078: Getting Your Voice Heard with Libsyn’s Rob Walch

Pete Mockaitis
Rob, thanks so much for being here on the How to Be Awesome at Your Job podcast.

Rob Walch
Pete, thanks for having me on the show.

Pete Mockaitis
Well, you had a lot of fun pieces in your bio and your history. That was fun to be a part of it when I witnessed you inducted in the Podcast Hall of Fame right in Chicago. So that was a pretty cool moment. But even way before that, you always say podcasting saved your marriage. How did that come about?

Rob Walch
Well, I got to quit my day job and spend more time with family and not have to travel. I used to be one of those people where I was travelling five out of six weeks out of the year, so I was lucky to be at home one week out of six. So that’s not good for a marriage. And so it saved my marriage, saved my relationship, and allowed me to have a relationship when the kids came along.

Pete Mockaitis
Excellent. Well, I’m glad to hear it. And I guess I’m so fascinated. You have such interesting vantage point sitting where you sit as the Vice President of Podcaster Relations there for Libsyn, which is the biggest… It’s the largest host, right? You’ve got the most shows under your purview?

Rob Walch
Yes. And the most downloaded. So we all deliver over 25% of all the downloads that come through iTunes and the podcast app. As far as I know, no one else is even over 10%.

Pete Mockaitis
Hotdog. And how many shows is that?

Rob Walch
Over 28,000. Well over 28,000. The official number is 28,000, but it’s much bigger than that.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s so wild. So I guess I’d love to get a quick tidbit from you. Is there any podcast or type of genre that you just haven’t seen, and just like “I haven’t seen that done before”? Or have you seen it all by now?

Rob Walch
There are podcasts on manila folders. Smead, the company that makes manila folders, has a podcast. And there are podcasts on tree climbing association. There’s a podcast on professional pig racing.

Pete Mockaitis
I didn’t even know pig racing happened.

Rob Walch
There is a podcast called… I think it’s The Women of Flow, which talks about the woman’s monthly period. There are podcasts about everything.

Pete Mockaitis
Wow. That’s fascinating. Thank you for sharing. That’s a good little icebreaker.

Rob Walch
It would be hard for me to think of anything that hasn’t been done because there’s so many things that I never thought would ever be done.

Pete Mockaitis
Yeah. That is wild. So you’ve also done a bit of documenting sort of the best practices and habits you’ve seen along the way when it comes to skills and tricks of podcasting masters. And in our email exchanges, you mentioned that, indeed, there are a number of those sort of key skills and principles and takeaways that are absolutely applicable in the corporate or general workplace. What would you say are some of those key carryover pieces?

Rob Walch
When you look at the big shows and why they’re big, I think you look at how they communicate. They communicate clearly, concisely. But more important, they do it with some humor. They educate and entertain. You’re never going to be really successful, unless it’s a comedy podcast and they’re just entertaining. And you’re never going to be really successful if all you do is educate, because only education with no humor in it is a very boring podcast, and it’s a very boring way to communicate in the workplace.
I believe in the workplace, I was in a Fortune 500 company and worked my way up that ladder, those that moved up were the ones that could get up there, speak, and do it not just where they were educating but where they were entertaining. And that is what we see in the podcast world. The Dan Carlin, the Hardcore History Dan Carlin. Five million downloads an episode. It’s not because he’s the best researcher out there. He has a delivery method and a wit and a humor that is unlike anything else in that field.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s powerful. Five million downloads per episode on History.

Rob Walch
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
Wow. I have not listened to that yet, and I’m going to. That will be a nice little show note piece to learn. So you’re saying some elements associated with the entertainment and the humor. What else?

Rob Walch
If you want to talk about why podcasting will help in the workplace, learning how to speak. I mean, learning your voice. If you get up there in the podcast and you feel comfortable speaking, if you can bring that forward to a live audience and get in front… So many people are afraid to speak to a live audience. That so separates you from the crowd. It really differentiates who you are.

