Part 3 Why Did I Start My Podcast? Motivation, Highlights and Much More
Why this?
In the last part, I talked about how I decided to follow my dream, including starting my blog. But what made me add one more project, a podcast, while my hands were already so full? 😉
It all started with a birthday gift that I bought for myself early this year: a book called "Your Dream Life Starts Here" by Kristina Karlsson. It really inspired me to dream BIG and also changed my perspective: going after your wildest dreams should be the norm. There is one key question in the book:
“What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”
What would be your answer? For me, easy. One thing is to travel around the world, interview interesting and inspiring people and share their stories and wisdom with this world.
So how could I make this happen? Initially, I thought of getting a job in media first. However, Covid-19 made me realise how short a life could be.
Therefore, I asked myself: “Is there any way that I can do it now?”
Quickly, I found one: “Since I am hosting virtual events for our students, why not start to host some Q&A sessions?” My first guest was Wesa Chau from Melbourne, a cultural diversity and international student advocate. After the session, I wrote a takeaway piece, as I believed it would benefit many students. However, I didn’t know this could spark an interesting idea later on.
When I posted the article on LinkedIn, I expressed my interest in interviewing more people. I then got my supporters, Sam and Dimitrios (thanks!), and they suggested me a few potential interviewees. Yay! I was excited about my upcoming interviews and writeups. But life didn’t follow my plan.
I decided to interview Luke and James, the co-founders of Voice of Health, a preventative free mental health app first for two main reasons. Their work really fitted with my purpose, to do things for the community. Also, they tried so many different jobs before, but finally, they found this cause, the one they truly love, which was very inspiring to me. However, before the interview, Luke asked me an unexpected question:
“Is this for a podcast?”
“Ah?” I was surprised. The idea of a podcast just never occurred to me. Why? It sounded scary. Because for a bog, I could always revise my posts and ask my friend to proofread while I couldn’t do that for a podcast. What if people might laugh at me: “How could she make such a basic grammatical error?” That would be so embarrassing. Also, only thinking of editing audios every week already overwhelmed me. So… No.
But still, I talked to my coach Corrine about my concerns during one of our catch-up sessions.
She listened carefully and asked me a question back: “I remember you said one of your core values is to be authentic. So, do you think that trying to hide all your grammatical errors and having a heavy editing process aligns with your value?”
I blushed. I thought: “Hmm, that’s a good point. But what if I couldn’t find enough speakers for my podcast?” I was still not very convinced. Then I came across another book (timing).
It was "Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too" by Gary V. One example he gave is a man without any media background still made his daily podcast go viral. His initial thought was simple: everyone else was doing a weekly show, so he wanted to challenge himself, to do a daily show instead. He thought it could help him practice more and shorten his waiting time for success. Clever! That also made me ask myself: “I’ve already done a radio show for over two years, so if he can do it, why can’t I? Also, I am only thinking of doing a weekly show, which should be easier.” I gave in a bit more. But will a podcast reach more people than articles?
With that question in mind, I asked Sonia, a friend of mine, and here was her answer: “Personally, I would prefer a podcast because I want to hear them telling their own stories instead of you doing it as a middle man.”
At the same time, oddly, I received an email, saying: “We believe you will become a wonderful podcast host.”
“Wow, is the universe trying to tell me something? Alright.” I didn’t want to dwell any more. “Not making a decision is a BIG decision”. I decided to give it a try: “What the worst that can happen? It’s not my paid job anyway, which means I won’t become homeless if I fail. Also, I’ve never done this before, so who knows this new adventure may open some exciting opportunities for me. And, isn’t it cool to do something special at the age of 30 so I could be proud of myself afterwards?”
Finally, the preparation started: the podcast name, theme music and intro, cover photo, and host platform.
