Speaker 1 00:00:06 Happy 20, 21. If we can even say that these days anyway, it's Matt. We're back together again for another episode of the audience podcast. Look, if you have a moment I'd like to remind you to do a few things. Number one, leave us a five star review on iTunes as a fellow podcaster. I'm sure you know how much this means to us. We love it. I saw one come through. No comment, just the five-star, but I'll take it. If you leave a comment, we'll read it off in the next show. Number two, we have a new Academy chock full of courses and learning material to become a better podcaster. There's a bunch of courses over there from our legacy Academy, which was hosted somewhere else. And we're putting together some new content and we'd really love for you to dive in. Again, if you want to level up your game, maybe you've been a podcaster for awhile.
Speaker 1 00:00:49 There could be something there that you might learn. Maybe you got your microphone for the first time and you want to learn how to record a great show. Check out the content and you can register for free over at Academy dot Castillo's dot com. That's Academy dot <inaudible> dot com Academy dot <inaudible> dot com. Register for free. If you don't see something you're looking for, let me know if you're looking to learn something specific, please feel free to email me
[email protected]. So live streaming is huge. And at Casos we use an app called stream yard, which coincidentally, after this episode was recorded, it was acquired by another brand called Hoppin
[email protected]. Which if I'm honest, I had never heard of, but I love stream yard. And I think you would too, if you're streaming or going live with your podcast content and who better to talk to us about these worlds colliding other than Ross brand, who lives in breeds live streaming.
Speaker 1 00:01:44 Now you might think with a guy's name brand you'd think it was a play on words. It wasn't. He was born with that name. We talk about that. He's a former radio host and now produces the live stream for stream yard. I've known his work for a while. So it was a pleasure to host him on the audience podcast to share his knowledge with the rest of us. You and me, maybe you're on the air now with terrestrial radio, or you want to enhance your podcasting efforts. You simply do not want to miss today's episode. Okay. Here it is. Mr. Ross brand
Speaker 0 00:02:11 Himself.
Speaker 1 00:02:14 Hey everybody. Welcome back to the audience podcast today. We're talking, we're going deeper into live streaming a few episodes ago. You heard Craig and I talk about yeah, the fundamentals of what you need to do live streaming some of the lighting, some of the equipment, things like that. We're going to dive deep today with Mr. Ross brand Ross, welcome to the program. Thanks so much for having me, Matt. Great to talk to you. You're the president founder creator, janitor tax accountant of live stream universe. Everything that there is to do with live streaming. And you're also the show host for a fantastic company that we use here at, at Casos a stream yard for live streaming. We use that for our Facebook group podcast, hackers com and I'm excited to drill deeper into this cause you know, when I think live streaming, I think you, but I gotta ask you, so this world we live in of marketing and online talent and YouTube and podcasts. Your last name brand, is that a branding play?
Speaker 2 00:03:16 No, that's actually been my name since I was born. And for, I guess the first, probably 30 years of my life. It never really was that it had that meaning of being a brand all that much in, in the marketing sense. And then in the last decade or so, it's just, it says everything is brand and branding and yeah, I mean it fits, but that wasn't by design. I, it's not a, uh, it's not a name I picked up along the way in order to sound clever, you know,
Speaker 1 00:03:49 That aspiring actor that goes to Hollywood and they've got the last name like Johnson, and then they're like, no, no, no, you're going to switch it to stone
Speaker 2 00:03:56 Or something like, that's how you're going to get the phone. It's funny. What a quick story. When I, when I got into radio, I remember an old radio guy going, I don't know if you're going to be any good kid, but I know one thing you don't have to change your name. It's a hundred percent true.
Speaker 1 00:04:17 Talk about that. You've, you've got a long legacy in a career in radio. I remember growing up my father and my family, we owned, uh, this many years ago, car dealerships for about 40 years in my local community. People always ask me like, how did you get into podcasting? And I was just like, you know, I didn't really know, but then I reflected on it a little while ago. And I remember being at radio stations with my father when I was super young, I don't know, playing with a paper airplane probably while he was recording commercials for the radio. And it just like, sort of dawned on me once. I was like, wow, I I've, I've actually been around audio. And like seeing him go on like talk shows and stuff like that in our local area for, you know, as we grew up,
Speaker 2 00:04:58 How much has it changed? How much has it stayed?