Learning about your subject matter. People ask me, “What should I podcast about?” I said, “Well, if you’re in the business world, really dig into your niche.” So many people, they work in a field and they put their hours in, and that’s it. You really want to excel. If you look at people that excel in the workplace, they’re the ones that immerse themselves in that field. And doing a podcast about the niche that you work in will set you aside as an expert, but it will educate you in your research about what you’re doing at work. Use it as an excuse to learn more about the field that you’re in, and then do some interviews. Meet the interesting and influential people in your industry. You will find that will quickly turn into better job opportunities in the future.

Pete Mockaitis
Absolutely. And what’s been surprising and delighting for me is just how many people say yes when you ask them to be a guest.

Pete Mockaitis
And so have you seen that, too?

Rob Walch
Yeah. I mean, people like to talk. They want to get out there and they want to talk. And it’s rare that you reach out to someone that they’ll say no. Some people are really busy, and they have a hubris about them, but the majority of people usually are pretty amenable and willing to take a few minutes out of their day for an opportunity to talk about something they’re passionate about.
That’s the key. If you’re doing a podcast on manila folders, don’t reach out to Tom Cruise and expect him to say “Sure. Yeah. I’d love to be on your show.” It has to match. But if you’re doing a show about how to organize and you reach out to some key people in the HR or business office management field, you’ll probably find some interesting people to be on your show.

Pete Mockaitis
So now let’s dig in a little bit in terms of making for powerful communication. So I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of things that worked well and not so well, and when you see it all lined up in terms of entertainment and information in a beautiful way, you can see it had five million downloads per podcast episode. That’s pretty exciting. So could you share a bit, what are the key distinctions or difference makers when it comes to communication that is sharp versus not as sharp, and how do you make the leap?

Rob Walch
I think when I look at this, and I look at the shows that are successful and the ones that are not, a lot of the ones that aren’t make it too much about me. Not me, the person listening, but me, the person speaking. The producer makes it about themselves. And having a funny story about what your 4-year-old did yesterday in your show and going on about that for half an hour doesn’t make for good content.
So oftentimes, a lot of these shows that I’ll hear, and they’ll ask me, “Hey, can you take a look at my show? Why is it not doing well?” A perfect example was one where the person was a public speaker and he was like, “I’m one of the top public speakers in the world. I’m renowned for this, but my podcast doesn’t seem to get any audience.” And I listened, and it was me, me, me. “I’m great. I’m this. I’m that.” This person went on. It was like a 15-, 20-minute episode, and he’d go on for 13, 15 minutes talking about himself and never get to… Finally the last minute, he’ll give you a tip.
And I was just like, “Stop making this about yourself. Think about your listener. Think about why your listener is there.” If you’re not offering them value in their day… That’s why they’re there. They’re there to be entertained and educated. And if you’re not offering that value, then they’re going to move on really quick because they’re going to find other shows that do. So I think the biggest mistake a lot of the producers make is they make it about themselves and not about what they’re supposed to be talking about, the content.

Pete Mockaitis
You could see that all the time in corporate communications or presentations as well, where they consider their audience. We had Dr. Nick Morgan on the show. One of his huge pet peeves is when folks are making slides to serve as sort of their cheat sheet or outline for themselves, and they’ll say, “I know you can’t read this, but…” because it’s for me. I wasn’t thinking about you, the audience. I remember when I was making this slide. I was thinking about me. So that’s a huge, clean takeaway, and easy to fall prey to that if you’re really interested in yourself. What are some of those other tidbits, difference makers?

Rob Walch
Not doing any research. I mean, thinking that you can just show up and espouse what you know and just get rambling in front of the mic with no real direction of where you’re going. Clearly no direction of where you’re going. There’s some people out there that recommend “Just do the episodes. Do it quick. It’s an hour-long episode. Don’t edit. Just get in, record, get it done, and post it. And post every day, whatever it is. Half an hour, an hour.  And if you’re spending 35 minutes on a 30-minute show, you’re spending five minutes too much.” Those shows get no audience.
I just interviewed Aaron Mahnke from Lore, and it will be on podCast411 this weekend. And he spends 35 hours a week on each individual episode. His episodes are 25 minutes long. He spends a lot of time. Dan Carlin, he gets five million downloads an episode, sure. But it takes him two, three months to do an episode. He puts a lot of time into it. So people that think that they can just show up, hit Record, hit Stop, post, and build an audience? Not going to happen. Not unless you’re this incredibly funny comedian. Other than that, in which case you’ll already be doing your standup gig and you’ll already have your HBO special. But if you’re not someone with that HBO special already, take the time, research, and then edit. Make your show sound good and tight.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s good. I see parallels there in terms of the prep that’s necessary to have a good, effective meeting versus one that’s kind of meandering or wasteful of people’s time. Or in a presentation that we’re not kind of zeroing in on the most salient facts and data in terms of driving forward the conversation. This is good. What else are you seeing out there that applies?

