A few months ago I launched a free private podcast called Joe’s Audio Notes. The episodes are very short (7 minutes or less), where I share my thoughts on being a solopreneur, a podcaster, a parent, and other thoughts related to being a productive member of society.
I'm sharing 3 of the episodes here (which you can find in the chapter markers):
- Thinking About my Content Strategy
- How do you pick the right idea?
- Battling the work hangover
If you like it, I'd love for you to join!
You can sign up for free here.
- (00:00) - Intro
- (01:22) - Thinking About my Content Strategy
- (07:00) - How do you pick the right idea?
- (12:42) - Battling the work hangover
About Streamlined Podcaster: This is the show for solo podcasters who love their podcast but hate how much time it takes. Each week, host Joe Casabona shares the systems, workflows, and podcast automation that let you run a great show without burning out.
Joe has been a solo podcaster for 15+ years and helps solopreneurs replace manual tasks with reliable systems so they can take time off worry-free. He knows firsthand what it takes to produce a quality show solo — and he's here to help you do the same.
Get Joe's favorite podcasting tools: https://streamlinedpodcaster.com/tools
Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Hey there, I wanted to take this opportunity
00:00:03 --> 00:00:07 to drop in and tell you about a free private
00:00:07 --> 00:00:11 podcast I have called Joe's Audio Notes. You
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 can sign up for it over at Casabona .org slash
00:00:14 --> 00:00:19 notes, but it's basically a very short form.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 I would say seven minutes or less podcast where
00:00:22 --> 00:00:26 I just put out quick episodes about what I'm
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 thinking about as it. relates to being a solopreneur,
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 a podcaster, a parent. And I've been lately promoting
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 it over the last few weeks and it's been really
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 well received. So I thought what I would do here
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 is drop three of those episodes in the feed back
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 to back all in this track so you don't have to
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 go hunting for the other ones. But it'll just
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 be three episodes back to back so you can get
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 an idea of what the show is about. And if you
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 want to sign up. Like I said, you can head on
00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 over to Casabona .org slash notes. It's totally
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 free. It is just a private podcast, so you'll
00:01:00 --> 00:01:04 have to opt in with your email address. And I'd
00:01:04 --> 00:01:09 love to hear your feedback on this. So if you
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 want, you can also head over to streamlinedfeedback
00:01:12 --> 00:01:16 .com and let me know your thoughts. But without
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 further ado, let's get to these three episodes
00:01:19 --> 00:01:26 of Joe's Audio Notes. So something I have been
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 thinking about a lot over the last few days with
00:01:29 --> 00:01:33 the impending rebrand happening is my content
00:01:33 --> 00:01:38 strategy. What am I going to do with my various
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 properties? Am I going to be writing more on
00:01:40 --> 00:01:44 Casabona .org? How does my podcast fit into all
00:01:44 --> 00:01:49 of this? So I decided to do some digging into
00:01:49 --> 00:01:53 Google Analytics to see what my most popular
00:01:53 --> 00:01:57 content is. Far and away, my most popular post
00:01:57 --> 00:02:01 is how I've configured my stream deck, my Sony
00:02:01 --> 00:02:05 a6400 post, how to automate things in Gmail,
00:02:06 --> 00:02:11 and I've kind of, not kind of, I narrowed down
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 my most popular content across all of my sites
00:02:15 --> 00:02:20 into three buckets of sorts. Gear, automations,
00:02:22 --> 00:02:28 and productivity, process, not really sure on
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 that end, but I think this is good, right? All
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 of these things, well not gear, well gear maybe,
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 but automations and productivity or process fits
00:02:39 --> 00:02:45 into the new rebrand of streamlining and creating
00:02:45 --> 00:02:49 space, right? The streamlined equals spacious.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:56 the is the the idea behind my brand and Holly
00:02:56 --> 00:03:01 provided the brand guidelines today with mission
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 and what's driving me and and all sorts of other
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 great stuff that I'm gonna just like have in
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 my office as a reminder of you know what's on
00:03:10 --> 00:03:17 brand but I think with all of that I going to
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 certainly continue to talk about automations
00:03:20 --> 00:03:26 as it as it relates to podcasting or just solopreneurship
00:03:26 --> 00:03:30 in general right the brand is a personal brand
00:03:30 --> 00:03:35 and it doesn't make a lot of mention about podcasting
00:03:35 --> 00:03:40 specifically which I think is a good idea podcasting
00:03:40 --> 00:03:48 is one vertical think maybe it's horizontal I
00:03:48 --> 00:03:53 think pot well either way podcasting is one area
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 where I can help people streamline and it's certainly
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 my most popular one right now where I've established
00:03:59 --> 00:04:05 the most authority but the personal brand kind
00:04:05 --> 00:04:10 of gives me room to discuss other things more
00:04:10 --> 00:04:14 things I've wanted to write about But I feared