Speaker 1 00:05:00 The same with all of the podcasting with all of the audio? I think, I feel like things are like everything that everyone complained about, about traditional media. We're all now doing in the digital media
Speaker 2 00:05:12 Landscape. It's like surprise.
Speaker 1 00:05:15 We're all back here, full circle, you know,
Speaker 2 00:05:17 What's it like for you? I mean, I think one of the things that had already been happening when I got in to radio, but it's more so now than ever before is continuing consolidation of stations under a few major umbrellas. And then a lot of automating, a lot of, you know, a company owned seven radio stations in one market. So instead of there being seven news departments in seven sports departments, there's now one news department and one sports department feeding sort of the same thing across all the different stations. So I think there's a lot less opportunity than there used to be in radio algorithms are deciding the playlist completely now. I mean, there's, there's, you, you almost don't mean on air talent in the sense of being live in the, a music station. You may have it at the bigger stations, but a lot of stations may just be having somebody read lines.
Speaker 2 00:06:14 And so I think the creativity and the uniqueness of the personal relationship that you develop with the listener has moved over to podcasting, where people are listening to your thoughts and your ideas and your sense of humor. They're putting it in their ear buds and they're taking it with them. And then the other beautiful thing about podcasting is you no longer have to get past the gatekeeper. You can create what you create and it can be whatever it's meant to be. Whether that's something that just helps you build your brand and your business, or it turns out to be something that goes viral or takes off and, you know, becomes a business of its own. But you certainly don't have to get into a station and get a job in order to really even be able to record a demo tape just to get an an on air job. Right. I now have equipment that's probably, I don't want to say it's as good, but it's, it's awfully close to what, you know, I'm using one of the same mix that almost every radio station has and I'm using an audio interface. That's very high quality. And with that, I'm able to do whatever I want to do from home. If I needed, if I ever wanted to go back into radio, I could do my demo right from here. And the audio quality would be fine,
Speaker 1 00:07:36 Almost like a two-way street for somebody who's a creator or a personality, right? Because if you're, let's say you're in the traditional market, you're on a radio station. And like you said, there's these gatekeepers. There's probably this like, Ugh, God, that the decision by committee, like, there's what we're going to talk about. This is how we're going to do it. This is our sponsors and a very popular host. You could say, you know what? I think I'm just gonna go start my own podcast because I don't, I guess I don't need this distribution point anymore. And vice versa, somebody who's a, maybe a smaller podcaster could come in and say, look at what I've built. I may be worth a little bit more to you, the radio station, maybe to come in and say, I've got this audience, I'm bringing now this audience to the radio station. So I guess for a creator, it could be a two-way street.
Speaker 2 00:08:20 Yeah, no, it's a very fair statement for creators who may have a, even a big audience on live streaming on one of the live streaming platforms, or may have a, a nice size audience on podcasting. Some of them will get opportunities to host radio shows. Maybe it's a weekend show in a small market or something. My advice has always been to them, take it. It's another level of credibility. It's another credential. You're not only popular online and build your community, but the in traditional broadcasting have decided to invite you in behind the gate. And that still means something. When you talk to sponsors and you talk to just the general public, it helps with, you know, getting press. It helps with a lot of things that can then lead back to your podcasts. So there's a place for traditional media, but I think if you're a celebrity, for example, why go work for a radio station and share whatever sponsorships you bring in, when you can go create your own podcasts and the sky's the limit, you know, you can, Joe Rogan, isn't making that kind of money working afternoon drive, even in New York city or LA or Chicago or Houston.
Speaker 2 00:09:44 I mean, he's just not getting that kind of money unless he builds his own empire, which he's done.
Speaker 1 00:09:50 And I mean, probably even Howard stern before him and what we've seen with what he's done with Sirius. And I think I just, I don't have the article in front of me, but I think he just signed like another contract. And it really has me scratching my head. I mean, we just had Eric Johnson on the show who is a award-winning podcast producer. He produced podcasts for a Vox, Kara Swisher, uh, Peter Kafka. And, you know, he's seen the world from the gatekeepers table. Like when you said we got behind the gate, like we're still looking up the driveway and there's the mansion. We're not sitting at the table yet. Uh, but we're just looking at it
Speaker 2 00:10:23 When doesn't mean that you're sitting at their table. It just means they're letting you in. So you have call letters next to whatever it is you're producing, creating, or talking about.