Among all those tasks, the name was the hardest one. After discussing with my friend Julien (thanks), I decided to name it Inspirations In My Backyard. Why? Three main reasons:
Backyard indicates people around us. Usually, only famous people get attention to be interviewed. However, I am a strong believer that ordinary people like you and I have many things worth sharing and learning from too. Also, I don’t know you, but for me, a lot of times I feel even more connected to ordinary people, our local heroes’ stories.
Positivity, love and authenticity are always some of my core values. I know, there is a lot of negativity and fake news around. So, I really want to bring a change, a fresh air, to send more positivity, humanity and truth to this world. Therefore, I want to make my conversations original, relatable, and authentic, like having a casual chat in my backyard.
It was related to my personal journey. It took me a long time, over 10 years to find my true passion. So, I really hope that you, especially if you are a young person, can get some inspirations from my guests’ journey and start to discover your own passion too. I think we all have that inside us, so sometimes it’s just a matter of time to find them.
I still remember the moment when I saw Spotify’s approval page for my podcast, I felt relieved and a sense of pride: “It’s happening. I am going to have my OWN podcast soon! Unbelievable.”
My first interview
So far, I have done 11 interviews, and nine are lined up. I am so glad that I made this decision because I absolutely enjoyed every single interview and have learned so much from my guests. Now it’s time for me to share with you some memorable moments for my first interview.
The guests were James and Luke. I was nervous before the interview, so my self-talk mode turned on again:
“Qianqian [my nickname], you’ll be fine. You’ve done so many radio interviews already, and if you want, you can always edit later. Remember you just need to be yourself, because you get the superpower, friendliness and curiosity.”
That did calm me down, and the interview flowed very well too. James and Luke were very encouraging, and they told me: “You have a natural warmth that made me open up easily. When you have that, who cares English is your second language?” “Exactly. In fact, your English is even better than me.”
That is gold, a great confidence booster.
Apart from that, when I told them Adelaide is like my second home now during our chat, they responded: “Next time when you come to visit Melbourne, let us know. We will make it your third home.” Aww, how sweet!
Struggles?
You may wonder: “Is there any moment that you want to quit?” Oh yes, lots.
For a long time, whenever I didn’t get many likes for my podcast after hours of hard work, I felt very deflated: “Is it worthwhile to put so much energy and time for this? No one is listening.”
Then I thought of the previous conversation that I had with James and Luke. Because of their big "why" motivated them to work hard, so what was mine? Why did I want to do a podcast in the first place? I wanted to share, inspire others and leave a legacy. Also, it was a great way to develop my media skills.
Besides, thanks to one podcast episode from Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations which I learned three things:
Do not treat your content as your child. Instead, your standard routine should be: create, release and start again 😊
No matter if you have one or one billion listeners, you always should produce as best content as you can. Then you won’t leave any regrets in the future (thinking with the end again).
People become what they consume. Right now, you have the power to influence others, how special!
Well said, and my mind got fully recharged again!
Future
Two things made me excited already:
1. In the beginning, I mentioned one of my earliest inspirations was the book I got for my birthday. Guess what? I am going to interview the author of the book Kristina Karlsson! By expressing my wish to have her as my guest, she said "yes". Again, the importance of dreaming! You never know what will happen next.
Some of you might think:
“But wouldn’t I look bad if I didn’t achieve my dream in the end?”
No, not at all. In fact, that was my initial concern too. Thanks to Kristina Karlsson and Alisa Camplin who made me realise: the importance of dreaming is not about the result but the process - how you grow and evolve as a person. Also, having some anticipation makes your life much more fun. Besides, the book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying mentioned that the number one regret is: “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” So, are you convinced now?
2. I just started a new radio show, Packed Lunch, where I could play my podcast on air! That means I could reach more people, yay!
I can’t wait to talk to my guests in 2021, and all the inspirations and learnings that I am going to have along the way.
So, what is your dream? Remember: You will never be ready, just start. And always focus on progress, not perfection. I can’t wait to hear your passion project updates. Oh, don’t forget: if you have any interesting or inspiring people in mind, please let me know. I would love to interview them 😊
Happy New Year, everyone! 💗