Rob Walch
Thinking that marketing is going to grow your show. People think that marketing is the cure-all, and if you throw enough marketing at a bad product, you’ll still grow an audience. And that’s just like in real world. Yes, you do need to market some, but at the end of the day, the product is the product. And if you don’t have a good product, all the marketing in the world won’t help.

Look at Lone Ranger, the movie, is one I would use as an example. $175 million Disney spent, and almost all of that was on marketing. Did less than $90 million in sales. Then you had The Sixth Sense. It was also a Disney movie that was known by. They did less than $40 million total in production and marketing. It had $625 in million sales. At the end of the day, it’s word of mouth. And that’s what makes podcasts grow, not spending 40 hours a week marketing a really bad podcast.

Pete Mockaitis
I know that you are an enthusiast when it comes to on The Feed, your podcasts at Libsyn. You’ve got your stats, which I have closely listened to and written down. It’s like, “Oh, I’m doing pretty well. That’s good.” So I’m sure it varies wildly, but are there any kind of numerical or quantitative sort of rules of thumb for it’s an indicator that tells you “This is naturally something that is getting a degree of word of mouth traction,” versus “Yeah, this is really dead in the water. The numbers are telling a clear story here for you.”?

Rob Walch
It depends on the subject matter. I mean, if you have a podcast about professional pig racing, and you’ve been doing it for two years, and you’re getting 200 downloads an episode, you’re probably looking at that as a really successful podcast. If you’re doing a podcast that’s a comedy podcast and you want a general audience, you’ve been doing it for two years, and you have 200 downloads per episode, you’re not funny.
I said that once on the feed. Someone emailed me and said, “I don’t even have 200 downloads. I’ve been doing this for over two years. If I had listened to you, I would have quit podcasting early on.” And I’m like, “Not only is he not funny. He has no sense of humor.”
But you have to look at the niche you’re in and what your expectations are. I had a person quit podcasting because he “only” had 750 downloads an episode. He couldn’t break past that number. His podcast was about website design. And I said to him, “When was the last time you got up in front of 700 people and talked about website design?” So for someone like that, 750 is great.
Again, comedy podcast, wants a general audience, not so much. But look at your audience and look at what your niche is. And the more niche you are, the lower you should set your expectations.
I’ve had businesses come in that are going to talk about super esoteric things, and they think they’re going to get 10,000 or 15,000 downloads an episode. And I’m like, “No. You’re going to be lucky to get 500.” And they’re like, “What?” I’m like, “Yeah. But that’s good for what you’re doing.” So set the bar right for your show. And you have to look at it on a per show basis. You can’t really say, “Okay, the median number is 200,” and you’re only getting 150, and think you’re a complete failure. Well, again, it depends on what your subject matter is.

Pete Mockaitis
Well, I think that totally makes sense in terms of your downloads per episode number. Here I’m thinking parallels to sort of overall market size versus your market share there. Pig racing, smaller market as opposed to comedy. Hey, we all like to laugh. So I guess I’d be curious to hear if there’s anything you see with regard to maybe growth rates or trajectories that tell you, “Whoa. This thing is hot and going places,” like Facebook in the early days. “Whoa. This is really going places. I could already tell from these numbers,” versus “This is a pattern which suggests that it’s kind of reached its maturity and the fullness of what it may become.”