Speaker 1 00:10:35 Yeah, yeah, for sure. I, and so like when I hear the, the Rogan stories and the stern stories, and while I think Rogan is just a licensing deal and, and maybe stern is too, I don't know the particulars, but I always think of it like, wow, I wonder what kind of freedom they would have. Well, I guess like Rogan was enjoying where he was just doing it on his own and maybe he just wasn't making the money. Like maybe you just need that corporate backing in order to make that kind of money. But from what you've experienced with podcasting over the years with your radio experience, is there a world where smaller creators can earn a little bit of a living without a sales team, a corporate team, you know, 5 million downloads, an episode, like, do you see opportunities in this space?
Speaker 2 00:11:18 Yeah. You have to develop your own products and your own business. And you're not necessarily monetizing through ads or through people subscribing to your podcast and you charging a membership or something like that. You have a product or a service that people who listen to your podcast want need are interested in. And then your podcast becomes a vehicle to drive people to the business, to interest them, to build the relationship. And you're thinking more of a long game than you are. I hop on tomorrow and to chain the cash register, right? You get on and you do this over and over and over. And you start building an audience. You start finding an audience and it's not an easy process, but it can be done. And I think for podcasters, they should think about video was one of those ways because of the opportunities within video descriptions, to put links within the way to get noticed in social media newsfeeds quickly, there are several advantages. The podcast may be where you're making that personal relationship, but these other platforms are where you may need to go to get noticed and to interact with potential customers.
Speaker 1 00:12:41 You're doing the very same thing. Although I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you have live stream universe.com. You have your product, your services, your brand there COVID-19 thrust everyone to do zoom ins to do live streams. So businesses is booming for you. At least I hope so. Sometimes people feel like man, getting this podcast off the ground was a hurdle in itself. I'm exhausted. I don't have time, but I will advocate. And I'm sure you will too for live streaming, being a phenomenal supplemental piece of content. Number one, you could turn a live stream into a podcast episodes, or you might be killing two birds with one stone. It's then a recorded video into YouTube. But I mean, I'll let you break down the advantages, but COVID live streaming. I mean, everyone's here now. Like what are they going to do to get better? How are they going to get this thing off the ground?
Speaker 2 00:13:33 First of all, the biggest mistake people make and they make it with podcasting too, is before they've done show number one or gone live. Once they start figuring out all this gear that they need, right. And they go out and they spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on gear. And then the first time you go live, or the first time you record a podcast, probably not that good. Right. I remember the first time I went live on radio it's so cringe-worthy right. So it's probably not that good. And now you're sitting here and you've got all this gear and you've invested. So not only do you feel bad that you didn't do that well on your first one, but gee, here I am looking, thinking that I'm some sort of pro with all this stuff and I'm triply down on myself. So let your content lead and then get the gear that your content deserves as it gets better.
Speaker 2 00:14:28 So start with a simple USB mic, like start with a Samsung, Q2 you, or if you really want to get some extra money to spend, get that new shoer mic, that's a XLR and USB. That's one that you could use for a long time, get an inexpensive, external webcam, or use your phone or use your laptops built in webcam use from the sun that doesn't cost you anything. Use use house lamps. What start with what you have. And you know, I always say, go live on your personal Facebook profile first. You'll have some friends and family show up. It's a good time to practice. Keep it short, maybe five minutes. Know what you want to say? When you start, know what you want to say? When you end, even as experienced live streamers podcasters, there's the first line. And the last line can be tricky if you're not used to doing this for years off the top of your head.
Speaker 2 00:15:26 So script those and then talk about something you're passionate about that isn't your business and you'll probably be fine, right? You're going to start off. You're going to have a smooth start because you know what you're going to say in your first sentence, or to go into something that you're passionate about and just talk about it and you know, know how you're going to end, which may just be your name and thanks for watching, or it may be, Hey, catch me on here again tomorrow. I'll be doing this again and do that. Do it twice. Do it three times. Do it five times. Do it 10 times, whatever it takes until you feel comfortable. You know what button depressed to start the broadcast and end the broadcast, all those kinds of things. Then start to think about your Facebook business page. If you have one, if you don't have one, create one.