00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 It wasn't quote -unquote on brand. So like gear
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 is something I do like talking a lot about and
00:04:20 --> 00:04:24 I'll be reviewing this the sure MV 7 plus not
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 really reviewing just kind of comparing it. I
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 don't really do reviews. I just I like doing
00:04:29 --> 00:04:33 side -by -sides Sort of things and like general
00:04:33 --> 00:04:37 impressions But then also, you know, I get questions
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 about the iPhone and apps and things like that
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 And I definitely want to talk more about that
00:04:42 --> 00:04:47 but again i never felt like it was related enough
00:04:47 --> 00:04:54 to podcasting as i settle my brand and my niche
00:04:54 --> 00:05:02 more i can talk to solopreneurs about creating
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 space in their lives and one of the benefits
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 of creating space is being able to focus on the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 podcast and one of the ways you can create space
00:05:09 --> 00:05:13 is optimizing your phone or doing more with shortcuts
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 or picking the right apps so I'm really excited
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 I know I keep saying this I'm really excited
00:05:19 --> 00:05:24 about the rebrand and I think that this is really
00:05:24 --> 00:05:29 gonna give me space to explore more topics that
00:05:29 --> 00:05:33 are of interest to me so that I'm not constantly
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 talking about like why you need to use Calendly
00:05:35 --> 00:05:39 to book guests or whatever right it Allows me
00:05:39 --> 00:05:43 to expand out more which will better serve podcasters
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 and Will better serve solopreneurs who want to
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 have a podcast but are losing time in other areas
00:05:49 --> 00:05:54 of their lives So that's what I'm thinking today
00:05:54 --> 00:05:59 My son's jumping outside on the trampoline That's
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 what I'm thinking today, and I'm excited to start
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 Really digging into this I guess the last thing
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 I'll say is I've kind of had a similar thought
00:06:08 --> 00:06:13 with Streamline Solopreneur. Downloads are down,
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 right? My latest newsletter talks about potholes.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:22 And I feel like there have been a lot of potholes
00:06:22 --> 00:06:26 since the rebrand of Streamline Solopreneur.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 And it's because I didn't really understand or
00:06:29 --> 00:06:33 I wasn't talking to the right people. And I'm
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 doing some new and interesting things there too,
00:06:35 --> 00:06:42 so. Yeah, I'm excited about this direction. I
00:06:42 --> 00:06:46 think it'll make for a better newsletter. I think
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 it'll make for better content in general. And
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 I think it'll help me serve my target audience
00:06:51 --> 00:06:55 more. So yeah, super excited about that. Alright,
00:06:55 --> 00:07:02 thanks for listening and until next time. Today
00:07:02 --> 00:07:06 I want to talk about pursuing ideas as a solopreneur.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 It's something I've been thinking about a lot
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 because I'm in a a mastermind group called pod
00:07:12 --> 00:07:16 match elite and every month we do an accountability
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 check -in where we Talk about what we're working
00:07:19 --> 00:07:23 on for the month and how we want to stay accountable
00:07:23 --> 00:07:27 This month I decided because for the last few
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 months I was working on different ideas every
00:07:30 --> 00:07:36 month that I would basically pick a lane and
00:07:36 --> 00:07:40 stay in it for the rest of the year. And I'm
00:07:40 --> 00:07:45 all for experimenting. I'm less for making grand
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 announcements for every experiment you're trying.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 I had a great conversation with a soon -to -be
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 guest on Streamline Solopreneur. Her name is
00:07:54 --> 00:08:00 Emily Aborn. And we talk about this, right? There's
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 a problem in branding and especially personal
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 brand where you jump around and you focus on
00:08:06 --> 00:08:10 too many things. And that's different from experimenting.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 So, anyway, my accountability for this month
00:08:12 --> 00:08:17 in PodMatch Elite is to look at all the projects
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 I'm doing and then just pick one to really focus
00:08:21 --> 00:08:26 in on for the rest of the year. Part of the problem
00:08:26 --> 00:08:30 is that I keep coming up with ideas I want to
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 pursue. As a solopreneur, as a business owner,
00:08:33 --> 00:08:37 You probably have this same problem. I come from
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 the development space and so It was very easy
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 for me to like come up with an idea and put together
00:08:43 --> 00:08:47 something over the weekend and I have to Really
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 fight. I mean, I don't have weekends anymore
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 weekends are for my family I don't have weekends
00:08:52 --> 00:08:57 to work. I should say Weekends are for my family.