Rob Walch
If it’s a general podcast, let’s say comedy or history or something like that, where it’s a more general audience, because everyone loves to laugh and everyone wants to learn, then you can see it if that show passes the 10,000 mark and it does it within a few months, you know that it’s doing well. I’ve seen some do it in a month.
I was talking to Aaron Mahnke from Lore. Again, that would be a more general one. And we talked about his show, where the first month or so, a little over a month, he was in that 150-200 range per episode. And then all of a sudden, it just took off. And it kept going and going and going. And you could see from that point where it took off that it just kept rising. And clearly, early on, after that initial push, that was going to very successful. And he’s done great in 18 months or 17 months since he launched.
So on the comedy ones, when we see those shows get past that 10,000 mark, then we really start taking notice. But the reality is if you get past 50,000 downloads, you’re in the one-percenter. You’re a one-percenter in the podcast world. So the numbers are lower than a lot of people think. And it does take a very special podcast to get up in that 1%. When a show passes that 50K, there’s only a few niches or subject matters that that podcast is likely going to be covering. It’s not a podcast about podcasting. That’s for sure. A podcast about podcasting, you never get above 5000. So you have to look at what that niche is.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Very cool. Anything else that kind of leaps to mind in terms of you’re saying “Here’s lessons learned when it comes to making or watching podcasts,” and how that compares to the professional world?

Rob Walch
Make it something that’s interesting to you. I mean, I have said before, “Don’t talk about yourself.” But it’s okay to create a show that’s geared towards you as an audience member. Again, not talking about yourself but talking about something that’s more general. So if you’re doing a podcast and you can’t even listen to your own podcast because you think the topic that you’re covering is boring, then guess what? So does your audience.
So take a little time. Make your show interesting for you on that subject matter. Put a little humor on it. Take some extra time, and work in a few little side pieces. And then the other thing that I think people forget to do: Communicate with your audience. Make them part of your show. I think one of the bigger mistakes a lot of podcasters do is they try to put themselves up on the man on the high castle, and they try to stay away from everybody else. And it’s just “I’m doing my show, and I’m broadcasting to the world.”
No. Interact with your audience. Again, word of mouth marketing only works if your audience is talking. And the best way that your audience is talking about your show is to interact with them and make them part of it. Community build, which again, if you can build communities, that’s another great toolset to have in the workplace.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. And I think that notion of interacting with customers or users, whether they’re kind of external or internal on ongoing basis and refining is just a good, smart way to conduct yourself professionally, and something that’s easy to overlook. We just assume we know what people want instead of really going out there and asking and figuring out truly what is that need.
So I’d also love to get your take on in terms of you talk about this many hours of doing the editing and putting out a podcast episode, what would you say are some of the key ways that when it comes to preparing and refining communications in the workplace is done? So let’s just imagine. If I were going to make a speech or do a presentation, I want to make it super awesome. What would I actually be doing with, say, maybe my five hours of prep or whatever I’ve allocated to really take it to the next level, in your view?

Rob Walch
Well, I have done a lot of presentations. And when I’m prepping, trying to make those presentations better, I’m looking to get each slide, each thing I’m talking about just a little bit more concise so I can really nail each section, if you want to call it, each slide, each topic that you’re going to talk about. Not inundating people. It’s really easy to throw everything at people. It’s harder to get it down to the one great nugget on each item. And that’s where I think you’ve got to spend a lot of your time isn’t just collecting the information, but then sorting it and presenting it in a clear, concise format.
Again, I can’t stress that enough. I hear too many podcasts where the people just ramble or throw so much at you that you’re like, “What? I’ve got to go look at the transcript. I have no idea what this person just said.” And remember, people are listening, especially on the audio podcast, so they don’t have the visual. So you have to explain it a little bit better. You can’t throw out wild things and “Well, I’ve got this picture above me on the slide. 2000 words. A picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s two pictures up there. I’ve got 2000 words.” You don’t have to get into that. You have to explain things a little bit clearer in the podcast.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. So getting it more concise in terms of stripping down to the core essentials and using fewer and fewer words. Do you have any sort of pro tips, like in practice, how do you do that? Are you recording yourself? Are you setting arbitrary numbers like half as many words?