Speaker 2 00:16:11 And that's a, I think a low risk, high reward place where you can go live in terms of gaining experience. And then after that, you have to scan the social, a whole social universe, so to speak and figure out where you have an audience and where there's an audience for what you bring. So, and when I say what you bring, it's not only what you're talking about, but it's your style of show where you style a broadcast, your style delivery. Just a quick, quick story. I, I, when I got into radio, I wanted to do music and within a show or two, I knew that that my style and personality, wasn't a great fit for somebody doing a music show. So the second thing I wanted to do was sort of news talk, right. And okay, that went better. And I was interviewing somebody, right.
Speaker 2 00:17:04 And I, okay, this is cool. Then the third show I invited a guy in, who was doing the halftime show for the football game. And we picked the, the next day's NFL games. And even though it was probably my third choice to do sports, I knew instantly that my delivery, my style, what have you, was a perfect fit for sports radio. And so it, wasn't just a matter of what I wanted to do. It's also a matter of what works, what, um, so you have to find that sweet spot for yourself, between what you're interested, what you like, what your voice and personality are like and where your audiences who you're trying to reach. There's all these different factors. But the main thing is identify where you have an audience online and then think about going live on that platform. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:17:55 I mean, it's so true, you know, it's so cliche when you, I'm sure you hear this. I'm sure. Like if you're interviewing people, I'm interviewing people and I get it. Like I get it when people say, Hey, what's your best advice for starting a podcast? And they say, just start. Right. And a lot of people just go, you can hear that collective internet site. Right. I was like, Oh, this this advice again. But yes, you have to just start because there is so much to be uncovered like you in the radio career, three separate chapters to find out what you want, that amateur podcaster that you mentioned who she goes out and she spends a thousand dollars on this podcasting equipment, which is all great, but you haven't even figured it out. Like what days you want to podcast yet? You haven't figured out, do you want to do this weekly, daily once a month? Like, there is so much to uncover in what I'm, what I refer to as, as an art form that it just takes time and practice to really be like, ah, this is where it clicks. Hardware's nice. You'll probably want to invest, invest in it in the future. If you have the means to invest in it in the beginning, go for it. But that is not going to launch the podcast, you know, effectively.
Speaker 2 00:19:05 And if you are doing a podcast and video, in fact, even if you're just doing live streaming and not podcasting, you want to invest in audio before you invest in video. The audio is the most important part of your live video without any doubt, that's where the content is coming through. And so the biggest difference you'll ever make is going from your webcams, built in Mike or your laptops built in Mike to just an entry level USB microphone. The difference that that makes. And again, I recommend the Samsung Q2 U or the ATR 2100 X or ATR 2005. I like the Samsung Q2. You now even coming from radio. I use that for the first three years that I was doing that. And then I picked up a Mike because it's almost like after a certain point, you're doing it for yourself as much as for other people, people can tell a little bit, but not that much.
Speaker 2 00:20:06 And people are listening, all kinds of things. So like I say, make it simple. If you get a USB mic, you plug it in. You can get a very inexpensive boom arm. You're good to go. If you get in, you know, a professional mic. Now you've got to look at an audio interface. You've got to look at a much stronger boom arm to hold that up. You might need a mic activator to give additional gain so that that might can be actually loud enough. So to speak, the level can be full enough so that you can hear it. USB doesn't have those issues. You plug it into the computer and you go. So think about that to start with, and don't burden yourself with so many things to have to learn at one time, I would say, let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 00:20:52 The, the characteristics of, of a live streamer, I'm somebody who consumes a lot of content. I don't trust people who are content creators that say they don't listen to any podcasts or watch any YouTube channels. I hope that's not you because I just feel like if you are really in this game, I obsess over how other people do it. Not trying to copy them, but just like, how are they creating? What's her methodology? What's his camera angles on these YouTube channels. I honestly like to observe video game streamers because I think it is fusing so many talents of one. You have to be good at a video game that you might be playing. You have to be entertaining on a camera. You're doing all of these things all at once, which is just mind blowing. Is there any other characteristics you see to enhance yourself as a live streamer? No, the bookends, the intro, the outro, but what else have you seen as, as a recipe to somebody who's really good on camera, in the live setting where you might not be able to edit on the fly?