00:08:57 --> 00:09:01 So But like even this morning I came up with
00:09:01 --> 00:09:06 a potential idea that could be good But is it
00:09:06 --> 00:09:10 worth pursuing and I know I think I talked about
00:09:10 --> 00:09:15 this in a previous episode, but I Basically have
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 two brands I'm working with podcast workflows
00:09:18 --> 00:09:22 and streamline solopreneur and those have some
00:09:22 --> 00:09:26 overlap But I'm I'm talking to slightly different
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 audiences right where one is busy solo -preneur
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 parents the qualifier is different one is busy
00:09:32 --> 00:09:36 solo -preneur parents and One is busy solo -preneur
00:09:36 --> 00:09:40 podcasters or maybe just busy podcasters which
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 is maybe too vague for to be a good niche, but
00:09:43 --> 00:09:51 This idea could serve both But I don't know if
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 it's worth pursuing and how I would marry the
00:09:54 --> 00:10:02 two so Mean that my initial thought was Create
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 like a I don't know, you know, I don't even want
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 to say it. Yeah, cuz I don't know if it's a this
00:10:06 --> 00:10:10 is like first Like my very first thought on it
00:10:10 --> 00:10:16 is I own streamlines FM Is is like putting everything
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 under the streamlined brand a good idea I guess
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 I should talk to Holly about this when she gets
00:10:22 --> 00:10:28 back from her vacation And like maybe run this
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 by her Since she is ultimately working on my
00:10:32 --> 00:10:36 branding like is is streamlined in general good
00:10:36 --> 00:10:41 branding to lean into so That's what I'm thinking
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 about this morning like figuring out it's always
00:10:44 --> 00:10:50 hard to figure out what ideas to pursue and You
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 know, you're making a bunch of small bets, but
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 I want to make a it's the end of the year I've
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 had a good year. I've had a clarifying year and
00:10:57 --> 00:11:01 now I'm ready to make a big bet and so September
00:11:01 --> 00:11:07 is really Doing some research to figure out the
00:11:07 --> 00:11:11 safest big bet I should make So that's that's
00:11:11 --> 00:11:15 what I'm thinking about If you are also thinking
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 about that Let me know you can respond right
00:11:18 --> 00:11:22 to the email that you got with this episode in
00:11:22 --> 00:11:27 it. I'd love to hear your thoughts. So yeah,
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 I'm struggling a little bit, but that's what
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 you know, the kids are back at school. I have
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 five full days to work now. My father -in -law
00:11:34 --> 00:11:39 is picking the kids up after school. So I'm getting
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 like an honest to goodness, like eight to five
00:11:42 --> 00:11:46 workday most days, which is really nice. And
00:11:46 --> 00:11:50 and I want to take advantage of that time and
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 the other thing is like at the end of the month
00:11:51 --> 00:11:55 I'm going on this it's you know, it's it's called
00:11:55 --> 00:12:00 Cabo press. It's in Cabo It's called a conference.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:04 I really view it as more of like a retreat And
00:12:04 --> 00:12:09 I want to have something very solid to bring
00:12:09 --> 00:12:13 to that conference and talk to other much smarter
00:12:13 --> 00:12:18 business owners so then me about I I feel like
00:12:18 --> 00:12:22 the last few years at Cabo press I've been Grappling
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 with stuff and getting clarity and it's always
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 been great. Which is why I keep going but this
00:12:27 --> 00:12:32 year I want to be clear and I want to refine
00:12:32 --> 00:12:36 whatever it is I'm talking about so That's that's
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 what I'm thinking. Let me know respond to the
00:12:38 --> 00:12:42 email. I'd love your thoughts. Thanks so much
00:12:42 --> 00:12:48 Hey everybody happy November I can't believe
00:12:48 --> 00:12:52 we are in November October flew by really fast
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 I addressed that a couple of times on this show
00:12:55 --> 00:13:02 but I am jumping in today recording this to talk
00:13:02 --> 00:13:08 about the work hangover I just shipped my next
00:13:08 --> 00:13:12 LinkedIn learning course it's an update to one
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 of my current courses, PHP for WordPress, where
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 I wanted to update it for PHP 8 and the block
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 editor stuff and what the block editor means
00:13:21 --> 00:13:25 for PHP, which is honestly not as much as I thought
00:13:25 --> 00:13:32 it meant. But I am, for a number of reasons,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:36 struggling this morning to really get in the