Rob Walch
I recommend you script. Script your podcast. If you’re talking on anything technical, you want to script your show, because if you don’t script your show, what will wind up happening… And again, this is based on a solo show. If you’re not scripting your show, you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to say something.
I do a podcast called “Today in iOS.” And I know it’s the A9 processor right now, but I might mess up and say the A8 processor. And you know what I’m going to get? Five emails. “You messed up. You said A8. What an idiot.” So you have to script. And scripting it, that’s going to teach you how to better write, and you’re going to be able to filter everything down. So do that. And too many people, again, they show up, maybe a couple bullet points, they hit Record, and they just spew out whatever they’re thinking, whatever is on the top of their head. And it’s a rambling mess, and the numbers show it.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. So with the scripting, I’m thinking that are you then reading from the script or recommending that? Or are you just saying by going through that thought process of distilling it, it just sort of naturally flows from you in a natural way that is also concise?

Rob Walch
If you are going to be doing a podcast that is technical in nature, or covering a subject matter where there’s lots of facts and figures, read the script, which means you do also have to learn how to write for the spoken word, which is a little bit different. But read that script. Don’t assume that you’re going to remember everything and say everything correctly, because you will mess up. You will make mistakes, and that will hurt your credibility and your show. And your audience is looking to you.
That’s one thing people don’t realize. When you podcast, people look at you with an air of authority, because there’s not many podcasters. There’s a lot less podcasters than there are bloggers. So it makes you a little bit special. And if you don’t hit everything just right and get all the facts right, you will lose listeners quickly. And you get snarky emails. Lots of them.

Pete Mockaitis
Understood. And so I guess I want to hit that point. You mentioned about how the written word, some of it lands well-written but not spoken. And I think one thing I’m seeing more and more is, as I’m looking at guest bios and they submit it, I think the word is a subordinate clause at the beginning. So for example, we might say something like “A devoted husband and father, Rob Walch enjoys podcasting.” – Walch, excuse me. We had that conversation – So that clause at the beginning, I think that sits well or okay written but not so much spoken. Or maybe that’s just my own weird pet peeve. You tell me.

Rob Walch
Grammatically correct English is not something that sounds very well spoken out loud. So when you speak out loud, you need to write how you want to speak, which takes a little bit of time to learn. But it’s worth doing. And it depends on the show, too. Some shows can kind of get away with it. But I think when you listen to a podcast, you’re going to hear the good ones, if you go and look at the top shows, listen to a Dan Carlin, listen to a Revolutions, you’re going to hear a little bit different tone and temper. It doesn’t sound like the person is reading from a text, even though they’re scripting out their shows.
I mean, if you feel awkward saying it, people are going to feel awkward listening to it. I couldn’t give you a rule of thumb, but you’ll know it when you say it. If you stumbled when you start trying to read it, and you just can’t read it, you’ll realize, “Wow, that was just awkward.” And then I’ve said that. I’ve actually done that before in my show where I’ve read it and I’m like, “Well, that was really awkward to say.” And then I realize, “I should have probably rewrote that section.” Sometimes, I’ll leave it in for comedic effect. Sometimes, I’ll take it out and rewrite it and re-record it.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Rob Walch
But you’ll know as the podcaster when something doesn’t feel right because it’s just hard getting it out. You trip over the words. And just like when you were in English class and you got up there and read Shakespeare, it didn’t feel comfortable, did it?

Pete Mockaitis
No. Nay. It didn’t.
So now I’m thinking about sort of the more maybe technological pieces. You’ve spent a lot of time with your face close to a microphone and just behind it. What are some things that folks should just generally know? Maybe overlooked tips and tricks when it comes to microphone technique? Like using it right, using it wrong, and things maybe you didn’t even know you could do with the microphone that maybe you should start doing? I just have a feeling you’ve got some opinions here.