Speaker 2 00:21:52 I think this is, uh, something that I learned in radio. When things don't go as planned, the guests drops off the line. There's technical, their guests is having technical issues, just start and reset. And by reset, I mean, I'm Ross brand. This is live stream universe. You're watching such and such. We're going to be talking, hopefully continue talking with so-and-so. Let's take a look at the chat. Let's another words filled with obvious stuff. You don't have to make a complicated and you probably should do it in a live stream any way, because you have people coming and going, just like in radio, you have people getting in and out of your car. Well, even more so people are jumping in, jumping out of live streams all the time. And so doing a reset every once in a while to let people know who you are, what the show is, what you're talking about, who your guest is, is often a good practice in a podcast.
Speaker 2 00:22:46 We don't have to do that because everybody starts pretty much at minute, zero, and then listens sequentially. But in a live stream, you're hoping people jump in. You're hoping that your audience builds as the algorithm recognizes that people are watching and commenting. So it's always good to take a pause and welcome, you know, welcome everybody joining us on Facebook and YouTube. We're talking about such and such. My guest is. And so fall back on that when things go wrong, rather than panic, the first thing you do is you reset. And then you start panicking in your head, but keep it calm. Keep the show going. I think if you get that down, that just like, okay, it's going to be okay. Cause I know what I'm going to say. Next. I know that there's a chat I can go to. I have other things that I know about this topic that I, my show on.
Speaker 2 00:23:46 So I can always start discussing those things if I need to. And so that's, that's a big thing to me is just things are going to go wrong with life. It's just, it's not perfect. And you have to accept that, but it's how you react to that. That makes your audience comfortable. That's fun. I used to prerecord these updates every, every day and then post them. And after a while, I just didn't have time to prerecorded. So I did them live and I kind of felt like live. Isn't the perfect format for something that's very short form and tight, but whenever I would mess up, I would laugh. And that was the people's favorite. Like I would chuckle and make a joke about it and go. Now the old broadcaster thing is you're supposed to ignore it and just go on or correct it and go on very quickly.
Speaker 2 00:24:33 But I would just chuckle about it and that ease of being on camera and like okay with it. And I don't know if I would ever say that being on cameras is the most natural thing for me. But being on Mike is very comfortable. It doesn't mean I don't get nervous before a show like everybody else does, but once the show's going and not just, it's repetition, it's repetition, but it's also knowing in yourself that you're going to be okay when things don't go as planned and the less you panic, the less you, you know, you might be panicking in your head, but if you can just stay calm and keep talking about something basic and general, the audience is gonna love you for it. And they're going to admire you for hanging in there.
Speaker 1 00:25:18 A sense of like having control as the host that the audience appreciates. And I've seen this in two different contexts. One was myself last week when I went live with our last live stream, guests, Sebastian Rusk in the podcast, Acura's Facebook group and we're using stream yard. I always do a recording beforehand, just so I can make sure I hear everything. And I just download it. I listened to it. So we're in the green room and I record. And as soon as I go live, for whatever reason, just like when you and I were sitting in the green room, I couldn't hear him. So it was just like, I could hear him fine. And as soon as I hit go live, I couldn't hear him anymore. So I could see them talking. And I was like, okay, ready? It's like, you know, I'm like, Sebastian, just give a pause for a moment here.
Speaker 1 00:25:59 I'm going to get this audio going. I'm trying to figure it out. But especially you go ahead, you give me a thumbs up it, you introduce yourself, I'll just watch your lips, make sure it's still going while I figured this out. And if you somehow end before I figured out, just give me another thumbs up that you're done. And I'll maybe I'll go into panic mode after that. But second is on a podcast and a live stream when anyone's ever doing a round table of many people or a panel of many guests. My God, if you're the host control that introduction, try to control when people begin in end, right? Keep this thing moving because if it's a panel of people and it's like, okay, everybody say who you are and what you do. And it's like, they go around the room and it's like, you know, being back in college and like a, you know, music class one Oh one, and everyone's taking attendance 30 minutes in the holes classes over here's your homework. What, you know, being in control is appreciated from the, from the audience perspective too. I, I,
Speaker 2 00:26:56 I think never asked the question of a guest. Tell me about yourself. You know, you might ask, how did you start podcasting? Or, and if you're a guest in your ass, tell me about yourself. Don't think it means start with where you were born, unless that somehow it's integral to what you're doing now, you know, use that as an opportunity to start talking about what you want to talk about, what you're there really to talk about and maybe give a little background to it, a little flavor to it, or tell an interesting story, but do not think that the timeline is what the person's wanting. They just want you to introduce yourself. So use it to talk. If you have a business mention that if that's part of the topic that you're on to discuss, think about how your bio relates to the audience and be quick with it.
