt I'm kind of giving this part away but a big part of mom guilt is our expectations around what we perceive a good mother to be, and one of my strategies is to have moms ask their kids, ask their spouse, their partner, the person they're with, and then ask other people around them. You know what makes me a good mom, and so I actually just texted my spouse, both of my teenage kids, I'm going to ask my two little guys and I actually asked my mom what makes me a good mom, and it's it's going to be very interesting. I'm going to share this in the in the workshop tomorrow Because I think what happens for us as moms I don't know why we're talking about this, but I guess I'm talking about this because my teenagers are going to be like here she goes again.
Speaker 1:But it's a weird thing to ask people for feedback about this role, that such a ginormous part of who you are. Anyway, the whole point is my teenagers are going to think I'm a weirdo again. That's what it's going to be.
Speaker 2:It's the difference between having somebody say thank you and I appreciate you face to face and handwritten thank you cards, which is an underutilized thing, and handwritten thank you cards, which is an underutilized thing. People that receive a handwritten thank you card I get to absorb that compliment in my way. So the further you can get away from them discussing what qualities have about your mom, because it's awkward to hear in person and it's probably even awkward for people to have to say in person Not that we shouldn't, but what's the media or the medium that I could use to get something genuine? And those are great Some of your talks. If you're able to record those, those would be great episodes. I'd be happy to edit those at a cost.
Speaker 1:So funny. Okay. So if you're like me, friend, you're listening and you're like I need Phil in my life, how do I hire Phil in my life? How do I hire Phil in my life, phil? How do people like learn from all of your infinite wisdom and guidance and then pay you?
Speaker 2:well, it's not infinite, and before I would ever uh, ask somebody to to pay me, let's talk. If there's a couple of hurdles that you need to get over, if they they're, you know, almost like social media podcast therapy what can I do to get you over the hump, especially if you feel like it's really important what you have to say? If you're just going to get in and tell dad jokes, I'm not interested in working with you, but if you really have something to say, let's talk about it. So the best way to reach me I mean, I'm all over different social media channels but, philip, only one L philipmquin, at gmailcom If you want to send an email, if you want to reach out to me on any of those channels I'm on LinkedIn, pretty prevalent there and just say hey, heard the podcast, do you have a minute or can you schedule some time?
Speaker 2:Happy to do that, because the reason why there are 4 million podcasts is because people got the courage to do it, and 800,000 of them don't have anybody following it because nobody cares. So let's try to find something in the middle. And now my favorite part is coming up when Beth signs off. I can't wait. Come on, you got to do it, you do it every time, you do Every single time.
Speaker 1:Every single time. Oh, I see At the end, oh, I know I was waiting. I was like oh my gosh, I know.
Speaker 2:I'm just waiting for it. People have been listening for so long. Now They've reached their destination. They're waiting in the car. They're unbuckled, the air conditioning's going. Depending on when this is released, they have stuff to do. Beth, you got to close the thing out the way you do okay, phil, thank you for saying yes to being here today.
Speaker 1:I am so glad that you said yes. I am genuinely glad. This is the thing that I say the same thing on every episode where I'm like I'm so excited about my guest because I am like the recording. These things for me is literally like the highlight of my week to get to see people. It's why I invite, like, the same guests back, because I like genuinely build relationship with these people and I love them, and so I am grateful that you said yes. I am grateful to have shared time with you today and I look forward to when you come back, because we've only scratched the surface on the things that people need to know about starting a podcast. There was like a million other things I wrote down, so I look forward to when you can come back, listener.
Speaker 2:I appreciate being here.
Speaker 1:Thank you for being here also and until next time, stay safe, stay well and ciao.