Rob Walch
Well, a few different things. One is don’t overspend. Too many people spend way too much money on microphones. They’ll go out and they’ll buy the Heil PR-40, as an example of a mic. And they spend a way bunch of money because some podcast consultant told them to go out and buy that mic, where the mic is really designed for radio. And it’s not just designed for radio. It’s designed for people with baritone voices. So if you’re not a person with a fake radio voice, that’s probably not the right mic for you. You go with a Blue Yeti mic, which is much better for frequency response.
So now you’re getting really technical. But you have to have the right mic for your voice and understand that voice. But more importantly than that, get in a quiet room. Be in a quiet place with not flat walls. If you go in a room and you talk and you can hear an echo, that’s not right. And if you ever walk in a closet and you talk, and it sounds like you’re muffled when you’re talking, it sounds strange because there’s no echo and it’s just really muffled, that’s the best place to record. If you have a muffled sound when you speak, that’s where you want to be recording.
But if you can hear a little bit of an echo, or if you’ve ever been in a room that has no furniture on the floor, they redid the floors, and you walk in the room and you talk and you hear that echo, that is not a good place to record for you. That’s not a studio. That’s just a room with a microphone. And you can’t get the echo out. So the best mic technique is being in a quiet place to record.
Another thing is getting a pop filter. People are like, “What’s a pop filter?” A pop filter is this thing that goes in front of the microphone, so when you say your P’s, the air coming out of your mouth doesn’t hit the microphone and causes, they call it, a popping P. So by having that pop filter… And I double pop filter because I really pop my P’s. That helps a lot. It makes it a lot easier on the listener when they’re listening.

Pete Mockaitis
Now, there’s a bit of a distinction between a pop filter and a windscreen. Is this true?

Rob Walch
They’re basically just calling it something different. I double. I put a pop filter at the end of my mic, and then I have a windscreen, which is also a pop filter. And it really is six at this, half dozen the other. Some people call them one thing, and some people call them the other. And then I put that other one right in front of it so that, again, I don’t pop my P’s.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Yeah. I actually do the same thing in terms of the double. And I really can tell the difference. So cool. So now I’d love to hear from you in terms of, since you have a front row seat to all sorts of podcasts, is there any show, or two, or three that you think might be particularly interesting for professionals seeking to be more awesome at their jobs, and maybe ideally one that the masses don’t know about yet, so it’s like they discovered it on this episode with Rob?

Rob Walch
Well, first thing I would say is if you want to stand out in your job, I emphasized this earlier, hopefully. Podcast. So people who are listening to this that want to be better at their job, you need to get a podcast. So go out and listen to some podcasts about podcasting. Learn how to do this. There’s a lot of great free advice on the podcasts about podcasting. Get out there. Listen to some podcasts about podcasting, and start podcasting. Listen to the “School of Podcasting” with Dave Jackson, or listen to some older episodes of podCast411 or even some of the new ones. And you’ll learn about how to podcast. You’ll learn the art of podcasting. That would be the first thing I would say.
If you’re looking for some business-oriented podcasts, Manager Tools is a great podcast that’s out there. It’s a business one that I would recommend.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Thank you. Well, is there anything else you want to make sure to put out there before we shift gears and hear about your favorite things?

Rob Walch
No. We’ll talk about some of my favorite things.

Pete Mockaitis
Let’s do it.

Rob Walch
All right.

Pete Mockaitis
How about a favorite quote?

Rob Walch
This one comes from Dan Carlin. And he said, “Don’t release your next episode until it’s better than your last episode.” This is a guy with five million listeners per episode, one of the biggest shows out there, and he’s paranoid that his next episode is going to be a dud. And don’t be complacent. So that’s why I love that quote. He doesn’t release his next episode until it’s better than his last one. Never be complacent.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And how about a favorite study or piece of research?

Rob Walch
Edison’s Research. They do the Share of Ear report, and that tells you a lot about the podcasting space. So that is always a good research, one that I look at every year once it comes out. So that one is probably the one more than any other research paper out there that I dig into and try to understand completely.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. And a favorite book?

Rob Walch
Anything by Phillip K. Dick. It doesn’t matter. Anything. Even Mary and the Giant.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. And a favorite tool, something you use often that’s quite handy?

Rob Walch
Evernote. Evernote. Evernote. Love Evernote. Especially when you’re scripting up your shows, it’s great because they sync between your devices, so I could be writing my notes on one device and then I’d get it back on the computer. So Evernote is really important. And then the other one is SoundSoap. So if you’re maybe doing interviews with people, SoundSoap is a great tool for podcasters. It allows you to pull out the background noise. And you use it as a plugin right in GarageBand. So those are my two most valuable tools in my tool chest.

Pete Mockaitis
And how about a favorite habit, a personal practice of yours that’s boosted your effectiveness?