Speaker 2 00:27:47 But I think it's when hosts can introduce guests without looking at a piece of paper or anything, that's when you know that that host knows why they're having that guest on. So if I had you on talk about podcasts and podcast hosting, I shouldn't need a piece of paper to tell the audience why I'm having you on. Yes, I might write down something where you worked or an award you won. But hopefully even that I would kind of knowing the time leading up to the show so that I know what makes you special and unique and why you're my audience would want to tune in because even the people you think that are a big names in our space, in, in the online creator space, aren't big names in the world space, right? And so the people who don't know who they are, and even the people who know who they are, who may have seen them on shows many times, or heard them on podcasts, tell your audience why you're having the mop. Don't promote, okay, I'm having this person on to talk about how to start and grow your podcast or what what's in it for the audience. That's going to attract more people than just saying the name of the guest when you're teasing the show, promoting it or recapping it.
Speaker 1 00:29:05 I want to ask you because I'm sure you probably get the, this is one of the questions that you get, that you probably bang your desk every time you hear it. And it was cause I get this question for the podcast side. I'm curious if you get this for the live streaming side, what is the best day or time to do a live stream? Is there such a thing? Does it matter how many live streams you do at what day and time give it to me.
Speaker 2 00:29:29 I would first say the day in time, where you're energetic and enthusiastic about going live and you can do the best, you know, when it's best for your schedule, when you can focus on it, when you're looking forward to that would be the best time to go live. Because remember a small percentage of the people will watch it live, but a lot of people will watch the replay. And even more people may see it. If you repurpose it on social media and then you may make a podcast from it. So there's that whole other audience as well. But I say, that's the first thing. If the algorithms tell you if some service that you subscribe to that the ideal time is noon, but you know, you're, you're in the middle of the working day and night, you're going to be stressed doing it and you won't be able to concentrate and you have to hide from your boss and go out to the car and stand on your head and, you know, hide behind the bushes.
Speaker 2 00:30:23 You know, that's not going to make an optimal podcast. So if you do it in four in the morning, but you do an incredible show, that's probably better than doing it at another time. So I would say again, think about your audience, all things being equal, right? Think about your audience. If you're doing an English speaking, a live stream show, or you're dropping your podcast, you want to do a time. Okay. Do I, is this a good time for East coast, U S and North America and West coast North America, is this a good time? Will I either get the UK or will I get Australia? Do I have the listeners there? Do they care? You know, all those things you can figure. And then you figure much of the world from Asia to Africa to everywhere else is English speaking as well. And not, everybody's going to be able to join you to join you live, but it's got to work for your schedule. I, I, the worst thing is to do with tired, to do it stress, to not really want to do it. And it'd be a chore or to be like, God, I hope this doesn't cost me something. So it's a long answer when I could've just said do it when you want to
Speaker 1 00:31:32 What I did. And so I was hired at Kassassa about four months ago, back in August. And the last three live streams I've done was on an Apple event. I did a live stream when PlayStation five launched and most recently the live stream with Sebastian was during, uh, one of WordPress's largest live streams, which is WordCamp us and the state of the word. So I've made three massive mistakes. At least don't do your live stream during a new Apple announcement. That's probably the best one
Speaker 2 00:32:00 I've gone live and wondered why what's happening. Like I never get this low in audience. And then I re I learned that Mark Zuckerberg was live on Facebook on my watch. I think he's going to probably show up in all the news feeds before anybody sees what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 00:32:17 It tells me there's, there's a switch for that algorithm that just goes, switch Mark. And that's it. And it all goes,
Speaker 2 00:32:23 Here's the thing. You're going to get numbers from different platforms or from services third-party services. You're using telling you supposedly how many people are watching at that time. That really shouldn't influence you. If nobody's watching you do the show that you are going to do, and you do it to the best of your ability. And if you know, somehow the algorithm strikes gold and you end up with, you know, a million people watching, again, don't go, okay. I got a million people here. Now I got to reinvent the wheel. No you do what it was that you were doing that brought those people there. So basically you have to have a consistent approach and you know, you can observe the numbers and you can go back after and go, wow, did I do something here that made people drop off, but I'm more like, just keep doing what you do. Well, get better at it and deliver the best that you can, whether you have one person or 1 million, because you have to change it up for a big audience. Then you're basically saying that you're not doing what you should be doing for a small audience.
