What’s Stopping You From Starting Your Podcast?
RECENTLY, MY WIFE DONNA & I TOOK A 3-WEEK SAILING TRIP up the Chesapeake Bay from our home slip on the Potomac River to visit the Annapolis Sailboat Show.
The day we left, a weather front threatened us from behind. Dark clouds on the horizon and limited visibility on the river forced us to motor for the first leg of the trip as we had a schedule to keep. As the saying goes, “You can make plans, but you can’t make a schedule” when you’re traveling by sail, and sometimes even by motor, but in this case, motoring was safe and we consoled ourselves with the fact that the forecast was beautiful for the next several days.
Our second day on the water was beautiful, with perfect sailing weather, a nice steady breeze, not a cloud in the sky, and a comfortable 68 degrees. We exited the Potomac and headed north up the Chesapeake under excellent conditions.
We had planned to anchor out that night, but the winds began to build in the afternoon and were predicted to hit 25 kts overnight. That’s a lot of wind to be at anchor when we haven’t done much anchoring in the past. Anchoring would have meant a sleepless night of frequent anchor checks. So we decided to put into a marina in Solomons Island, MD, on the Patuxent River and continue up the Bay, well-rested, the following day.
When we left the marina the next day, and entered the Chesapeake, the wind was still blowing at about 15 – 20 kts, which was more than I was used to sailing in. The water was choppy, and I was fighting the wind and current. I told my wife I wasn’t comfortable in those conditions, and we turned back to spend another day in the marina waiting for the wind to settle down.
It did. The rest of the trip to Annapolis was a pleasant, uneventful sail with a long stretch of peace and quiet and beauty. We contemplated the miles of undisturbed forest that ends abruptly in hundred-foot cliffs where it meets the water. It is surprisingly wild and green and dramatic and desolate. We could have been traversing it in 2024 or 1824, using the same technology.
This was our second venture sailing the length of the Bay. The first was when we sailed our new-to-us 32-ft sailboat home from Annapolis two years ago — the biggest boat on the biggest water we had ever sailed. The beauty of the bay was as staggeringly beautiful then as it was now, but our minds were more on not dying.
Now, here we were, emergency preparedness procedures running on autopilot in the back of heads, giving our brains the freedom to once again discuss James Michener’s Chesapeake, just as we did 10 years ago, sailing our first little boat, a 16-footer named The Minnow, in circles a couple of miles one way and then the other around our marina. Chesapeake gave us a goal to strive for, one day we’d be right here, having come to see it for ourselves.
On the way home, the same conditions developed that had turned us back to the marina for another day on the way up: 15-20 kts winds, gusting to 25.
My comfort zone was 12-15 kts. They say that trying to stick to a schedule while sailing is dangerous and leads to poor decisions. Was it a poor decision to set out? We are both still cowed by the day the winds we shouldn’t have launched in blew The Minnow clean across the Potomac River from our launch on the other side and dashed us into the trees. Or when we laid her down in a storm with the main sail touching the water. We were both already scrambling to climb the high side of the boat and onto her bottom in the event we capsized.
But knew our current boat was made for much rougher conditions; we were just not sure we were.
Our assessment: no storms were forecast, so no lightning nor vision-obscuring rain. Forecast: getting tossed around like a snow globe with a chance of puking over the transom.
Donna strapped on a seasickness patch, we both tethered ourselves to the rail in addition to our usual life vests, and we left safe harbor for the Bay once again.
And it was amazing! We were flying on the wind! I had to stay alert and really put the skills and knowledge I’ve been developing over the last decade of sailing to use. And this day, there were a lot of other boats out there sailing along with us. I realized my nerves were unfounded. We crossed a threshold that day.
We ventured out in conditions that were definitely outside of our comfort zone. And now I can see 20 – 25 kt wind predictions and say, “Let’s go sailing today.”
What’s this got to do with podcasting?
Many clients come to me with an idea or concept for their podcast. But when it comes down to turning on the mic and actually recording, booking an interview, doing an edit, or even putting the finished product out there for the world to hear, they, like my wife and I did, fear taking that step outside their comfort zone.
Yes, you will take baby steps at first. But the reward can be sublime.
So, if you have a great idea for a podcast, or you’ve been creating a podcast for a while but haven’t been doing the proper promotion and marketing, now’s the time to hoist the sails and brave the conditions. Book that interview, buy that new microphone, or even post your latest episode on LinkedIn. You’ll become a better podcaster and ask yourself, “What was I worried about?”