Rob Walch
Answering all the emails from my listeners.

Pete Mockaitis
You email them back?

Rob Walch
Yeah. If you email me, I will reply or I’ll reply on my show. Sometimes, I don’t reply directly on the email, but that’s because I’m saving it to read on the show. But even if you’re sending me email that I’m not going to read on the show, then I will reply back and say “I don’t know,” or “Thank you for emailing,” or “Thank you for the kind words,” depending on what it is. But I try to reply to every email. I’m sure I’ve missed a few, but not on purpose.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s powerful. Now, I can’t help but follow up with just how many emails do you get in a day, and how do you handle it all? What’s the secret?

Rob Walch
I get so many. I get a ton. I don’t even know the number. I send out hundreds of emails a day on average. And it’s insane. I’ve looked at it, the amount of emails I have. I stopped counting a long time ago. But I just try to work through them, just banging them out. And when my inbox gets above 400, my wife can tell because I start getting real jittery.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. So it’s just a matter of sheer hours? There’s no sick hacks or tricks that accelerate your…?

Rob Walch
Yeah. My only trick is five-hour energy drinks.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay. Got it.

Rob Walch
Yes. Sleep is for the weak.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. So would you say you have a particular sort of resonant nugget or quote or thing that you’re known for in your speaking, writing, and interacting with podcasters?

Rob Walch
I think the one thing, when I point out to people, it gets retweeted and requoted, is the ratio of female bloggers to female podcasters. And that’s 7500 to 1. For every 7500 female bloggers, there is one female podcaster. And when I say that to women and the bloggers, they get it right away. Wow. To stand out from the crowd, podcast. So if you’re a female blogger and you’re not podcasting, you’re not really trying hard to promote your blog because there is a really great venue to separate yourself from your peers, and that’s podcasting.

Pete Mockaitis
Now, overall, it’s about 1000-ish to 1? Or what’s the ratio?

Rob Walch
2000 to 1 overall bloggers to podcasters. And then when you go females…

Pete Mockaitis
That’s gotten more dramatic over the passing years.

Rob Walch
Yeah, it has. And people don’t realize there’s a lot of blogs. When you’re a blogger, you’re competing against even bots, these robot blogs. And people are like, “Well, they’re not real bloggers.” Yeah, but they’re filling up the search results, right? They’re filling up the SEO. So they’re competing with you for attention. So yes, you are competing with them, even if they’re not real. At least in podcasting, you’re dealing with humans. There’s no robot podcasts.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay.

Rob Walch
As I mentioned earlier, there’s a podcast about everything. But there’s still a lot of room to get into podcasting. Don’t think because there’s a podcast about everything, you shouldn’t podcast. I always say, “Did you like ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and ‘The Munsters’? Because ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and ‘The Munsters’ are really just ‘Bewitched’ and ‘The Addams Family.’” So it’s okay to have another show about something that’s already out there.

Pete Mockaitis
Very good. And what would you say is the best place for folks to find you? If they want to learn more, where would you point them?

Rob Walch
Go to podcast411.com if you want to learn a little bit more about me and my podcast. Or “Today in iOS” is my other one. And then the easiest thing is just to email me, rob@libsyn.com. And if you have questions about podcasting, I’d be more than happy to answer those questions.

Pete Mockaitis
Cool. And do you have a parting challenge or call to action for those who are seeking to be more awesome at their jobs?

Rob Walch
If you want to stand out, you want to be looked as an air of authority in your field, podcast about your field.

Pete Mockaitis
All right.

Rob Walch
You will find quickly that you’re asked to speak at events if you’re podcasting. This is something people don’t realize is if you’re podcasting, people that run events know you can speak because they can listen to your podcast. They don’t know if you can speak well if you’re blogging. But if you’re podcasting, it’s going to give you an opportunity to get on panels and speak at industry events. And that will grow your career more than anything else.

Pete Mockaitis
Beautiful. Well, Rob, thanks so much for this, and for answering all my emails and everyone else’s. This has been a lot of fun. And I hope you and Libsyn continue to flourish in these months and years ahead.

Rob Walch
All right, Pete. Thank you so much for having me on the show.