Speaker 1 00:33:27 Yeah. I mean, as creators again, like I I've been on this kick of, this is an art form. We're out here, we're creating this thing out of nothing. Whether it's a podcast, a live stream, whatever, this is something that it takes energy. It takes energy. And it takes time. Like if people are selling a blueprint to all of this stuff, it would just be time. That's all, that's all the answer would be. Have you found a way to balance burnout? Because what my, when I was saying before earlier, I was joking. How like, things have come like three 60, you know, the walking dead, breaking bad game of Thrones. You're like, why did they give it to me in seasons? Why can't they just give it everything it's like, because there's a lot of work to create these shows. And as once you start creating these shows, you start to realize, Oh yes, seasons make sense because I can stop and recuperate that energy and then put more energy into a new season. Have you found ways to balance that energy? Well,
Speaker 2 00:34:22 You know, it's funny, I'm doing seasons for stream yard connect, which is a show that I'm doing for a stream yard, as you might figure from the name. And I do seasons, but I don't actually take a break between the seasons. It's just a point to sort of reevaluate. Okay. Let's think, do we want to change the background color? Not that I wouldn't do that in the middle of a season, if it was called for, or a new idea that it's just like, it's time to do this, but it's a chance to think in terms of twelves. And I think 12 shows, okay, what are we doing next? Do we want to, you know, I talk to people at stream yard, do we want to go to a different platform? What we want to add something, what else can we do or not do? And so there's, there's that aspect of, of just like, here's a chance to regroup and think it's a little artificial, but it's good to have those checkpoints of like, and it's also kind of cool for promoting.
Speaker 2 00:35:18 It's like our season finale of season five, you know, and the season premier of season six kicks off with, you know, blah. So it's, it's, it also gives the audience something that breaks up the sameness, or, Hey, this season, we're going to be adding new graphics along the way each week. You're going to see the change that comes in or this season, we're going to start adding some panels in addition to solo guests or what have you. So I think there's a value in that now, as far as burnout goes, I think that if you're doing the show for yourself and your business, and you're not doing it as a consultant or, uh, on behalf of the sponsors where you have some sort of an agreement ahead of time, feel free to like take a month or two and get away from it. All I have to say, like I started in the fall of 2015 in the summer of 2017, there was about a two month period where I think I did maybe one or two shows and otherwise pretty much bowed out of social media and being online.
Speaker 2 00:36:20 And I've got to say, when I came back, there was like, no, stopping me when I came back. So I'm believer that, you know, when you need a break, take a break. And if you want to keep going and do more, because your energy and the creativity's there, this is the beauty of not working for a TV station or a radio station, or having that schedule time. So make it work for you. And then other people do not so much with live streaming, but with podcasting, there are people who do batch recording. So they'll do six and one day and the not have to do any recording for six weeks or what have you. And then, you know, they have their editing day and so forth.
Speaker 1 00:37:01 He's Ross brands. You can find him at live stream, universe.com, live stream, universe.com, Ross, what can folks learn when they get to that website and how can they connect with you?
Speaker 2 00:37:13 So I have a bunch of shows that I've done over the years. So all those, uh, have different guests who bring their experiences and their area of expertise. And also you can connect with me if you're looking for help, there's a resources page in which I go down all the gear that I would recommend gear for people who are just starting gear for people who are more advanced than services, that all will help you live streaming and the same audio gear for live streaming, much of it would be perfect for podcasts
Speaker 1 00:37:46 There's as well. There's a fantastic page. So listeners who are just like creating their podcast site now, or just like, you know, getting out there, promoting their podcast, go to the live stream universe.com website, go to the about section and go to the media tab or the media page. This is something that's very undervalued in what I've seen in the traditional podcast world, but not so much in, I should have said in the podcast world, not so much in the, in the traditional media space, this media page is just a collection of links where you can find Ross on other shows hugely important, right? If you're going to be a podcast guest and you're gonna have other people book you for their shows, have a page like this, because it just builds up the social value and it allows them to explore the different pieces of content that somebody like Ross has, has created over time. It's the audience podcast, castles com slash subscribe. You can join the private podcast that we have. You can subscribe to the podcast on all of the major platforms and don't forget youtube.com/casos. Okay. We'll see you in the next episode.