00:13:36 --> 00:13:42 right headspace. Part of it is... you know, current
00:13:42 --> 00:13:47 events are looming large for me. I'm more anxious
00:13:47 --> 00:13:53 about current events than I have been in a long
00:13:53 --> 00:14:01 time. My poor, poor Yankees forgot how to play
00:14:01 --> 00:14:05 baseball when it mattered most and lost the World
00:14:05 --> 00:14:09 Series, which is an incredible bummer for me.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 And you know as I record this yesterday was Halloween
00:14:13 --> 00:14:17 and so I was I've been staying up later and Have
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 not been eating very well because there's candy
00:14:19 --> 00:14:23 literally in every inch of my house Not literally
00:14:23 --> 00:14:29 it's everywhere though And so today I really
00:14:29 --> 00:14:33 need to buckle down and do a few things But I've
00:14:33 --> 00:14:37 got the work hangover. I Expounded expounded
00:14:37 --> 00:14:42 I spent a bunch of energy Over the last week
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 working on the LinkedIn learning course like
00:14:44 --> 00:14:49 really working on it script writing And then
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 recording and creating slides and writing code
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 and all that fun stuff if you don't know I've
00:14:55 --> 00:15:00 I've done this for members, but if I really focus
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 I can do a LinkedIn learning course in about
00:15:02 --> 00:15:07 two weeks They're a hellish two weeks and I prefer
00:15:07 --> 00:15:11 not to do them that way but Somehow it always
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 shakes out that way Now my next course is like
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 a full rewrite of a near five hour course, so
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 it's gonna take more than Two weeks, and I'm
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 gonna have to manage my time better, but for
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 this one. It was a simple update And so I wrote
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 the scripts over a couple of days, and then I
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 recorded them all yesterday, but anyway the point
00:15:31 --> 00:15:36 is I am struggling this morning because All of
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 my mental energy basically was going towards
00:15:39 --> 00:15:45 this one project and now it's over and I struggle
00:15:45 --> 00:15:49 most at the start of projects, like building
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 the momentum. So I'm thinking about that today
00:15:52 --> 00:15:56 and what I'll probably do is do a few small tasks
00:15:56 --> 00:16:00 and then it's the weekend. I fear I'm going to
00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 be more distracted than normal next week. Which
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 is upsetting because it hasn't been a very productive
00:16:07 --> 00:16:11 several weeks for me But I'm just gonna what
00:16:11 --> 00:16:16 I want to try to do today is Check a few things
00:16:16 --> 00:16:20 off of my list a couple of easy wins Aaron's
00:16:20 --> 00:16:24 working this weekend. So and I'm I don't generally
00:16:24 --> 00:16:28 work the weekends anyway So it's not really about
00:16:28 --> 00:16:34 building momentum. It's it's more about resetting
00:16:34 --> 00:16:40 the clock or like resetting my headspace a little
00:16:40 --> 00:16:44 bit and then you know doing the startup routine
00:16:44 --> 00:16:49 on Sunday so I can really have a clear vision
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 for the coming week so that's what I'm thinking
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 about this morning the work hangover I'll probably
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 do a newsletter about this I've also been thinking
00:16:56 --> 00:17:01 a lot about how I'm gonna manage this with the
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 Podcast Workflows podcast and Streamline Solo
00:17:04 --> 00:17:09 Pernewer with the rebrand. I don't wanna have
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 a podcast named after myself. I think that is
00:17:12 --> 00:17:16 both self aggrandizing and doesn't matter for
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 me. Like most people don't know who I am and
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 so a podcast with my own name doesn't matter.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:26 But, you know, with the personal brand shift.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:31 I am thinking more about how to consolidate,
00:17:31 --> 00:17:36 streamline my content strategies to really focus
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 on the things that will make the most impact
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 in my business. So there you go, early November
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 thoughts and I guess going into the holiday thoughts
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 and going into the weekend thoughts, all rolled
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50 into one. If you have any feedback or your own
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 thoughts, let me know. You can respond directly
00:17:52 --> 00:17:56 to this email. or at streamlinedfeedback .com.